Grow Guide | September 6, 2026
Text Study for Sunday, September 6, 2026
Series Theme: Live in Community
Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
CONNECTING QUESTIONS
What was an early lesson you learned from your family about money?
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Loving God, Thank You for calling us into Your beloved community. Though we are many, You make us one body in Christ, each with unique gifts and a shared purpose. Teach us to love You and love one another in all we do. Help us to value connection, conversation, and companionship. Equip us to build intentional relationships both within our church and beyond our walls. Fill us with grace to seek reconciliation, generosity to care for others, and humility to serve faithfully. May Your love overflow through our lives, forming a community that reflects Christ and proclaims peace to the world.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
CONTEXT
Live in Community For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. – Romans 12:4-5 As part of God’s beloved community, we will love God and love others in all we do. We will value connection, conversation, and companionship. We will develop intentional relationships with all God’s people within and outside our walls. We will use 2 Corinthians as a lens because this letter reveals Paul’s understanding of Christian leadership, ministry, and community. Paul deals with these themes while addressing some very practical tasks, such as defending his ministry while seeking reconciliation, raising funds for the poor, and countering competitors who are challenging his ministry and, in his view, abusing the Corinthians and leading them astray. Throughout Paul depicts how his own life experience, with all its vicissitudes, becomes the location where Christ’s overflowing sufferings and consolation render the gospel to others in such a way that authentic community might be formed. We learn how God’s mercy and consolation actually helps us bear suffering, sin, and death, overflowing within and through our relationships with others into expanding communities that embody and proclaim God’s reconciliation of the entire world. Let’s live in community!
From Dr Mary Hinkle Shore at EntertheBible.org:
Paul’s tone changes dramatically between the first six chapters, which are more conciliatory, and the later chapters, which are more strident and argumentative. In between, he urges the Corinthians to continue collecting funds for the Jerusalem church. Because of these shifts in tone, modern scholars disagree on when the parts of the letter were written. Many argue that chapters 10-13 were written after chapters 1-9. Yet others treat chapters 8 and 9 as a separate letter or letters. Nonetheless, given the overall consistency in both its theological content and literary structure, 2 Corinthians can reasonably be read as a coherent whole, even if its different parts were written in stages.
LOOK AT THE BOOK
How is it with your spirit this week?
What was one take-away from listening to the Carry On Cast podcast that connects with this Grow Guide?
Our theme is connected to our church’s vision statement “Live in Community.” Tell about a time you shared money when it was not convenient.
Jump to 2 Corinthians 8. This entire letter is about repairing fractured relationships. It is also about showing up to support others financially.
In verse two, what was happening to the church in Macedonia? What might be an example of this?
Notice what were the two things that resulted from that affliction.
Notice more how Paul adds emphasis to each word. What do you think abundant joy looks like?
What do you think extreme poverty looks like?
Why might Paul put those two ideas: joy and poverty together?
What flows from that strange combination is generosity! How would you define generosity?
Who taught you what generosity looks and feels like?
Paul is giving an example of the Macedonian church to the Corinthians as an encouragement to financially support the work of the church. Notice in verse four, what is the key word to describe what generosity with the church looks like?
Every day we are bombarded with conversations about money: ads, sales, needs and more. If the church never talks about money, then does our faith have nothing to say? What should the core message about faith and money be?
In what ways can Easter Lutheran Church invite others to be generous as part of our discipleship? What, in your mind, is a meaningful invitation to become a “partner?”
How is Jesus good news for us this week?
What would you like to talk about that we have not yet?
TAKING IT HOME
Make a $5 gift to new ministry or nonprofit this week that you admire. How did you choose that one to support? Why?
Sending Prayer
O God, you made us in your image and send us into the world you so love by your Spirit’s power. As you have called all people to you, make us one in your name. Through your grace, let us live in community to the glory of your Son, for we pray in Christ’s holy name. Amen.