8-Session Formation Curriculum

An Acts-based pathway where each session includes Scripture reading, skill focus, and safe practice. The journey moves from orientation to actual proclamation, with the team supporting each step.

📚 Weekly Rhythm (90 minutes)

Each session follows a consistent flow designed to build confidence and competence:

1. Scripture Reading

Begin with the biblical text, reading together and observing carefully.

2. Observation & Discussion

Notice patterns, ask questions, and learn from one another.

3. Skill Focus

Learn a specific proclamation skill relevant to the session's theme.

4. Practice (Safe & Short)

Try the skill in a low-pressure environment with team support.

5. Prayer

Close by asking the Spirit to form us and bless our growth.

🗓️ The 8-Week Journey

01

Orientation: What Are We Training For?

Acts 1:1–11; Acts 2:1–18
🎯 Foundation Session

Focus: Jesus continues his work through the Spirit

📋 Goals

  • Establish vision and trust within the team
  • Reframe prophecy and teaching as church-building speech
  • Name fears and hopes honestly
"The one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation." — 1 Corinthians 14:3
Practice: 60-second Scripture-rooted encouragement (affirmation only, no critique)
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
⏱️ Timing Breakdown (90 min)
Welcome & opening prayer 0-10 min
Scripture reading + observation 10-30 min
Skill focus: Church-building speech 30-50 min
Practice time (encouragement) 50-75 min
Debrief (affirmation only) 75-85 min
Closing prayer 85-90 min
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Create safety first: This is about building trust, not performance
  • Model vulnerability: Share your own fears about proclamation
  • Enforce "affirmation only": No critique in Session 1—just encouragement
  • Watch for dominance: Make space for quiet voices
📦 Materials Needed
  • Printed handout: Session 1 Handout
  • Charter copies for all participants
  • Name tags (if first meeting)
02

Speaking Together in Acts

Acts 13–14 (Barnabas & Paul); Acts 2
🤝 Team Dynamics Session

Focus: Team-based proclamation patterns

📋 Key Observations from Acts

  • Barnabas and Paul enter cities as a team, taking turns speaking and strengthening believers
  • Peter speaks with the Eleven standing beside him (Acts 2)
  • Proclamation in the early church was often shared, sequential, and communal—not isolated or individual

🎯 Goals

  • Observe shared speaking patterns in Acts
  • Discover the power of communal witness
  • Practice refusing personal glory (Acts 14—"We are only human beings like you")
Practice: In pairs, outline how two speakers might share one message
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Challenge solo assumptions: Most participants assume one speaker = normal
  • Celebrate collaboration: Two voices can be more powerful than one
  • Address ego honestly: Team speaking requires humility
📦 Materials Needed
03

Sermon Patterns in Acts

Acts 2; Acts 7; Acts 10
📖 Framework Session

Focus: How Acts sermons actually work

📋 Sermon Types in Acts

  • Expository/Text-Driven: Peter (Acts 2), Paul (Acts 13)
  • Narrative-Historical: Stephen (Acts 7)
  • Evangelistic/Apologetic: Paul in synagogues & marketplaces
  • Testimonial/Witness: Conversion accounts (Paul, Cornelius)

🎯 Goals

  • Identify text → Jesus → response patterns
  • Learn to summarize sermons clearly
  • Understand the sermon spine framework
Practice: Write a one-sentence Big Idea from an Acts sermon
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Introduce Sermon Spine: This is their main tool going forward
  • Practice Big Idea writing: Most struggle to distill to one sentence
  • Show structure visually: Outline Acts 2 on board/screen
📦 Materials Needed
04

Testimony as Witness

Acts 9; Acts 22; Acts 26
🎤 Practice Session

Focus: Personal story as gospel proclamation

🎯 Goals

  • Distinguish testimony from autobiography
  • Practice clarity and restraint
  • Learn the Before → Encounter → Now structure

💡 Key Principle

Testimony keeps Jesus central—not just personal experience, but gospel proclamation through personal encounter with the risen Lord.

Practice: Share a 90-second testimony with team feedback
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Enforce time limits: 90 seconds is harder than it sounds
  • Keep Jesus central: Redirect if testimony becomes autobiography
  • Use traffic light method: Before (red), Encounter (yellow), Now (green)
📦 Materials Needed
05

Prophetic Speech That Builds Up

Acts 21; 1 Corinthians 14
🔥 Discernment Session

Focus: Edification, order, and discernment

📋 What Prophetic Speech Does

  • Names what God is doing now
  • Encourages faithfulness
  • Calls for repentance without condemnation
  • Highlights victories, growth, obedience, endurance

🎯 Goals

  • Define prophecy by function, not platform
  • Learn to discern before speaking
  • Understand intelligibility and church-building speech
"I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others..." — 1 Corinthians 14:19
Practice: Group discerns one encouragement the church needs now
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Test all impressions: Model "Let others weigh what is said" (1 Cor 14:29)
  • No "God told me" to shut down discernment: Charter guardrail applies here
  • Focus on edification: Prophecy builds up, doesn't tear down
📦 Materials Needed
06

Learning to Give and Receive Feedback

Acts 15; Proverbs 27:17
🫶 Feedback Culture Session

Focus: Feedback as a spiritual practice

📋 The Three-Step Method

  • Affirm: Where was Christ clearly proclaimed? Where did Scripture come alive?
  • Clarify: Ask one question to help sharpen thinking
  • Form: Offer one specific growth invitation for next time

🎯 Goals

  • Train in Affirm → Clarify → Form feedback method
  • Learn pre-sermon shaping and post-sermon reflection
  • Experience feedback without shame

💡 Posture Check

Ask: "Did anything in this pull attention toward the speaker rather than Christ?" (Following Acts pattern of refusing personal glory)

Practice: One person brings a rough outline; group offers forming feedback (pre-delivery only)
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Model first: Leader should demonstrate giving feedback
  • No piling on: One person gives feedback, then next
  • Practice receiving: Speaker just says "thank you"—no defensiveness
  • Pre-sermon only: Lower stakes for first practice
📦 Materials Needed
07

Practice in Safe Contexts

Selected Acts passage
🎙️ Full Practice Session

Focus: Short-form proclamation (8–10 minutes)

🎯 Goals

  • Practice teaching or exhortation with team support
  • Experience communal preparation and feedback
  • Build confidence through repetition

📋 The Practice Cycle

  • Before: Speaker shares outline; team offers forming feedback
  • During: Speaker delivers; team listens for clarity, Jesus-centeredness, edification
  • After: Team offers affirmation, one clarity question, one growth invitation
Practice: Pre-feedback → delivery → post-feedback cycle (use Practice Lab guide)
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
⏱️ Extended Session (2 hours recommended)
Each speaker gets full cycle ~40 min
Plan for 2-3 speakers max Total: 120 min
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Pre-assign speakers: Give 1 week notice to prepare
  • Enforce time limits: 8-10 min delivery max
  • Full feedback cycle: Use Session 6 method
  • Celebrate courage: This is formation, not evaluation
📦 Materials Needed
08

Discernment & Sending (Optional)

Acts 20
🚀 Commissioning Session

Focus: Ongoing formation and mission

🎯 Goals

  • Name gifts observed in one another
  • Discern next steps and contexts for speaking
  • Commission one another for continued service
Practice: Group prayer and blessing over each participant
📋 Leader Notes & Session Plan
💡 Facilitation Tips
  • Name gifts specifically: "I see [gift] in you when you..."
  • Suggest contexts: Where might each person serve?
  • Commission with laying on of hands: Acts pattern (Acts 13:3)
  • Ongoing formation: This isn't graduation, it's sending
📦 Materials Needed

🎯 Expected Outcomes

By the end of this 8-week formation:

Individual Growth

  • Participants will speak more faithfully and confidently
  • Biblical patterns will inform all proclamation
  • Humility and Jesus-centeredness will be second nature
  • Feedback will be received as gift, not critique

Team Maturity

  • The team will function as a discernment body
  • Men and women will be equipped without coercion
  • Proclamation will be shared, tested, and rooted in love
  • A culture of formation will be established
This is not about creating performers, but about forming a Spirit-attentive, Scripture-shaped, communal witness—the pattern we see in Acts.

🚀 Ready to Learn the Framework?

Now that you understand the journey, explore the practical tools:

🧩 Sermon Spine

The shared framework you'll use for all proclamation practice.

🫶 Feedback Method

Learn the Affirm → Clarify → Form approach used throughout.

🎙️ Practice Lab

Understand what preparation looks like and how to ask for help.

📋 Session Handouts

Download and print all worksheets, templates, and practice guides for each session.