Small-Group Study Guide

This twelve-session guide selects central chapters. Leaders should read the full assigned material, keep Scripture primary, and avoid forcing personal disclosure.

No. Reading Main aim Suggested discussion

1 Chapters 1–2 Define whole-person love. Which reductions of love are common? How do Deuteronomy 6 and Jesus claim the whole life? 2 Chapters 3–4 See God’s worth and prior love. Which attribute of God needs clearer attention? How does grace precede response? 3 Chapters 5–6 Diagnose sin and new birth. How do rival loves operate? What can only the Spirit do? 4 Chapters 7–8 Center love in Christ and justification. How does looking to Christ differ from measuring the self? How are fruit and ground distinguished? 5 Chapters 9–10 Integrate affection and obedience. Which errors - emotionalism or cold duty - are most familiar? How does John 14–15 hold both together? 6 Chapters 11–12 Respond to dryness. What different causes require different care? What practices are honest and sustainable? 7 Chapters 13–16 Use Scripture, prayer, worship, and repentance.

Which practice has become mechanical? How can it become responsive communion? 8 Chapters 17–18 Love in ordinary life and relationships. Where is hidden obedience needed? How do love, truth, forgiveness, and boundaries relate? 9 Chapters 19–20 Mission and suffering. Why does love move outward? How can lament and trust coexist? 10 Chapters 21–23 Expose idols and counterfeits. Which false promise is strongest? How do legalism and experience-seeking distort love?

11 Chapters 24–27 Attend, resist, fear, and think. How are attention and desire connected? What does reverent, thoughtful love look like? 12 Chapters 28–30 Community, lifelong love, and hope. What season are members in? How does eternal communion reshape present life?

A ninety-minute meeting pattern

1. Welcome and brief prayer - 10 minutes.

2. Read the key biblical passage aloud - 10 minutes.

3. Observation and context - 15 minutes.

4. Main theological discussion - 25 minutes.

5. Pastoral application without pressured disclosure - 20 minutes.

6. Concrete practice and intercessory prayer - 10 minutes.

Leader safeguards

• Do not diagnose depression, trauma, abuse, or conversion status casually.

• Protect confidentiality, except where safety or safeguarding requires action.

• Do not let one theological voice replace Scripture.

• Distinguish command, wisdom, conscience, and personal practice.

• Refer serious pastoral, medical, mental-health, or legal concerns appropriately.

• Make room for quiet participants and avoid rewarding dramatic testimony.