This Is True: WK 1 - GROUP GUIDE

The Crisis of Knowing: Why Truth Feels Fractured

INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN:  Think of a time when you were absolutely certain something was true — and later discovered you were wrong. How did that realization feel? What did it teach you about knowing, certainty, or humility?

Follow-up: In one sentence, how would you describe the “truth climate” of our world today?

SCRIPTURE READING
Read together:  John 18:33–38, 1 Corinthians 13:9–12, John 14:6

Listen for the tension between certainty and revelation, information and encounter, data and relationship.

CONTEXT & SETUP (Read Aloud)
We live in a time where access to information has never been easier — yet finding truth has never felt harder. The internet overwhelms us with content, algorithms shape our attention, and culture swings between wanting absolute certainty and trusting nothing at all. Pilate’s ancient question — “What is truth?” — has become the modern cry of a confused world.

This week’s teaching reminds us that Christian truth is not just a concept, a doctrine, or a set of right answers. Truth is a Person — Jesus Christ. And knowing Him forms how we see everything else. We are not asked to become certain people. We are invited to become formed people — humble, attentive, and anchored in Christ.

HEAD: Explore the Text

1. When you hear Pilate ask, “What is truth?”, how do you hear that question? Curious? Cynical? Exhausted? Defensive? Something else? Why?
2. Read John 14:6 again. What does it mean that truth is not just something Jesus teaches, but something Jesus is? How does this reframe our approach to Christian belief?
3. The sermon introduced the Greek word aletheia (“unveiled,” “revealed”). How does this reshape the idea that we “discover” truth versus truth being “revealed” to us?
4. Modernism says truth is provable. Postmodernism says truth is perspectival. Metamodernism says truth is held in tension. Which cultural worldview has shaped you the most? Why?
5. How has the internet changed how you know things? Does your feed shape your worldview? Your sense of truth? Your emotions?
6. Paul says we “see through a glass dimly.” How do you personally relate to the idea that Christians only “know in part”?
7. What helps you discern truth more deeply — Scripture? Community? Prayer? Silence? Conversations? Practices? Something else?
8. Where does Christian humility sit in conversations about “being right”? Why do you think humility is essential to Christian epistemology?

HEART: Personal Reflection

1. Where do you experience “epistemic anxiety” — the fear of being wrong, misled, or uninformed? How does that fear affect your spiritual life?
2. Have you ever felt pressure to “pick a side” in something before you had time to think, pray, or discern? What was that like?**
3. Can you recall a time when Jesus revealed truth to you not through information, but through relationship or experience?
4. Where might Jesus be inviting you to slow down, listen, or let go of a need for certainty?

HANDS: Practice This Week
Spiritual Practice: Curating Attention

• Choose one of the following practices for the next 7 days:
• Scripture Before Screens: Don’t look at your phone until you’ve read Scripture.
• Digital Sabbath: One full day with no social media or news.
• Listening Prayer: 5 minutes of silence asking Jesus, “Reveal truth to me.”
• Communal Discernment: Ask a trusted friend: “Where do you see blind spots in me?”

Invite the group to check in next week about their experience.

FINISH WELL: Bring It Home

1. What is one place in your life where you want truth to be “unveiled” — for God to make something clearer to you?
2. Who are the people in your life that help you see more clearly? How can you invite them into your discernment this week?**
3. What will be your one intentional step toward becoming a more truthful, humble, Christ-formed person?

CLOSING PRAYER (Leader or Participant Reads)
Jesus, our Truth,
Unveil what we cannot see.
Reveal what we do not understand.
Heal our blind spots, calm our anxieties,
and lead us into deeper humility and love.
Form us into a people who know You,
follow You, and reflect You to the world.
Amen.