This study guide is the perfect companion to the book Love God, Love Everybody: Following Jesus In Our Divided World. It outlines a seven-week study of the book and is helpful for small group discussions or larger classroom settings. For more about Love God, Love Everybody the book, read below: Love God, Love Everybody is both a story and a guide. It's the story of how over his twenty-five years of serving in church ministry, Pastor Leon Bloder came to a new understanding of what it meant to follow The Great Commandment that was taught by Jesus in the Gospels and how that understanding found a true home in the church he serves as Lead Pastor in Austin Texas. That new understanding helped Leon realize that the Church should be a home for everyone, regardless of their background, identity, politics, or theology. When his church adopted the vision to Love, God, Love Everybody, the result was a dramatic transformation, what he calls a "holy disruption." In this book, Leon reflects not only on his journey but the journey of his faith community to lean in closer to the Great Commandment and become a welcoming and inclusive church. Leon also employs skillful biblical interpretation, personal stories, and practical advice on what it means to Love God, Love Everybody both as an individual follower of Jesus, and as part of a church family. This book also serves as a guide for pastors and church leaders who are interested in exploring what it means to become a Great Commandment church, and to truly be a faith community with space for everyone. To all who might be considering either participating or facilitating this class, Leon offers the following word of encouragement, and an invitation:  I still believe in the Church, in spite of all of the challenges it presents, mistakes it has made, and sins it has committed.   And I am not ready to give up on a vision for a sold-out, all-in, Great Commandment community that is chasing after the Spirit with wild abandon, and stumbling in the footsteps of Jesus as best it can.   As I enter into the last couple of decades of my own ministry, I see this is the driving vision of my life, and I want to lead in faith communities where we are pursuing that vision together.   Someone recently shared this amazing quote from Stephen Bryce with me, and I knew as soon as I read it, I had to share it here:   "I am utterly convinced that God will have all kinds of grace if we got the theology wrong. I'm not entirely sure about how God will take it if we got the loving other people, seeking justice, and choosing mercy part of life wrong." There is so much truth in that quote.  We can mess up a lot of things, but if we get loving other people right, we're on our way to living as Jesus taught that we should live.   To that end, there is no greater commandment, no purer purpose than to do as Jesus instructed those who would follow him... to Love God and Love Everybody.   Imagine the holy disruption it would cause if scores and scores of churches made this their vision purpose and vital center.  Just imagine.  It could change the world. It could change everything.   I think that kind of disruption is needed now more than ever.  Let's go all in together.  Let's Love God and Love Everybody with all that we've got. Welcome to the guide for Leon Bloder's Love God, Love Everybody group study. You might be wondering why it would be important to answer the question of why you are doing this study, if you are indeed about to do this study. That's valid. But it's an important question to answer because knowing why you want to do this study is an important step toward getting everything you can out of it . Maybe you decided to because you want to dig deeper into the lessons you've learned by reading the companion book to this guide, Love God, Love Everybody: Following Jesus In Our Divided World. Perhaps you were invited to participate by a trusted friend, pastor or even a class facilitator that you enjoy. You may want to understand what it means to more fully follow Jesus' Great Commandment, or to help your faith community become more welcoming and including. Whatever your reason, you're in the right space to learn what it means to follow Jesus in our divided world by leaning in to the Great Commandment that Jesus shared with his followers. In the weeks to come, you'll be invited to take an honest look at what following Jesus might mean for individuals and faith communities, who want to take Jesus' message of love, justice and redemption seriously. There are challenging and transformative truths in this study, and also great opportunities to engage in Scripture, and to dig deeper into the Love God, Love Everybody book as well. Leon Bloder is an ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has served churches in Florida, Illinois, and Texas. He has a BA in English Literature and History from Florida State University, a Master of Divinity from McCormick T