SomeTime Leader's Guide

Aaron Emerson

Read the article: SomeTime: An Overview & Guide

Authentic conversations

Imagine eating at Chipotle and enjoying a meaningful and significant conversation about the gospel with a friend who does not yet know Jesus. No tricks. No surprises. No awkwardness. Isn’t that what we want? Aren’t those the kinds of conversations we long to have with our friends?

But how do we get there?

Quality conversations typically involve a relationally safe environment, sincere questions, attentive listening, and unhurried time. And when discussing deeper subjects, it can often be helpful to give the other person a heads up. So asking a “Sometime…” question is an appropriate and inviting way to initiate a spiritual conversation with a friend.

For example: “Sometime, I’d like to hear about your spiritual journey… would you be up for that?”

Why are we participating in SomeTime?

It’s Significant —Every person is on a spiritual journey. And joining others in their spiritual and life journey is one of the world’s greatest needs and greatest privileges.

Simple & Doable [1] —SomeTime simply involves asking friends a “Sometime…” question and meeting with those who are open to sharing their faith journey. It’s really that simple.

Lived Out in Community —Participating in SomeTime through small groups allows us to encourage each other, to move past fears together, and to celebrate answered prayer together. It’s a shared, faith-growing experience.

Focused for a Limited Time — Our hope is that engaging with others spiritually will become a habit—for a lifetime. And habits begin with small, achievable steps for a committed period of time.

SomeTime week-by-week:

You will live out SomeTime individually, but your group will go through this CoJourners [2] experience together simultaneously. You (as the group leader) will play a meaningful role in shepherding your group.

Bible Study—Week 0 . You will not introduce SomeTime during this Bible study. The purpose of this study is to simply help your group begin praying for their friends and cultivate compassion for those who don’t yet know Christ. (Bible study content provided.)

Bible Study—Week 1 . ***IMPORTANT NOTE*** This Bible study requires preparation! You cannot simply print off this study and show up. This week you will introduce SomeTime and hand out materials to your group. There is some Bible study content, but much of the time will be spent on SomeTime . Encourage your group throughout this week! (Bible study content provided.)

Bible Study—Week 2 . Review how SomeTime is going with your group and discuss 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. (Bible study content provided.)

Bible Study Weeks 3-5 . NO BIBLE STUDY CONTENT IS PROVIDED DURING THESE WEEEKS. You will be resuming your previous Bible study series or beginning a new one, but it’s really important that you use 10 or so minutes out of your group’s time each week to ask how things are going with SomeTime .

(Note: During Week 5 you will use part of your Bible study time to fill out the SomeTime survey to give feedback . The survey is located at: cru.org/sometime)

Leadership—Leading with understanding

Each week explore your group’s experience with SomeTime. Here a few sample questions to ask:

How has it gone asking your friends the “ Sometime …” question?
What has gone well?
What are some of your fears? Hesitations?
What are some of the challenges you’re facing? (Either in asking the “Sometime…” question or in setting up a time to connect.)
Have you run into any other friends or classmates whom you felt God prompting you to consider exploring their spiritual journey?

Leadership—Helping others be successful

Encourage . Applaud even the tiniest steps of faith! Be a leader who celebrates!
Remind . Text your group throughout SomeTime with helpful Bible verses or other encouragement.
Provide a way . Get under the rock of your group’s challenges and help them think through how to overcome difficulties. Empathize and understand the challenges, but help provide a way forward for those needing guidance. If you have students who are seeing success, let the group glean advice from them.
Tell a story . Share a story about a time when you or someone else took a step of faith that ended up changing someone’s life.
Reflect and share . Do you remember when God began giving you a heart to reach out to those who didn’t yet know Christ? What Bible verses did God use in your life? What were the circumstances? Share your experiences.
Pray . Please pray regularly for the members of your group. In fact, take a few moments right now to pray for them.

For more information about SomeTime check out: cru.org/sometime

[1] Nationally, Cru students who previously participated in SomeTime provided these encouraging results:

80% of those who asked a “Sometime…” question had one or more planned spiritual conversations as a result
82% of the spiritual conversations that resulted were considered positive (16% were neutral)
74% of these spiritual “exploring” conversations became gospel conversations centering around who Jesus is, what He’s done, and why it matters
15% of the gospel conversations resulted in a student indicating a decision to become a follower of Christ

[2] What is the connection between SomeTime and CoJourners?

Many of you might be familiar with CoJourners. It’s a way of thinking about evangelism—a paradigm. CoJourners teaches principles for coming alongside others on their spiritual journey.

You could say that SomeTime is a practical guide for living out the CoJourners paradigm, primarily the “Explorer” role. CoJourners explains that there are four primary roles that we can play in another person’s spiritual journey. Often, our first step in entering a friend’s faith journey involves asking questions and seeking to understand where the other person is coming from.