Sessions Include:

No More Grumpy Christians
Becoming a Faith-filled, Hope-saturated, Optimistic Christian
Lesson #1: Optimism

No More Grumpy Christians
Becoming a Faith-filled, Hope-saturated, Optimistic Christian
Lesson #2: Joy

No More Grumpy Christians
Becoming a Faith-filled, Hope-saturated, Optimistic Christian
Lesson #3: No Complaining

No More Grumpy Christians
Becoming a Faith-filled, Hope-saturated, Optimistic Christian
Lesson #4: The Mind

No More Grumpy Christians
Becoming a Faith-filled, Hope-saturated, Optimistic Christian
Lesson #5: The Tongue

No More Grumpy Christians
Becoming a Faith-filled, Hope-saturated, Optimistic Christian
Lesson #6: Faith

There is no faster path to joy than gratitude. The words thanks and thanksgiving appear nearly 100 times in the Bible. Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” (NIV) Paul wrote, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

Few things are things more scientifically proven than the benefits of gratitude.

Two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, have done much of the research on gratitude. In one study, they asked all participants to write a few sentences each week, focusing on particular topics. Harvard Health reports:

One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation.

Another leading researcher in this field, Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, tested the impact of various positive psychology interventions on 411 people, each compared with a control assignment of writing about early memories. When their week’s assignment was to write and personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had never been properly thanked for his or her kindness, participants immediately exhibited a huge increase in happiness scores. This impact was greater than that from any other intervention, with benefits lasting for a month.

Hunt, Josh. 2014. How to Get along with Almost Anyone. Josh Hunt.

Check out the new Bible Study, No More Grumpy Christians. It will equip your people to life joy-filled, faith-saturated, positive, optimistic lives. It is available on Amazon, as well as part of the Good Questions Have Groups Talking subscription service. (Like Netflix for Bible lessons.)