Week 9 Leaders Notes
Week #9 is about telling others - telling your stories. The Rooted material talks about three different stories. This can be confusing, so we will break these into three categories here:
Pre-rooted Story. Page 27 of the leaders guide describes this story: “Have two people share their 2-5 minute story of how they came to Christ, or how they ended up in this group.” These are the stories everyone has been sharing throughout the Rooted experience.
Life Story. This story is described in Week #9 Days #3 and #4 of the participant book. This is a detailed story of how a person committed their life to Christ. It is a story they would use to share Christ with someone else. It has three parts: Before, Commitment, & After. This story is developed during Rooted week #9 in response to 1 Peter 3:15-16: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” Participants are not asked to share their detailed Life stories during group time, because there is not enough time to do this. As a leader, you should acknowledge Life stories, and ask your group if they took time to develop them. You could also ask your group to share their stories with each other outside of group time if they had questions or wanted feedback to improve their life story.
Cardboard Testimony. This is described on page #75 of the leaders guide. This third story is sometimes called a “Rooted Life Change Story”. This story explains how a person changed during Rooted. Some long time Christians will say that they did not change during Rooted because they were already a committed Christian. Remind these people that Rooted is a “Ten week discipleship experience that causes life change”, and that “The life change may be theirs, or may be someone else whose life they help change.” Ask them to consider how they can use what they experienced in Rooted to change someone else’s life. Cardboard testimonies are used at our Celebration Experience.
The folder that you recieved during Rooted leaders training had Before and After Story Cards. Please give each participant one of these cards during your week 9 meeting. These cards have two uses:
During Your Group: Participants will describe their life change story to your group, and will fill out a Before and After Story Card. Please collect all the cards from your participants and return them to Next Steps or the church office by the date in the Calendar.
At The Rooted Celebration: The Discipleship team chooses people to present their cardboard testimony based on the Before and After Story Cards. You can see an example of how the cardboard testimonies will be used here: YouTube Video - Cardboard Testimonies.
NOTE: It is essential that you ask your participants to write their Cardboard Testimonies on their Before and After Story Cards in TEN WORDS OR LESS. The discipleship team can only choose short simple statements that will fit on a poster board, and can be read across our auditorium. You can find photos of the cardboard stories we chose in November 2024 posted here: Pantano Cardboard Story Photos Nov 2024. Please collect all of your Before and After Story Cards and return them in their original envelope by the date listed in the Calendar. Please confirm that everyone writes their name and their group name on their cards. The discipleship team will not use the content of the cards publicly without contacting the person first.
Please identify and encourage people in your group who are potential Rooted leaders. Please ask them to facilitate one of the final discussions, and ask them to consider leading a Rooted group during the next Rooted semester. If they have questions, please ask them to contact the Discipleship Team.
Week 9 Leaders Training Video:
