By Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp

(CCEF Core Curriculum)


Description
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This 12 session Study Guide helps individuals and small groups identify the deeper issues that keep relationships less than they are designed to be. Based on principles from the book, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, this new addition to CCEF's curriculum gives practical direction on how to resolve conflicts, have difficult conversations, grant forgiveness, overlook weaknesses, and celebrate strengths. The self-explanatory Facilitator's Guide gives directions for leading others through the Study Guide.

Leaders Helps available on You Tube.  Search Leaders Helps: CCEF Core Curriculum


Authors
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Timothy S. Lane, M.Div., D.Min., is Executive Director of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF), a faculty member, and a counselor with twenty-five years of experience, including ten years as a pastor. He is the coauthor of the books How People Change and Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, coauthor of the curriculums Change and Your Relationships and How People Change, author of the minibooks Conflict; Family Feuds; Forgiving Others; and Freedom from Guilt.

Paul David Tripp, M.Div., D.Min., is the President of Paul Tripp Ministries, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. This mission leads Paul to weekly speaking engagements around the world. In addition, Paul is the Executive Director of the Center for Pastoral Life and Care in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as a best-selling author who has written numerous books on Christian living. He has been married for many years to Luella and they have four grown children.

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How to Use

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Product Overview:

• Value their relationships.

• Understand why relationships are so difficult.

• Rejoice in the grace of God that grows healthy relationships as we learn to go to God and each other.

• Bring together in our communities seemingly contradictory things like candor and compassion, humility and courage, and patience and godly conflict.

Participants and leaders will also benefit from the extra material and reinforcement of concepts contained in the book, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, also coauthored by Lane and Tripp.  

Who Is the Product For?

The Change and Your Relationships course has been designed to be used in churches, small groups, ministries, and individual discipling to help participants understand God's design for relationships and how to grow in sharing the grace of God with others. It is suitable for laypeople and ministry and counseling professionals.

How to Use This Product:

Each lesson is formatted to last 75-90 minutes, includes homework to do during the week (45-60 minutes outside class time), and contains the following sections: CPR. Each lesson has three points of focus and application to help participants focus on the main principles of the session. C stands for the central point that the participants need to understand and master. P stands for the way the central point of the lesson applies to the participant's personal life. R stands for the way these concepts set the agenda for the participant's relationships and ministry.

• The Big Question. Near the beginning of each lesson you will find "The Big Question." This question is designed to help participants take the core teaching of the lesson and use it to examine themselves, their situations, and their Lord.  The leader's goal for each session is to help participants answer this question.
  

• Review. The review at the beginning of each lesson reinforces the connections in the truths that have been presented and shows how the new lesson fits into the curriculum as a whole. Each review includes a discussion of the Make It Real homework assignment from the previous lesson. 
  

• Opening Activity. Every lesson has an opening activity designed to encourage participants to think about the lesson topic. Since you want maximum participation think about whether it would be better to divide into small groups; 10-12 participants is considered the ideal size for a small group. 
  

• Main Content. The main body of each lesson is built around key passages of Scripture. Encourage participants to take the time to read every passage mentioned in their study guide. Have extra Bibles available for those who may not have brought their own. 
  

• Closing Activity. This is designed as a way to review and to put the main idea of the lesson into immediate practice. 
  

• Make It Real (homework). At the end of every lesson, briefly scan the section and point to one or two questions that illustrate the value in completing the assignment.
  

Related Products:

The Relationship materials (book and small group study guide) are the third of CCEF's three core courses about gospel-centered change. The first part of the series is How People Change (book, small group resource, and seminar) coauthored by Timothy S. Lane and Paul David Tripp. The second part of the series is the book and small group resource Instruments in the Redeemer's Hand by Paul David Tripp. Each course is designed to give pastors, counselors, and ministry leaders a biblical, Christ-centered, and user-friendly tool to equip laypeople to grow in grace. The three courses together answer three fundamental questions: Why do people do the things they do? How does lasting change take place in a person? How can God use me in someone's life to help them grow? 

Although each of these series stand alone, it can be helpful to go through them in order--beginning with How People Change, then Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, and ending with Relationships: A Mess Worth Making.