We choose the word pursuits carefully. They aren’t requirements for membership. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus belongs here. And they aren’t accomplishments; our constant confession is that we’re all struggling under the weight of one kind of brokenness or another. They’re simply the concrete practices we hope will anchor our lives in God’s work of redemption.
The whole of life should be lived as an act of worship: worship that comes in one of two forms: gathered (corporate) and scattered (personal and private). Both involve the consistent practice of prayer, scripture, and Sabbath rest.
Gathered
Corporate worship is essential to the life of the church. We gather weekly as a body around the word of God and the communion table, in order to fix our gaze on God and God’s kingdom. Learning to worship together with people who are different from us, with different thoughts, backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences, is the serious work of the church.
God draws us in each week, like lungs draw air into the body. We are cleansed and fortified, challenged by teaching, stretched by relationships, and given everything we need to keep transforming and living as disciples. Then we are breathed back out to carry God’s redemption. It isn’t easy. It can be costly, messy, and uncomfortable at times. But it is fruitful, even beautiful, and essential for our church.
Scattered
Personal worship is essential as well. Out of love and devotion to God, we want to be the kind of people who pursue spiritual practices and holy habits that help us grow into the likeness of Christ.
Practices like silence, solitude, confession, Bible study, prayer (the daily office), retreat, and theological reflection become part of our daily, weekly, and monthly routines.