In the midst of all the noise, what if we – like Jesus – invited people into stories that connect and transform?

Throughout his three years of public ministry, Jesus taught almost entirely through parables. Stories rich in imagination. Stories which, when entered into, became catalysts for encounter with his presence and the transformation of our mind, body and spirit.

Community Journey Training

A Community Journey is a different kind of gathering. Whether participants are seasoned Jesus followers or simply interested in spirituality, the Community Encounter invites each individual to awaken to their triune nature and to connect with the Eternal. In community, participants are invited to slow down, breathe, disconnect from distraction, explore practical spiritual action and engage with themes including identity, loss, and lament.

Every Community Encounter session is anchored in the following elements:

1. David’s story
2. Community
3. Ancient text
4. Reflection
5. Spiritual Practice

This unique way of exploring the truth of the Eternal has been thoughtfully created with input from theologians, spiritual directors, writers and artists. To get the most from this journey, sessions should be followed in sequence, as each one builds on the previous. While we strongly encourage groups to experience every session, you may omit session or two if necessary.

This training is here to help you successfully lead participants through the 10 sessions. We encourage you to review it prior to the first session and use it as a reference guide as needed.

And remember, through your thoughtful leadership, you ensure this journey provides meaningful opportunities for others to engage with the transforming presence of Creator.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Presence Creative Arts team! You can reach Krystle at krystle@presencecreativearts.com.

Group size

This Encounter works best with groups of 8-10 people (1-2 leaders and 6-8 participants).

If you’re meeting in a large group setting, we strongly suggest breaking the group into small groups of around this size. Maintaining smaller groups allows for smoother discussions, and provides time and opportunity for all participants to share.

Language

Throughout the sessions, you’ll notice that we refer to God most often as Eternal or Creator. This is intentional as the Community Encounter is designed for people of all faith and spiritual backgrounds. We encourage you to be in tune with where your group is at and use the appropriate language. Remember, God is always moving, and this Encounter is a step in people’s journey.

How to Lead a Group

Whether you’ve led group devotionals or outreach programs (like Alpha) before, or this is your first time, there are a few key elements you’ll want to keep in mind in order to lead the Community Encounters successfully.

This is not a Bible study

The first important distinction we’d like to note is that an Journey is NOT a Bible study. Bible studies are a wonderful and time-honoured way of exploring the Word of God for deeper understanding and discipleship. However, a Community Journey is about intentionally entering into a biblical story to experience the presence of the Creator and invite transformation. Together, a Bible study and a Journey can facilitate a deep and balanced relationship with the Eternal; with both, a person enters into wisdom and learning both through intellectual knowledge and experiential knowledge.

For so long there has been a focus on pursuing objective knowledge, and for good reason – we want to ensure people know who God is and how we can live out Christian faith. However, this often leaves out the deeply human need to pursue experiential knowledge. A Community Journey fills this gap, providing a safe environment for participants to have an experience with Eternal. To enable these transformative experiences, each session is built around a theme from David’s life, as laid out in scripture. Poems and words of wisdom that span the ages, Psalms and Spiritual practices that have been handed down from our Christian predecessors, and personal and community reflections are all part of the encounter.

Quietness, Silence and Stillness

As you review each session, you’ll quickly see the small number of questions and the abundance of time for reflection. This is intentional. It is much easier to have an encounter when you slow down and take time to truly reflect and listen to what the Creator God is saying to you. While it may be uncomfortable in our culture, don’t be afraid of quiet moments or times when participants are still! In fact, scripture says, “Be still, be calm, see and understand I am the True God” (Psalm 46:10, emphasis added). Elijah’s experience adds to this when God speaks to him through the gentle breeze as a quiet voice (1 Kings 19:12-13). So again, remember that quiet and stillness are part of the goal. When participants are comfortable enough not to fill the silence, we know that the Creator God is on the move!

The Role of Prayer

Prayer is fundamental to the success of everything we do as Jesus followers! We believe in the power of prayer, so as leaders, remember to pray! Yes, there are moments of prayer built into each session, but pray all the way through. Pray as you prepare, pray when people are quiet, pray when people are speaking – bathe each moment in prayer!

Preparing for each session

To support you in your role, we’ve put together some important areas to consider as you prepare for each session in the Community Journey.

1. Pray! As mentioned above there can’t be too much prayer, including praying for each participant by name.
2. Review the Leader’s Notes. Each session will have a quick leader note at the top. These are there to highlight a few important elements and help you prepare.
3. Review the session. Know where the quiet moments are. If you need to adjust the language slightly to sound more like you, do so. It is also important that if there are two options given for a section, you pick the one you’re going to use in advance.
4. Bring your story. Look for where the personal story moment is and decide what you’d like to share from your own experience.
5. Share how you are being impacted. At the beginning of each session, participants are invited to share their reflections, thoughts and impact from the previous meeting. Depending on the group, you might start with sharing your own experience of the last session as a way of inviting others to do so.
6. Practice stillness and BREATHE! Before each session, take a moment to breathe and quiet yourself-this makes it easier to guide participants into the same reflective state. As a leader, you set the tone for your group. If silence feels uncomfortable or you tend to rush to fill it with conversation, consider simple practices to expand your comfort with stillness. Tools like breathwork, prayer, and practical reminders can help. When you practice being at ease in silence, you invite participants into that ease as well.

Breath Prayers

There is a long tradition in the church of using our breath to help us pray without ceasing and to connect us in stillness to our Creator. A form of meditation practiced by many giants of the Christian faith combines the use of our bodies while engaging our minds with spiritual focus. Each session starts with a time of breath prayer. Please utilize one of our suggested breath prayers to lead your group. The first few sessions will start with the In-Out prayer and then move into Yahweh and Shepherd, Guide Me. There will be some sessions where an option for prayers will be given. Using your knowledge of the group, choose the prayer that will fit best. To learn more about breath prayers, see the extra resources.

Leading Breath Prayer

In-Out Prayer

Invite participants to breathe slowly, taking time to notice the breath going in and out of their body. They may want to close their eyes or look at one place – invite them to do whatever helps them.

After a few moments, lead participants in breathing together. Use the words, “We’re going to breathe together. Breathing in for three seconds and breathing out for three seconds. Breathe in (wait three seconds), breathe out (wait three seconds). In. . . Out. . .” Continue for 1-2 minutes. As the leader, ensure that your breath is audible to help lead the group. You can also encourage participants to let go of their day, the stress, worries or concerns. Remind them this is an opportunity for them to lay whatever they need to at the feet of the Creator.

Yahweh Prayer

Invite participants to breathe slowly, taking time to notice their breath going in and out of their body. They may want to close their eyes or look at one place – invite them to do whatever helps them.

After a few moments, say, “This time, instead of simply breathing in and out together for three seconds, we’re going to use the name of the Creator – Yahweh. With our inhale we’re going to say ‘Yah,’ and with our exhale we’re going to say ‘Weh’ with a beat in between.”

“Yah (inhale)(beat) Weh (exhale)(beat). Yah Weh. Yah Weh.” repeat this for 1-2 minutes. If you feel so led, you can naturally lead people back into the simple In-Out prayer outlined above.

Shepherd, Guide me (Psalm 23: 1)

With praying scripture, the text is broken into two phrases, with the breath in between.

Invite participants to breathe slowly, taking time to notice their breath going in and out of their body. They may want to close their eyes or look at one place – invite them to do whatever helps them.

After a few moments, say, “As we breathe together, we’re going to say the words, ‘Shepherd, guide me.’ Like this: “Shepherd (inhale), Guide me (exhale). Let’s pray together.

Shepherd (inhale), Guide me (exhale).” Repeat this for 1-2 minutes. If you feel so led, you can also move into the In, Out or Yahweh prayers outlined above.

Additional Breath Prayer resources available here: https://www.london.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Way-Of-Life_Communal_Breathing_BreathPrayer.pdf

Session Format & Booklet

Proposed Format for Your Community Journey Session

Participants Arrive: Welcome each person as they come in! Introduce yourself and help make introductions. Take time to engage in some fun, light, welcoming conversation before the session begins. We encourage you to offer tea, coffee and/or water.

Admin & Breath: After introducing the session’s theme and addressing any administrative or other details, you will start most sessions with a moment of quiet breathing together to help centre the moment. Breath prayer training can be found above.

Introduction Poem: The first poem is designed to help participants move slowly and gently from the breath prayer into the session. While there isn’t an official reflection question for the introduction poem, we encourage you as the leader to share how the poem impacts you, what stood out to you, and then invite others to share if so led.

Explore the Topic: Next, you will begin to unpack and explore the topic of the session.

Film: In each session, you will show a scene or compilation of moments from the film The Shepherd & The Sound. These scenes are chosen to help participants enter into David’s story and notice new things both about him and about themselves.

Film Reflection: The group reflection questions provided are designed to enable each participant to reflect on the story of David as well as their own story. For some of the reflections, you will have a choice of direction for these questions. As the leaders, take the time to consider which set of questions would be a good fit for your unique group.

Reflection Action: In addition to the reflection questions, each session includes a reflection action designed to bring a more experiential element to the reflection time. Some of the actions involve going outside; if this is the case, an indoor alternative is also provided. While we want every participant to be comfortable, we also want to encourage them to experience God’s creation when possible. We encourage you to step out of what might be a comfort zone and invite each participant to engage with the activity presented.

Psalm or Psalms Microfilm: Next in the journey are Psalms or Psalms Microfilms. For the sessions that include Psalms Microfilms, you can choose to simply read the scripture instead; the verses are included in the Leader’s Guide. This is a moment when participants are invited to step with their imaginations into the ancient text. If reading the Psalm, encourage participants to enter into the text by listening and noticing which words or phrases stand out for them.

Psalm Reflection: Take time to hear what stood out to each participant. If using the Psalms Microfilm, there will be slightly different questions than if you read the Psalm.

Closing Thought: To help bring this time of reflection and conversation to a close, we’ve provided a closing thought for you to share. These vary in length; as the leader, feel free to add your own words or story to help the group move toward concluding the session.

Closing Poem: As this Encounter is built around community and ancient text, each session ends with a poem or word of wisdom. A thought that participants can take with them as they go, to help them continue reflecting on the topic.

Closing Prayer: Take time to pray at the end of each session. Most sessions give some extra direction for the prayer. After praying, be sure to thank participants for coming and being willing to share their experiences and reflections.

Participants Booklet

Each participant should be supplied their own booklet. The booklet is available both as a digital copy and as a self-print. The booklet highlights elements of each session, including the poems, Psalms and film quotes. While it does not include all the questions in the Leader’s Guide, it does include plenty of space for people to write their reflections and answers. Lines have been intentionally removed so participants can feel free to write, draw, scribble – whatever helps them reflect and process their thoughts and experiences. Encourage people to use these booklets throughout the Community Journey.