Read the Bible passage.

Questions:

What is the context of the biblical passage? Geographical? Political? Social? What is the nature of the people, powers, and systems in this context?
Where are people trapped by sin and evil?
What is our context? Where are we? What is our world like?
Is there anything in our context that is like the context of the biblical passage?

In the biblical text, how are God’s people called and sent to participate with God in what God is doing?
In the biblical text, how are God’s people called to be a sign of God’s future?
In our context, how is God calling and sending the church to participate in what God is doing in the world?
How does this text call the church to discern its missional vocation?
How does this text call and send the church, in all of its life together, to be a sign of the reign/kingdom of God? How can everything we do be more in sync with God’s mission in the world?
When others are watching the church, what do they see that would give them a hint of what God is doing in the world, or what God intends for the future? How can this text help the church align all that we do, say, and are with God’s future?
Through this text, what can we learn about how God is not only calling and sending us, but also empowering us, giving us what we need to work with God?