Enough Leader Guide Revised Edition: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity

By Adam Hamilton

Money has great power in our lives. Used wisely, it is one key to accomplishing our goals, providing for our needs, and fulfilling our life purpose. In recent years, many of us ignored the wisdom of the past when it came to managing and spending our money. Credit card debt soared, savings rates plummeted, and our home equity became something to be tapped into and spent rather than a source of security in retirement. We felt an insatiable desire for more. And we found ourselves spending tomorrow’s money today in order to have what we hoped would satisfy. The result of all of this was not greater happiness and satisfaction, but greater stress and anxiety.

Enough is an invitation to rediscover the Bible’s wisdom when it comes to prudent financial practices. In these pages are found the keys to experiencing contentment, overcoming fear, and discovering joy through simplicity and generosity. This book could change your life, by changing your relationship with money.
The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the four-week study including session plans, activities, and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: May 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781501857911

Adam Hamilton

Adam Hamilton is the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. Started in 1990 with four people, the church has grown to become the largest United Methodist Church in the United States with over 18,000 members. The church is well known for connecting with agnostics, skeptics, and spiritual seekers. In 2012, it was recognized as the most influential mainline church in America, and Hamilton was asked by the White House to deliver the sermon at the Obama inaugural prayer service. Hamilton, whose theological training includes an undergraduate degree from Oral Roberts University and a graduate degree from Southern Methodist University where he was honored for his work in social ethics, is the author of nineteen books. He has been married to his wife, LaVon, for thirty-one years and has two adult daughters.

Book preview

WEEK ONE

WHEN DREAMS BECOME NIGHTMARES

Main Idea: God’s vision of financial management brings joy that the American Dream never can and never will bring.

GETTING STARTED

Session Goals

This session is intended to help participants:

•consider ways in which the American Dream has become an American nightmare

•understand affluenza and credit-itis and why they are dangerous

•learn how our sin nature affects our yearning for more

•consider how a changed heart can lead to changed desires

•discover the connection between simplicity and financial and spiritual freedom

Opening Prayer

Dear God, the topic of personal finances is a challenging one for many of us. We struggle with unwise spending decisions, rising credit card debt, and dwindling savings. We wrestle with the desire for more stuff, newer stuff, and better stuff. We resist the call to simplify and give more generously. Open our hearts to receive your wisdom and guidance, and empower us to respond by applying what we learn in practical ways so that we may become wise managers of our money and possessions. Amen.

Biblical Foundation

Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

(1 Timothy 6:10b, NIV)

The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is