Honest Little Apps

Short answer: the letter of James is the easiest book to run as a men's Bible study because every chapter ends in something to do. Below are five sessions, one per chapter, each with four discussion questions and one action for the week. No prep book needed. How to run each session (30 minutes) 5 minutes: one man reads the chapter out loud. 15 minutes: work through the four questions. Skip any that stall. 5 minutes: each man names the one action he will take this week. 5 minutes: pray for each other's action by name. Next week, open by asking who did their action. That one question keeps a group honest. Session 1: James 1 — Trials and doing the word James says to count trials as joy (verse 2). What is one hard thing in your life right now that you have only treated as a problem? Verses 13–15 trace temptation from desire to action. Where does that chain usually start for you? Verse 19 says quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Which of the three is har...

Short answer: after a fight, say one short line that lowers the temperature, take a real break, then come back and talk about one thing only. Below are twelve repair lines grouped by what you need to say, plus a three-step way to restart the conversation. First: are you both calm enough? If your heart is pounding or you want to win more than you want to understand, it is too soon. Agree on a time to come back, 20 minutes to a few hours, and actually come back. Leaving without a return time feels like abandonment to the other person. Lines for pausing "I want to keep talking about this, but I'm too worked up right now. Can we come back at 8?" "I'm not leaving the conversation. I'm taking 20 minutes so I don't say something I don't mean." "Can we stop for a minute? I care about this more than being right." Lines for owning your part "I raised my voice, and that wasn't fair to you." "I was defending mysel...