Our Community Practices

PRAYERS

  • We will pray daily.
  • We will use a variety of forms of prayer such as the reflective reading of Scripture and other spiritual texts, confession, the prayer of examen, intercession, journaling, fasting, and contemplation. 

PRESENCE

  • We will practice a contemplative stance in order to be present to God, the world, and ourselves.
  • We will practice hospitality in our families, neighborhoods, and workplaces.
  • We will be present to our faith community through participation in our worship, fellowship, and community engagement.

GIFTS

  • We will strive to live in right relationship with the earth and all living beings, and seek to practice ecologically responsible living, striving for simplicity rather than excessive consumption.
  • We will practice a stance of open-hearted and open-handed generosity in sharing our resources: money, talent, and time within and beyond this community.

SERVICE

  • We will serve God and the world out of gratitude for the love of God.
  • We will practice mutual accountability for how we serve God and the world.
  • We will practice regular Sabbath as a means of renewal so that we can lovingly serve God and the world.
  • We will stay attuned to the hurts and struggles present in our neighborhood and our world and will strive to respond nimbly and faithfully to the ever-changing needs of our community.

WITNESS

  • We will practice racial and gender reconciliation.
  • We will resist evil and injustice.
  • We will pursue peace with justice.
  • We will share the redeeming, healing, creative love of God in word, deed and presence as a response to Jesus’ love made manifest in us.


Annually, we invite folks to make commitments to these Community Practices by signing a large Community Practices Commitment Wall in our worship space. It reads: I commit to these practices and to the well-being of this community, out of gratitude to God who forgives, heals, and makes all things new. May my life be a blessing within and beyond God’s church, as I seek to follow the way of Jesus.


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NOTE: We are grateful for the insightful research and writing of Dr. Elaine Heath, whose book Longing for Spring: A New Vision for Wesleyan Community was influential in our thinking about community practices. Some will recognize that our Community Practices are borrowed from The Missional Wisdom Foundation's Rule of Life, based on John Wesley’s General Rules, the membership vows of The United Methodist Church, and St. Benedict’s Rule.