Small Group Studies for World-Changers

Jesus, Bombs & Ice Cream by Ben Cohen & Shane Claiborne

A couple of years ago, Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, and Shane Claiborne crossed paths. Ben said to Shane, “I have read your books, and I like what I see.” Shane said to Ben, “I have eaten your ice cream, and I like what I taste.”

They started dreaming and scheming… and ‘Jesus, Bombs, & Ice Cream’ was born.

Through visual art, music, testimonies and poetry, this small group study aims to provoke your group to imagine a world with fewer bombs and more ice cream.

In 6-sessions the unlikely pair hosts an audacious journey to inspire your group into thinking of ways to can end violence in your local community and constituency.

So how will ‘Jesus, Bombs, & Ice Cream’ change the world?

You'll learn how to harness grief to become a voice for reconciliation through the words of a 9/11 survivor. Hear an Iraq war veteran talk about carrying your cross. Watch a demonstration using Oreo’s on how much America spends on their military. Be inspired by the Beatitudes and other teachings of Jesus on violence and love, then go and live as peacemakers.

The Mind Map by Dave Gilpin

“Our thoughts are like trains… they’re all going somewhere.”

Dave Gilpin, eccentric pastor from Hope Church UK, takes you on a tour of the ‘Mind Map’ concept: a virtual landscape showing the renewal process of the mind (Romans 12:2).

Dave explains, using a city-based analogy, that our minds are the Grand Central Station of our lives: “inside every mind are fields of dreams, floods of emotion, trains of thought and cities of habit.” This ‘skyline’ determines your character and actions. The Mind Map 8-episode small group study teaches practical ways to change your thinking processes to transform your mind.

So how will ‘The Mind Map’ change the world?

Every good study will start with the Bible, work on changing you, then inspire you to go into your world and use your new knowledge/courage/mind set/tools. ‘Mind Map’ focuses on you. After all, if you give a man a fish he can feed his family for a day, but help him to be ‘transformed by the renewing of his mind’ and he’ll be able to test the will of God and live it!