Discussion Guide: AGAPE SERVING

PRAYER

Our goal today is to grow in relationship and learn how to walk with one another in all God has called us to be and do. Let’s begin by praying for each other.

Does anyone have prayer requests or stories of how God has been moving in your life that we can celebrate together?

THE BELONGING PROJECT TOPICS

SPONTANEOUS GIVING :: CONSISTENT GIVING :: AGAPE SERVING

THIS WEEK

We’re in a series called The Belonging Project: Four Pathways to Create Connection, where we’re discovering that our deepest needs go beyond food, water, sleep, and shelter. We’re wired for belonging — spiritually and emotionally.

This week in From Guest to Family, Pastor Alvin looks at 1 Peter 4:7–11 and invites us to consider what it means to create connection for others through serving. God calls us to serve in ways that make His presence and love tangible, even through the most practical moments.

To help us start our time together, consider these questions:

Which do you find easier: asking for help or offering help? Why do you think that is?

Think of someone who makes people feel welcome. What do they do that stands out?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

SCRIPTURE

Have someone read 1 Peter 4:7-11 aloud. As you listen, notice any words or phrases that stand out, and ask the Holy Spirit to highlight something for you.

1 Peter 4:7-11

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 

9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 

11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote that the church is truly the church only when it exists for others — not to dominate, but to help and serve. That’s the heart of 1 Peter 4:6–8.

Peter is writing to believers scattered across Asia Minor who are doing their best to follow Jesus in a world pushing back against them. They aren’t just believing in Jesus. They’re trying to live like Jesus, and it’s costing them.

Peter calls them (and us, too!) to remember that belonging to Jesus isn’t passive. It isn’t something we receive, participate in, and share with others.

And because Jesus already secured the final victory, we don’t have to retreat in fear or self-preservation. We can live on mission right where we are, even when life feels heavy.

Instead of pulling back when things get costly, followers of Jesus move toward others with agape love — love that decides, love that acts, love that makes space for someone else.

When life feels heavy or stressful, what usually becomes your first instinct — to pull back or to lean toward others? Why do you think that is?

What helps you love people in practical ways when you don’t feel like it, and what gets in the way of that most often?

Think of a time someone loved you in a way that cost them something. How did that shape your sense of belonging or connection?

If belonging to Jesus is something we participate in, Peter shows what that looks like in daily life. In 1 Peter 4:9, he says we create belonging by making space for others through hospitality — loving the person who still feels like an outsider.

Offering people hospitality isn’t serving when it’s convenient or only welcoming people who already fit in. It’s opening our lives so others can find their place in the family of God.

And Peter says we’re to offer this without grumbling, because serving from insecurity about belonging to Jesus leads to resentment, while serving from confidence that we belong to Him leads to joy.

Why? Because in Jesus, we already belong. And when we know we’re accepted and needed, we’re freed to serve others with the same grace Jesus has given us — the grace someone else is waiting for that opens the door to their belonging to Jesus, too.

Think of a time someone made space for you when you felt like an outsider. What impact did it have on you?

Why do you think it’s sometimes easier to welcome people who already feel comfortable, rather than those who don’t?

What gets in the way of you showing hospitality with joy instead of grumbling, complaining, or a lack of joy?

If we belong to Jesus and are needed in His family, Peter shows how that belonging becomes something shared.

In 1 Peter 4:10–11 he says every believer has been given a gift from God, and those gifts are meant to serve others. So then, serving isn’t the church using us. It’s God working through us, channeling His grace so people move from feeling like guests to becoming family.

Jesus Himself gives us the pattern. In Mark 10, He didn’t come to be served but to serve, and then He sends us into the world the same way. Our serving doesn’t earn belonging — it expresses the belonging we already have.

And we don’t do it in our own strength or for our own glory. We serve by the strength God supplies so that Jesus becomes visible to others and more people find their place in His family.

What’s something you’re naturally good at or enjoy doing that tends to help others?

How does it change the way you think about serving when you realize it’s God working through you rather than you trying to impress or perform?

Have you ever felt like your contribution didn’t matter? What helped you move past that, or what still holds you back?

Where do you sense God might be inviting you to use what He’s given you to bless someone — in church, at home, or where you live, work, and play?

CLOSING THOUGHT

Belonging to Jesus is a gift, but it’s also a calling. Peter reminds us that we don’t belong just to be comforted, we belong so others can belong too. 

When life gets hard, the world pulls back. But as His Church, followers of Jesus move toward others with the kind of love that costs something to benefit others. Not flashy, not dramatic, just practical, steady, and real — making space for others and serving with joy.

And here’s the beautiful tension: we don’t do this to earn belonging. We do it because we already belong. God works through us, not for our glory but so others can see Him.

So the question we carry into this week is simple: where is God inviting you to live like you belong, and to help someone else discover that they do too?

Let’s close in prayer: Father, thank You that we belong to You. Help us live from that place, not just for ourselves but for others. Give us eyes to see the people who need space, grace, and love. Give us the courage to serve when it costs us and the joy that comes from knowing You work through us. Make Your presence clear in the way we speak, welcome, and serve this week. Use us to help someone else know they belong to You, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.