What it’s for
This program helps participants experience:
How we instinctively respond to different types of relationships, through performance, isolation or indulgence, and how the way of Jesus (grace + truth) forms a different kind of freedom.
What they may discover
Our default responses can temporarily relieve discomfort, but they cannot heal us. The “empty quadrant” is not empty because it is impossible; it is empty because it is not our instinct. Being fully known and truly loved is received, practiced and sustained by grace and truth.
Don’t explain this before the activity unless safety or clarity requires it. Let the group feel the pattern before naming its meaning.
Before you begin
What you need
- Rope, string or tape to mark a large 2×2 grid on the floor.
- Snacks and drinks, preferably something sweet, something cheesy and soda.
- Optional: paper signs for each quadrant, a phone timer and music, wet wipes and a trash bag.
Decide beforehand
- Your time signals (every five minutes is helpful).
- Movement alternatives for burpees and jumping jacks.
- Allergy and dietary notes.
- Boundaries for snack-tossing: gentle only, never at faces.
How it unfolds
- Before people arrive, mark a large square divided into four quadrants and label three of them: Performance (top left), Isolation (bottom left) and Total Excess (bottom right). The top right, Grace & Truth, is revealed later. Put the snacks beside Total Excess.
- Tell the group only what they need: “Each quadrant has a different way of being. You can switch quadrants anytime, but you can’t take breaks from the activity in your quadrant. Notice what happens in you as you move, and as you stay.”
- Walk around the grid and show each activity. Performance: burpees or jumping jacks with perfect form and a perfect smile. Isolation: sit turned away, eyes closed, ears covered, saying “I’m not listening,” “Leave me alone.” Total Excess: keep eating and drinking.
- Run the grid for about 20 minutes. Encourage everyone to stay in one quadrant for more than five minutes at least once.
- Stop, and invite everyone into the top-right quadrant to rest for 60–90 seconds. Provide water.
Accessibility and safety
- Offer low-impact options: step-jacks, wall push-ups, marching in place, or a chair with head down.
- Check for food allergies and dietary needs.
- No shaming about fitness, food or social comfort. Observing counts as participation.
The discussion
Take time here. The discussion is part of the program, not an optional explanation afterward.
- Experience: How did you feel when you started in a new quadrant, compared with staying there for a while? Which was most uncomfortable? Most attractive?
- Observation: Where did you go first, and what drew you there? What did each quadrant do for you, and what did it cost you?
- Interpretation: What do you think each quadrant represents? What do the two axes represent? Why is the top-right quadrant “empty” at first?
- Response: In which relationships do you tend to perform, hide or numb out? Which “way out” do you most need: confess, connect, or concede control?
Naming what happened
- Performance is truth without grace: rules, earning, self-justification. Way out: confess.
- Isolation refuses both grace and truth: hiding, shutdown. Way out: connect.
- Total Excess is counterfeit grace: comfort without truth, numbing, slavery. Way out: concede control.
- Grace & Truth is real relationship: being fully known and truly loved.
Scripture: John 1:17 · 1 John 1:5–2:1 · 1 John 1:8 · Romans 3:28 · Proverbs 18:1 · John 8:34 · Genesis 3:5
The gospel creates a new space: where truth can be told without losing love.
This program does not label people. It helps participants name patterns so they can receive grace and practice truth. It is built on the Grace–Truth Matrix →
Bring it to your group
These resources may be used in churches, small groups, classes, discipleship cohorts, workshops, retreats and personal study. Before you lead one:
- Adapt the examples to your local context.
- Keep the biblical and theological structure.
- Don’t remove the formation practices just to save time.
- Prepare your facilitators before the group begins.
Full facilitator guides, with setup, timing, safety notes and discussion questions, are available on request. For teaching, publishing, translation, partnership or licensing, contact The Garden Project.