Power to Change » friends

Worth the Risk of Rejection

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:00:56 +0000

Where is the line between accepting Jesus and not even being open to the gospel? What makes one person ready to commit to Jesus as their Savior and one person who won’t commit? It’s a journey and if you are willing to persevere and risk the rejection, you can be the difference that encourages your friend to step over the line.

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Effectively Sharing the Gospel
Conversations that Count

Watching My Words

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:50:41 +0000

Kim likes to have time to think things out, but when it comes to relating to others she doesn’t always have the luxury of time. She knows that sometimes she focuses on what is right, and not on the relationship. Have you ever found yourself arguing without thinking about how your words are affecting the other person?

Related
Words matter – A conversation about love

When Friends Let You Down

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:28:02 +0000

Where do you find your firm, reliable foundation for life? Anita, like most people, relies on her friends for stability in life. But as reliable and caring as friends can be, they will not always be so. And sometimes life’s challenges are beyond our friends’ abilities to help with. We all desire a totally trustworthy foundation for life that can be trusted totally. Where do you find your firm foundation, even when things look bleak or friends let you down?

Related:
Is Your World Not Right?

Reveal Your True Self

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:24:11 +0000

Can you know someone for a long time but never really show your true self? Absolutely. It wasn’t until Florence took the “Bursting Your Bubble” training was she really ready to reveal her story to her friend. With the tools that she received from the training, Florence was able to start a spiritual conversation and help her friend through a trying time her life. Are you ready to reveal all of yourself to your friends?

Related
Learn more about Bursting Your Bubble: A Relationship Revolution

Stand Apart From the Crowd

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:03:51 +0000

Do a lot of your friends see a difference in you? Do they often ask you what separates you from them ? Do you answer them? The biggest impact you can have on the God’s Kingdom is to share the message of Jesus Christ with your friends. Do you have the courage to stand apart from the crowd.

Related
Get involved with Campus for Christ at your local university or college campus and become an agent of change in the world around you.

Build Into the Lives of Your Friends

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:16:16 +0000

Do you have a really great group of couple friends? Can you relate to each other and what they are going through? When you host a homebuilders couples study in your home you not only strengthen your own relationship with your spouse but you can build into your friends lives. Then your friends can go and pass on what they have learned to more of their friends. Do you want to build into your friends lives?

Identity Found In Friends

Tue, 31 May 2011 18:41:32 +0000

Carman found her sense of identity in the number of friends that she had. She wanted acceptance, and for a while it worked. Then when she started university she became a small fish in a huge pond. This challenged her ideas about who she was. Where do you find your foundation for your identity and acceptance?

Related:
Finding Identity And Purpose

The Bridge that Truth Burned

Thu, 12 May 2011 08:00:46 +0000

There’s a well-known idiom in the business world that has been the topic of much corporate discussion. It’s a kernel of wisdom that, depending on your priorities, can make or break you if you choose to ignore it. On the surface, it would appear to make all the sense in the world, but if by “world” we mean the majority, it could easily be argued that the trends of the majority have not always led us in the right direction.

The famous idiom: Don’t burn your bridges.

The advice was given to me in passing while I worked at an international securities firm. My job? Sitting behind a desk at the center of a posh reception hall, greeting corporate executives and making them feel welcomed. Not much of a bridge to burn since mine was a job at the bottom of the totem pole, but a bridge it was nevertheless. Maintaining professional ties with my fellow administrative assistants could prove a valuable source of professional references one day.

Now, aside from the rare tiff with the admin girl who insisted I call her Princess, there were no opportunities for serious altercations, and thus there were no proverbial matches for the burning of proverbial bridges. But what I didn’t know was that Princess, a mere administrative assistant herself, had through the process of repetition convinced most in the administrative pool that she was indeed royalty. If Princess didn’t feel subservience from her subjects, her royal tongue would wag their bourgeois reputations to pieces.

Underneath every company’s official corporate culture –which usually projects equity and integrity– lies an unspoken but accepted subculture. This one wears a plastic smile and carries pointy things. In order to fit in, learning to wear that smile when an unimpressed look seems more appropriate is the way to go. But, if you insist on being real and if you so foolishly defend a co-worker who, through bad luck, wasn’t able to make it to the water cooler on time to watch his own back, well, you’ve just branded yourself a non-player.

More draining than the actual job was the task of navigating office politics in a way that didn’t offend anyone, while still preserving self-respect. What a tightrope-walk! Fitting in meant listening to slander without so much as a blush, a squirm, or pang of guilt. It meant eschewing what I thought was right so that the gaggle could boost its collective ego by clawing at the reputations of others.

So, to maintain that rotten bridge that led me to the favor of my work-peers, I tried my hand at merely listening to the gossip, but it inevitably left me feeling like an accomplice with a hollow character. I snapped out of that false sense of belonging soon enough and made up my mind to sit apart and focus on my work. But that was, in essence, not acknowledging that proverbial bridge and the people who stood on it. By not actively participating, with not so much as a word, the match was lit and the bridge was burned.

That was a small bridge, mind you, and there are bigger, much taller bridges in the corporate world. But the idiom, while inherently wise, does not take into account the things that must be traded in order to keep these bridges standing. Whatever way you look at it and whatever your priorities happen to be, it’ll still cost you something. But as far as I’m concerned, if truth and basic goodness are tradeoffs to keep my bridges from burning, then I say, let them burn. They were rotten anyway.

“The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.” G.K. Chesterton

Friendships that Last

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:54:14 +0000

Everyone longs to have lasting, close friendships. Achieving these special friendships is something that takes time, work, and perseverance. Do you have what it takes to be a good friend? Do you long for a friend that you can call “the best”? Take this study to discover how you can have friendships that are meaningful and worthwhile.

1. Consider the top ten traits that you look for in a friend. Which of these traits do you have? How can you adopt all of these ten traits? More thoughts...

Consider what will happen in your friendships with others if you become the ‘ideal’ friend that you are looking for.

2. How can you be a better friend to those around you? More thoughts...

Think about the amount of effort you put into your friendships. Some friendships are all about taking, and some are all about “giving”. What kind of issues do “giver and taker” kind of friendships have?

3. How can you befriend those who don’t have any friends? What holds you back from doing so? More thoughts...

Consider what Jesus would do if he saw someone by themselves, or getting teased. How can you model Jesus and love others the way that He would? How can you break free from worrying about what your friends will think of you, and befriend the friendless?

4. What kind of influence are your friends having on you? How might friends build up or tear down your faith or compromise your values and morals? More thoughts...

Consider some of the things that you learn from your friends, positive or negative.

5. How can God use you to share your beliefs with your non-Christian friends? List some effective ways to share your faith. More thoughts...

What should you do when friends influence you to compromise what you believe? How can you say no in a loving, friendly way?

6. How can you stand firm against peer pressure? More thoughts...

List some ways you can stand strong when friends influence you to compromise what you believe. Consider Ephesians 6:10-18 and how this passage might apply to peer pressure.

7. What are some ways to resolve conflict in a friendship? More thoughts...

Consider what the bible says about forgiveness. Matthew 18: 21-22 says “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."'

8. What kinds of events lead to a broken friendship? When this occurs how can you evaluate the situation so that you know if you should seek to restore the friendship or let it go? More thoughts...

Sometimes we may feel ignored by someone we thought was a friend. This can lead to a broken friendship. Think about how you can uncover the reason for the lack of communication.

9. How can you support a friend during a tough time? More thoughts...

If a friend is going through a tough time, we can feel helpless in offering them support and encouragement. Consider some ways that you have been encouraged in a difficult time and how you might pass that on to a friend.

10. I have the following questions/comments about this study. Also please pray for me in these areas:

Name

Confirm Email

Gender

Male

Female

City

Province

Country

Finding Mentors, Making Friends

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:53:40 +0000

Mentors and friends are those who pour into your life making your life richer because of their influence. Making friends is a skill that can be developed as you learn to put others first and foremost in your life. You will develop deeper friendships as you learn what matters to people and make an investment into their life by being their friend. Take this study to learn more about mentors and friends.