Connected Community
Listening Sheet 1
Acknowledgments, Foreword, Introduction
1.
The church faces new challenges today.
2.
Some people today say they are Christians but do not need the church.
3.
Some Christians are apathetic about church membership.
4.
For some church is little more than a spiritual fraternity of a divine country club.
5.
Christ’s relationship to the church can be compared to a relationship between a husband and a wife because the New Testament calls the church the bride of Christ.

Connected Community
Listening Sheet 2
Chapter 1, This Church Belongs to Jesus
1.
The church is the bride of Christ.
2.
The church is a spiritual organism.
3.
Jesus was first to use the word church in the New Testament.
4.
Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one.
5.
When we are born again, we are born into community.
6.
The church is a covenant community of born-again believers empowered by
Christ for the advancing of the kingdom through the discipling of all nations.
7.
There is an indissoluble union between the kingdom of God and His church.
8.
If the church is faithful to its mission, it will face opposition. If it is steadfast, if will be victorious.
9.
The church is the only earthly community which exists in heaven and thus is eternal in nature.

Listening Sheet 3
Chapter 2, Gathered for Worship
1.
God has chosen to inhabit the praise of His people.
2.
Worship is a primary task for the church.
3.
God is both the object and the audience of true worship.
4.
Corporate worship should flow from personal worship, but personal worship will never replace the need for corporate worship.
5.
Worship enables us to grow in our faith and to encourage others.
6.
Proclamation, praise, and prayer are three key elements which should be prioritized in every corporate worship experience.
7.
Preaching addresses God’s people in God’s presence with God’s Word.
8.
We must never underestimate the power of God’s Word to convert the sinner and transform the saved.
9.
Prayer permits us to acknowledge God’s presence, to confess our sins, to seek
His forgiveness, to stand before Him in praise, to offer ourselves to God, to ask for His provision, to intercede for others, and to offer thanksgiving.
10.
Authentic worship tunes our hearts to the heart of God.

Connected Community
Listening Sheet 4
Chapter 3, On Mission with the King
1.
The Lord commissions and empowers the church to take His message to the ends of the earth.
2.
Each person has a sin problem that leads to separation from God.
3.
Sinful individuals can be reconciled to God by receiving the grace gift of God provided by His Son, Jesus Christ.
4.
The gospel mandates mission.
5.
Jesus’ mission was to save the lost.
6.
Jesus plan for the continuation of His ministry was to make missionaries of
His followers.
7.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus indicates that those who follow Him will be
salt and light.
8.
Witness is who we are before it becomes what we do.

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Listening Sheet 5
Chapter 4, I Belong
1.
If church membership is biblical, then it is a Christian responsibility and a privilege.
2.
The purpose of the book of Acts is to demonstrate the activity of the Holy
Spirit through the apostles as they are obedient to the task assigned them as witnesses.
3.
Pentecost was the birthday of the church.
4.
The first use of the word church in the book of Acts is 5:11.
5.
The use of the word ecclesia leaves little doubt that we are now dealing with a group of people who are bound together in such a manner that they comprise an identifiable community with both rights and responsibilities.
6.
Acts 6 tells how the early church took care of widows.
7.
The success of the early church led to persecution and the scattering of the believers.
8.
Early churches met together for worship and fellowship, were held accountable for the integrity of their teaching, had identifiable leaders, and desired to convince others to join their movement.
9.
The Council in Jerusalem show that there were clearly defined local churches as well as a linking together of these churches for mutual support and accountability.
10.
The Pauline letters are a strong testimony to the existence of established churches with a membership who could be called together to hear and respond to the teaching of their founding apostle.
11.
The early churches received offerings; commissioned missionaries; received reports, visits, and letters from various leaders; were expected to abide by the traditions established by the church; and were called upon to pray and to support others in churches like their own.

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Listening Sheet 6
Chapter 5, No Orphans Here
1.
In Ephesians 2:19–22 Paul uses three images to describe the church—fellow citizens with the saints, God’s household, and a building structured and put together by God.
2.
The church is a live organism created and assembled by Christ, governed by
His Word, and empowered by His Spirit to complete His Messianic mission.
3.
The church is God’s forever family.
4.
Love is the church’s foundation, its source of stability.
5.
Church families express fellowship through acts of kindness and generosity that serve as proof of authentic relationships.
6.
A vital relationship with God finds expression in human fellowship with other believers.
7.
Sin breaks our fellowship with God and forgiveness restores our fellowship with one another.
8.
Paul illustrates church unity by comparing the church to a human body with many members.
9.
Church members should draw near in worship, hold fast to our confession, and stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

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Listening Sheet 7
Chapter 6, We Are His Body
1.
The church body requires unity to reach its full potential.
2.
The church, while made up of many diverse members, is one body precisely because all are incorporated into community by their relationship with
Christ.
3.
We cannot allow our petty differences to impact the unity and ministry of the body of Christ.
4.
For effective ministry the church needs both unity and diversity.
5.
Unity in the church is the work of the Spirit.
6.
Unity does not mean uniformity.
7.
The body is designed by the Creator.
8.
We often think we have chosen a church, but behind our choice is the creative process of God who has designed us for His body and placed us in it just as He desires.
9.
The design of the body mandates mutual care.
10.
The body is empowered to express God’s fullness.
11.
Christ is head over everything, including His church.

Connected Community
Listening Sheet 8
Chapter 7, Me, a Priest?
1.
“Holy priesthood” underlines the ministry of believers who are called to offer up spiritual sacrifices.
2.
Peter wrote about the church as a spiritual house made alive and growing by the presence and power of Christ.
3.
The call to radical obedience and the resulting holiness is the foundation for our priestly service.
4.
The five sacrifices required of a priestly people include our bodies, out ministry, our good deeds, our worship, and our stewardship.
5.
The clear teaching of the Bible is that you are created in God’s image, redeemed by His grace, gifted and empowered by His Spirit, and placed in His body by design.
6.
We were created and redeemed for good works.
7.
God is interested in availability not ability.
8.
We are to live by the transformation of our minds.
9.
The five principles of giftedness are: (1) sound judgment; (2) universal giftedness; (3) unity through diversity; (4) interdependence; (5) common good.

Connected Community
Listening Sheet 9
Chapter 8, Structured for Effectiveness
1.
Every church needs a clearly defined structure that will enable it to accomplish its God-given purpose.
2.
The early church was a community of Spirit-filled people who turned the world upside down.
3.
The English word deacon comes from the word translated “serve tables”
(diakonos).
4.
The meeting of practical needs was critical to the ongoing effectiveness of the church.
5.
The church planters knew that without leaders to teach and encourage the believers, the church would not thrive or long survive.
6.
God has ordained leadership structure in the church for the mutual benefit of all the members and the effective expansion of the kingdom through the church.
7.
Leadership requires harmonious relationships.
8.
For the sake of the kingdom, we must determine that we will do whatever it takes to live in peace with one another.
9.
Administrative leadership is a spiritual authority given by God and earned through effective service.
10.
The pastor is both leader and servant.
11.
The result of shared ministry is maturity, doctrinal stability, and the growth of the body in love.
12.
The single desire of church leaders and church members is to discern the will of God, which will enable the body to more effectively fulfill the Great
Commission.

1.
Discipline from God is a sign of the Lord’s love for His children.
2.
When we view discipline through the prism of God’s infinite love, it will be seen as a vital part of our spiritual growth.
3.
God’s people are called to radical obedience and visible holiness.
4.
The church is the community through which God has chosen to reveal
Himself and advance His kingdom.
5.
Discipline is one of the means God uses to purify His church, enabling it to reflect His character.
6.
God’s holiness is made manifest in the holiness of His people.
7.
Unconfessed and unrepentant sin will negatively impact the church’s effectiveness when it comes to the reaching of their community and the world and thus must be dealt with in a compassionate and biblical manner.
8.
Discipline has as its ultimate goal the restoration of the fallen one.
9.
Church discipline is a key to maintaining unity in the body of Christ.
10.
Church discipline is essential because it is biblical.
11.
Discipline is a family matter ,and thus the context is always the church as a loving family.
12.
Sin disrupts the fellowship and impacts the unity and ministry of the church.
13.
When thinking about the impact and value of church discipline, do not overlook the role of the Holy Spirit in both the conviction of sin and the restoration of the believer.
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Listening Sheet 10
Chapter 9, Disciplined for God’s Glory

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Listening Sheet 11
Chapter 10, Designed for Balanced Growth
1.
Luke 2:52 reports that Jesus growth was balanced including intellectual,
physical, spiritual, and social.
2.
Since the church is the body of Christ and the people through whom He has determined to advance His kingdom on earth, we must be willing to remove any barriers that inhibit the balanced growth of the church.
3.
Jesus promised to build His church.
4.
Early members of the church manifested a hunger for doctrinal teaching, a desire for fellowship with other believers, spontaneous generosity, and joyous
worship.
5.
Church leaders and members can be instruments through whom God causes growth.
6.
Healthy church growth begins with growing believers.
7.
When individual church members fail to grow spiritually, the church will not
grow as God intended .
8.
Personal spiritual growth and balanced church growth go hand in hand.
9.
Every church has a personality, and it is the sum total of the character of its members.
10.
A healthy church grows in character.
11.
A growing church will be missional in character because it reflects God’s heart for the nations.
12.
A healthy church experiences balanced growth.
While our concern for the lost must compel us to pray for and celebrate numerical growth, we must seek biblical and balanced growth and understand that God causes the increase.

Connected Community
Listening Sheet 12
Chapter 11, Partners in God’s Global Task
1.
The church must not be so focused on temporal issues that is loses sight of its
kingdom task.
2.
The church is God’s chosen instrument for advancing His kingdom to the ends of the earth.
3.
Evangelism is the privilege of every believer since we are all witnesses.
4.
Authentic worship naturally leads to passionate evangelism.
5.
One of the first examples of the power given for effective witness is Pentecost.
6.
Our task is to bear witness to the life-transforming power of Christ.
7.
In Acts 1:8 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth depict an ever-
8.
Five ways a church can participate in reaching the nations are: pray, go, send,
give, plant. increasing opportunity that crosses both regional and racial barriers.

Connected Community
Listening Sheet 13
Chapter 12, Assured of Victory
1.
Your church is designed and empowered to advance God’s kingdom by His power until His glorious return.
2.
Christ and His church will be triumphant.
3.
Today Christ rules and reigns from His royal position at the right hand of the
Father.
4.
While God’s glory is revealed in creation, it is but a dim shadow of His glory when compared with His manifestation of Himself in His church.
5.
Christ pours out blessings upon His church to enable it to express Hiss
fullness in the world today.
6.
Since we know that one day we will live together with Him, we must spend
7.
When Christ returns, the church, the perfected bride, will be presented in purity and glory to Christ. our earthly time encouraging and building up one another.