What's After ATX (Part 1): Our Fascination With The Afterlife

Over the next 5 weeks, we will be embarking on a series concerning a BIG question that I have no doubt all of us have wondered at some point in our life…”What happens after you die?”.

You and your group members may be thinking that this question is of paramount importance to Christians in particular but what Justin has reminded us as we begin discussing this topic is that it has entered the mind of every human who has ever stepped foot on planet earth. This topic gives us a chance to come to the table with every single person on earth. And I know if you’re like me, you may be terrified of this question. But I want to invite you as a leader to model bravery and authenticity as you tackle this topic; For this is an opportunity for us to envision together how much God wants for us and what God envisions for us both now and in the future.

TO START

Ask one or both of these questions:

  • Why do you think people often avoid thinking or talking about what happens after you die?

  • Are you more fearful or hopeful when talking about what’s after death?

FOR FUN

  • Make a group list of every depiction you can think of from popular culture (film, tv, novels, music, etc..) related to what happens after death.

    • i.e. the Netflix tv series, The Good Place illustrates a view of both Hell and Heaven

TO DISCUSS

Read Hebrews 8:5, “[The Jewish priests] serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in Heaven” and Hebrews 11:16, “Instead, [Abraham and his descendants] were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Now let’s focus tonight’s discussion on two questions primarily:

  • What do you believe happens to you after you die? In what way, has your upbringing or culture played a role in what you believe about what’s after death?

  • If things in this world are only a shadow of Heaven, what do you think it means for Heaven to be even more real and more vibrant than the place we call home now?

TO PRAY

I invite you to pray this prayer in your group (if you’re able, you can share you screen and pray it together)

God, we desire for you to use these series on what you’ve revealed about heaven and the afterlife to serve as seeds for our imagination. We pray that we won’t chase after the knowledge of every aspect of what’s to come. But rather that we will look to Scripture and what you’ve revealed to us through one another to be both hopeful and grounded even in the uncertainty of what’s to come knowing that with love, you have prepared a place for us that we can only slightly imagine. Lord, we also ask that you give us courage to invite someone to journey with us as we dive deep into this topic. It may be uncomfortable and the answers we find might be unexpected but we know that if we let you, you will allow us to grow in relationship with our neighbors through conversations and connections brought about by this topic. Amen.

Matt DeLano