Why Did Jesus Have to Die? - Leader Guide: The Meaning of the Crucifixion

When words fall short, the cross still speaks. The Leader Guide contains discussion questions and session plans for a six-week study of Why Did Jesus Have to Die?. It includes opening and closing prayers, optional activities, and weekly session goals. It is designed to be used with the book and DVD. The New Testament authors didn’t settle on one meaning of the crucifixion but instead offered a dozen or more metaphors to explain how it saves, but often without a clear explanation of how Jesus’s death accomplishes the saving work they describe. Because of this vagueness, wrapping our minds around the logic and meaning of the cross can cause us to miss the full impact it can have on our daily lives. Why Did Jesus Have to Die? is written to help make sense of the crucifixion, to listen for how God might speak to us through it, and that we might say, along with Paul, ＂I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.＂ (Galatians 2:20).

Adam Hamilton is senior pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, one of the fastest growing, most highly visible churches in the country. The Church Report named Hamilton’s congregation the most influential mainline church in America, and he preached at the National Prayer Service as part of the presidential inauguration festivities in 2013. Hamilton is the best-selling and award-winning author of The Walk, Simon Peter, Creed, Half Truths, The Call, The Journey, The Way, 24 Hours That Changed the World, John, Revival, Not a Silent Night, Enough, When Christians Get It Wrong, and Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White, all published by Abingdon Press. Learn more about Adam Hamilton at AdamHamilton.com.