FOUNDATION

This phase will go through the foundational elements of what it looks like to be in a personal relationship with Jesus. No matter how long you've been a believer, these concepts are crucial for our relationship with God and for helping others grow as well.

Are you struggling with wondering if you have really been saved? Do you know what it means to have "new life with Christ?"

Desired Outcomes

• To have confidence in our New Life in Christ, knowing that God accepts and forgives us. 

• To know that we are secure in our relationship with God because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Resources

• Worksheet: Assurance of Salvation

• Cru Article: “Your New Life in Christ” 

Guiding Questions

• Before we read through the articles, ask, “If I were to die today, how confident am I that I would go to Heaven on a scale from 0-100?” If the answer is anything less than 100, this lesson will help to gain confidence in the finished work of Christ making us 100% saved.

• What did Christ accomplish?

• How can we be 100% sure that we are saved?

• At the very end of our time together, ask, “If I were to die today, how confident am I that I would go to Heaven on a scale from 0-100?” If the answer is still not 100, keep seeking understanding with someone you trust.

Practical Steps

• Commit what we learned today to memory. 

  • During the next meeting, explain in your own words why we can be 100% sure of salvation.

• This week, commit to praying for 5-10 minutes each day (or some other goal that makes sense for you). Sometimes we learn things and move away from them too quickly. Encourage each other to praise God for 100% salvation. Pray for God to give us a deeper understanding of this truth. Check-in how praying went at the next meeting.

We experience God’s continual love and forgiveness through the process of confession. His Spirit also empowers us to change and turn from our sin.

Desired Outcomes

• To grow in an understanding of what confession and forgiveness are, and to know how to actually put these into practice in their daily lives (1) between ourselves and God, and (2) between ourselves and others.

Resources

• Cru Article: “Your New Life in God’s Love”

Guiding Questions

• What’s the difference between being in a relationship with God and having fellowship with God?

• What disrupts our fellowship with God? And how can we restore fellowship with God?

• How can we know (be assured) that we are truly forgiven by God?

• How can we incorporate confession into our daily rhythm in our walk with God?

• Why is the Holy Spirit essential to our daily act of confession and repentance?

Practical Steps

•  Read 1 John 1:5-9. 

  • Write all the sins you have committed recently that you can think of onto a slip of paper. No one else is to read your slip of paper; it is between you and God (so be brutally honest). 

  • Once you are done, consider how it feels to look at all of your sins. 

  • Now, switch pen colors and write over it in big letters, “IF I CONFESS MY SINS HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST AND WILL FORGIVE ME” (v9). 

  • Now, consider how it feels to look at Jesus’ forgiveness of all the sins you could think of. 

  • Finally, tear up the piece of paper and throw it away. Spend a few minutes reflecting on how the exercise made them feel.

• Practice the “Agree, Thank, Repent” prayer from the Relationship vs. Fellowship article every day this week (5-10 minute commitment per day).

• Brainstorm some people in your life you need to forgive (This could be for something big or something small), and pray together for God would give us the courage to forgive just as we have been forgiven.

Additional Resources

• Worksheet: Relationship vs. Fellowship

Cru is a great way to experience community with other believers while in college, but it is also important to be connected to a local church body where you can hear God’s Word preached, serve, and fellowship with believers from different generations and ethnicities. 

Desired Outcomes

• To be able to communicate differences between Christ-centered communities and communities that are not centered around God. 

Resources

• Cru Article: Christian Fellowship

• Neighbors Church Podcast: A Community of Love: Intimate Community 

Guiding Questions

• What have you noticed to be different about Christ-centered communities from others?

• What hesitations do you have about committing to the intentionality and vulnerability that these groups require?

Practical Steps

•  Consider going along with a friend, your mentor, or disciple) disciple to check out a few different churches, if they have yet to choose a church home. 

Desired Outcomes

• To grow in our understanding of what prayer is, and begin to “exercise the prayer muscle.”

• To begin to interact with different aspects of prayer (more than just asking God for things or for God to do things for us), including praise, confession of sin, and giving thanks.

Resources

• Cru Article: How to Pray and Worship

Guiding Questions

• What has your experience with prayer been in the past? Good? Bad? Non-existent?

• Why do we pray? What’s the point?

• How do we pray?

Practical Steps

•  Pray together by using the A.C.T.S. prompts.
  Challenge yourself to move beyond the point of discomfort by praying aloud together.

  • Adoration

  • Confession

  • Thanksgiving

  • Supplication (asking for things for yourself or for others). 

• Consider how praying in the A.C.T.S. framework is for you. What felt good? What felt difficult?

• Challenge yourself to do this A.C.T.S. prayer once a day until the next study. It might even be helpful to take out your phone and schedule it in your calendar, or set a daily alarm reminder. Whether you are new to praying or have been doing it for a long time, this is a good practice. Check-in with each other at the next meeting about how this went.

Desired Outcomes

Guiding Questions

Go through the following resource together.

Resources

If you have time, go over some of these practical steps. If not, go over them on your own this week to chat about when you meet next.

Practical Steps

Additional Resources

Soularium is a great tool for engaging with others in spiritual conversations, creating dialogue and depth through the use of picture cards and open-ended questions. Tools like Soularium help us to ask spiritual questions, present the Gospel, and get to know others in unique and meaningful ways.

Desired Outcomes

• To be ready to use the Soularium tool to engage in meaningful conversations about life & God with students.

Resources

• Cru training article: “How to Use Soularium”

• Video: Soularium™: Getting Started (3:09)

• Video: Soularium™: Going Deeper (3:15)

Guiding Questions

• How would you describe a successful evangelism conversation? 

• How comfortable do you feel in initiating spiritual conversations with others?

• Why is it important to create dialogue in spiritual conversations?

Practical Steps

• After watching the videos and learning about Soularium, go through the questions with the photos.

  • Brainstorm some possible follow-up questions for the questions outlined in Soularium. What are some questions that could help you get to know someone better? 

• Schedule a time to go sharing together with the Soularium tool.

• If you don’t have your own Soularium deck, download the app here.

Desired Outcomes

Guiding Questions

Go through the following resource together.

Resources

If you have time, go over some of these practical steps. If not, go over them on your own this week to chat about when you meet next.

Practical Steps

Additional Resources