Say When....Discussion Guide III

There have been lots of great group discussions around the content of this series, Say When. As people take a serious look into what God has given us, why He has given it to us and in so much abundance, and the wisdom He calls and equips us to use with it all- lives will absolutely change.

This study can go in a few different directions conversationally- but the main thing- the most helpful thing for your group- is honesty. We need a place where we can put it all out there. As you study some of the selected passages, as you pray together, as you talk about the topic of finances- it's very important that you, the leader, let the environment be about the people actually in your group. Welcome and challenge your people to vulnerability- acknowledging that with finances, this is as awkward and uncomfortable as it gets. But where else will it happen? Visa is not looking to help us reduce our debt stress!

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Discussion  Guide for Say When III

Thaw

• Did you get allowance as a kid? How much?
  
• What was the first thing you saved up for and purchased?
  
• What was the first thing you remember buying and feeling totally let down?
  
• Who taught you how to handle/manage finances? Do you think you were set up for success or failure?
  
• Was there anything from the message Sunday that really stood out? What was most impacting, helpful, confusing?

Read

Proverbs 21:20

• First thoughts?
  
• How does our culture promote financial wisdom?
• How does it promote foolishness?

Leader note: This passage talks about wisdom in association with planning for tomorrow. It connects foolishness with not considering any moment beyond the immediate. See if you can identify ways that our culture endorses the "spend it all now, don't worry about what it will mean later" mentality. Consider, for example, the new add that's popular for Chase Bank featuring the Queen song "I want it all" (playing the first 20 seconds of this song will make the point for anyone that's seen the commercial).

• What are the reasons you can conceive of that God would care about this kind of wisdom and foolishness?

Leader's note: The above question may seem insultingly simple, but two huge truths about God and faith in Him continue to elude people. This question is designed to get at both truths (or, rather, one truth with two dimensions): 1. God actual cares for each of us, loving us like a Daddy- so our living foolishly, especially where our resources are concerned, affects Him as He wants for us to have a great life. (1 Peter 5:6-7) Our finances matter to Him as much as our souls do! 2. If we are foolish with our resources, that means we have less capacity to help those who do not have. If I am not aware of what I have in store, or how it got there, or where it may be going- I am incapable of dispensing those resources, as God commands, to those around me in need. My foolishness with resources equals other's continued but unnecessary poverty!

Apply

• How many people in the group have a budget that they would consider effective? How did they get this budget started? Can they help others who don't have a budget get started this way?
  
• How many people in the group have a set percentage for what they live off of, and what they give? How did they begin doing this? What advice would they give to those who don't have these amounts decided?
  

Leaders note: Depending on where you are in the life-cycle of your group, and how many people seem to be in need of some help in their financial wisdom, explore with the group how open they are to putting all their debt on the table for accountability's sake. This will be excruciating for some people to talk about, let alone do- but you may find God prodding you and others in the group to allow each other a peak behind the curtain on this issue. Cast vision for the members of the group: where could we each be in one year if we put it all out there and helped each other make good decisions? Where could we be by this time next year if we worked as a team to remove "dummy debt", track spending, have a budget that works well, and live strictly and passionately along the simplistic values of "give, save, live off the rest"? What kind of stories of freedom are waiting to be told when the members of your group trust each other that much? What will God do with that level of freedom (wisdom!)?

You may want to wrap up the meeting with an invitation to come to the next meeting with what you owe, debt-wise. Or, perhaps it's that your group needs to break into partners to form a budget that gets people started. Keep their resistance, fear and embarrassment in mind, and make it about the freedom and the wisdom we're invited into! Some members of the group won't be ready for this step, but you at least uncover the general needs, and in the future, may decide to do Financial Peace University together, or the group study entitled "LO$T"

Passages for additional study

Proverbs 22:7, Matthew 6:25-27