It seems that despite the Church's devotion to Christ, from the perspective of the rest of the world, its behaviour often seems distinctly "unChristian", distinctly unlike that of Christ, especially in the way that we are so soft of on our sin (hypocritical) and so hard on everyone else's (judgmental). But what if we learned to celebrate our own brokenness, rather than pretending that we are holier than we are? What if we learned to focus on our own growth, rather than obsessing with everyone else's flaws? How would that change people's perception of both Christianity and Christ?

1. Does it surprise you that 87% of people outside the church consider Christians to be judgmental? Or that 85% consider Christians to be hypocritical? Why or why not?

• Do you believe that "The number one hindrance to people engaging in a life of faith in God is actually the way that people who profess to engage in a life of faith in God actually live"? Why or why not?
• Have you ever found yourself being condemned for a choice that you made or confronted with the obvious hypocrisy of another person (especially a Christian)? Without disclosing details, what happened?
• Why do you think people find judgmentalism and hypocrisy such tempting behaviours? Why do we do it to each other?
• Which do you struggle with more? Why are you so tempted by this type of behaviour?

• Read Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Romans 3:23. Given the ease with which the Bible accepts the fact of the universal sinfulness of humanity, why do we have such trouble admitting our own brokenness to each other?
• It was suggested that if we could learn to celebrate our brokenness, we would present a more accurate message of the work of Christ. How does our hypocrisy distort the message of Jesus? How does being ok with not being ok correct that?
• It was also suggested that celebrating our brokenness endears us to others, as somehow more human and relateable. Give an example of a time when someone's honesty about their limitations gave them credibility in your eyes.
• What is one tangible step you can take to combat your own tendancy towards hypocrisy? How could that make the gospel more believable to others?

• Read 2 Peter 1:5-9. The distinction was made between a "Christian", who is only interested in the forgiveness of Jesus, and a "disciple/apprentice", who is interested in being like. Where do you see evidence of that distinction in the church?
• Read Matthew 7:1-4. What makes it hard for us to focus on the "logs  in our eyes" rather than than mere "specks" in others' eyes? Why do we struggle to think of our own flaws/sins as the logs, and the flaws/sins of others as the specks?
• Read Colossians 1:28-29.  How would our attitudes towards and relationships with seekers change if we focussed more on walking with them into "maturity in Christ", rather than criticizing their sinfulness? What would that practically look like?
• What is one tangible step you can take to combat your own tendancy towards judgmentalism? How could that make the gospel more believable to others?

4. Spend some time praying together as a group, that you would learn to celebrate our brokenness and focus on our own need for growth.

• Pray for the commitments that you've regarding hypocrisy and judgmentalism. Perhaps try praying in groups of two or three, then commit to checking in with each other throughout the coming weeks and months.
• Pray for Spirit-inspired insight into how this will help transform your relationships with those who are yet to know and love Jesus Christ.
• Pray for both the names you wrote down on your sticky note(s) and the names on the sticky note(s) you took at Spotlight last weekend.