Adore

WORSHIP

Worship is the act of ascribing ultimate value to something in a way that energizes and engages the whole person. In Christian worship, we praise God as the creator and sustainer of life and giver of every good gift. We focus our attention and desire on his character, attributes, and presence in our lives.

SABBATH

In practicing the Sabbath, we receive God’s provision of a day set aside for rest, delight, and worship. We likewise honor God by acknowledging our human limits and establishing healthy rhythms of work and rest. When we practice Sabbath, we stop from our working, earning, and proving and we take deep delight in the world, relationships, and gifts that God has given us – the greatest of those gifts being Jesus Christ. Sabbath, then, is a day of liberation, a day to reframe our identities around the Lord who has set us free from the tyranny of soul slavery. It’s a day to live into the gospel, actively coming into the presence of Jesus to receive his offer of rest.

PRAYER—PRAISE

Prayer is the method God has given us to be able to know him better. Prayer is the way the spiritual truths we believe intellectually become fiery and real down deep in our souls. And ultimately, prayer is how we deepen our connection with God, delighting in his Fatherly presence while also leaning upon him for the renewal and transformation we long for personally and communally. In our core spiritual practices, we recognize that there are several different types of prayer we engage in for a rich and formative relationship with Jesus. With prayers of praise, we communicate regularly with God throughout the week praising, worshiping, thanking, and adoring him.

Bless

KINDNESS

The practice of biblical kindness is also known as service or love of neighbor. Kindness is a commitment to actions and attitudes that serve others with generosity of spirit and resources. While Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors (Mark 12:30-31), the practice of biblical kindness provides the motivation by rooting the kindness we offer others within the greater kindness we’ve been given in the gospel of God’s loving faithfulness to us in Jesus (Titus 3:3-6).

SIMPLICITY

Simplicity is an inner spirit of trust in God’s provision that expresses itself in a change of heart toward material possessions (Matt. 6:21). With the practice of simplicity, we recognize that everything we have belongs to God, we receive it with gratitude as a gift from him, and we freely share it with others. Simplicity allows us to reorient our lives as followers of Jesus in ways that free us from the demands of consumerism and an inordinate attachment to things to find abundant joy and contentment in him (Phil. 4:12-13).

Invite

COMMUNITY

The practice of community is to actively participate in the communal life of the church by giving and receiving friendship, accountability, and gospel partnership in the body of Christ. It is in close community that we share our lives with others who are pursuing the Spirit-led process of apprenticing under Jesus. In biblical community we are a family of beloved sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. We provide for our sisters and brothers in Christ, caring for their physical and spiritual needs with servant hearts and sacrificial love in response to the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:44-45).

HOSPITALITY

With the practice of biblical hospitality we make room for friends and neighbors in our plans, our schedules, and our homes. We are willing to be interrupted or inconvenienced to love and serve our neighbors in the name of Jesus. We likewise imitate Christ when we invite the uninvited and re-humanize those whose humanity has been abused and degraded (Luke 19:5-10). When we practice biblical hospitality, we nurture the dignity and respect of others by honoring the image of God in every person.

Devote

SCRIPTURE—STUDY

Scripture is the Spirit-given word of God, living, active and revealing his truth and grace for the world. As such, spending regular and consistent time in scripture is essential to knowing God, understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ, and becoming more like him. We rightly come to scripture for the deep inner formation of our minds and hearts by the power of God’s word as he speaks to us with wisdom and love and guides us in our thoughts and actions (Heb. 4:12).

In our core spiritual practices, we recognize that there are two distinct ways to engage with scripture: study and meditation. Through repeated study of scripture, we focus our attention for sustained periods of time on comprehending the meaning of biblical passages, making use of the many resources available to aid our study. We seek to understand the Spirit-inspired biblical texts and approach with humility the life-transforming truths of God’s word.

PRAYER—INTERCESSION

Prayer is the method God has given us to be able to know him better. Prayer is the way the spiritual truths we believe intellectually become fiery and real down deep in our souls. And ultimately, prayer is how we deepen our connection with God, delighting in his Fatherly presence while also leaning upon him for the renewal and transformation we long for personally and communally.

In our core spiritual practices, we recognize that there are several different types of prayer we engage in for a rich and formative relationship with Jesus. With intercessory prayer, we set aside regular times throughout the week to pray on behalf of others who are in need or facing difficult situations. We bring our requests to God, knowing that he is faithful to hear and answer our prayers.

FASTING

The practice of fasting is the act of abstaining from food for a time for the purpose of finding in God a deeper source of spiritual sustenance. We spend time with God in prayer and scripture while we fast. As we regularly practice fasting, we are shaped by a greater awareness of our resources in God, our complete dependence on him, and his sufficiency for us (Mat. 4:4). In this way, our fasting is centered on God, and our motivations for fasting are a desire for more of him and his power to form and shape us.

Examine

SCRIPTURE—MEDITATION

Scripture is the Spirit-given word of God, living, active and revealing his truth and grace for the world. As such, spending regular and consistent time in scripture is essential to knowing God, understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ, and becoming more like him. We rightly come to scripture for the deep inner formation of our minds and hearts by the power of God’s word as he speaks to us with wisdom and love and guides us in our thoughts and actions (Heb. 4:12).

In our core spiritual practices, we recognize that there are two distinct ways to engage with scripture: study and meditation. With the practice of meditation on scripture we prayerfully and attentively read and reflect on a short biblical text, remembering that we are reading the very words of God and listening for what he has to say to us. In biblical meditation we open our hearts and minds to how God wants to form us, and we desire to hear his voice and obey his word (Ps. 19:7-11).

CONFESSION

With the practice of confession we participate in the healing and freedom accomplished for us by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Through personal confession we come to God in prayer, and we are honest with him about our sins and need of his forgiveness (1 John 1:8-9). The practice of confession also includes mutual confession in Christian community. By mutually confessing our sins with trusted friends in Christ, we acknowledge that we are not alone in our sin, that we need the close communion of others to allow us to be honest about our weaknesses and failures, and that we grow through the support of others for our continued strength and healing (James 5:16).

SILENCE & SOLITUDE

In the practice of silence and solitude, we choose to be alone and apart for a time from the social habits and patterns of our regular interactions with others to be intentionally attentive to our relationship with God. Solitude frees us to develop an inner strength and depth of knowing who we truly are in Christ that is formed in a place apart and renews us for our return to our social and relational life (Matt. 6:6). Silence allows for solitude by removing the constant sounds that fill the foreground and background of our lives and that can be an obstacle to our inward listening to the condition of our souls and the health of our relationship with Jesus.