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 with our neighbors in our families, neighborhoods, and workplaces.
  • We will be present to our faith community through participation in our worship, fellowship, and mission.

GIFTS

  • We will honor and care for the gift of the earth and its resources, practicing ecologically responsible living, striving for simplicity rather than excessive consumption.
  • We will practice generosity in sharing our material resources, including money, within and beyond this community.

SERVICE

  • We will serve God and neighbor out of gratitude for the love of God.
  • We will practice mutual accountability with a covenant group within the community, for how we serve God and neighbor.
  • We will practice regular Sabbath as a means of renewal so that we can lovingly serve God and neighbor. 

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 in order to invite others to Christian discipleship.

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, for the transformation of the world.


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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.