Last night was the final gathering of our initial 18 month Practice experiment. I can’t believe how quickly the last year and a half went by, and I’m overwhelmed by all that God taught and did in our little tribe.
To prepare for the next part of the Practice journey (through June 2016), we’ve been practicing group spiritual discernment, listening to God and each other. Thanks so much for all of you who have prayed, listened, and spoken up. The last three weeks have been beautiful and profoundly illuminating.
The central questions we’ve been asking: What have we learned so far, and how is God leading us into the future?
Three themes have become very clear:
(1) Community. There is a deep sense that we are ready to move beyond a weekly gathering of individuals on individual journeys into more of a communal journey. No one can live the Christian life alone. And so a high priority of the next few months is to discern ways to practice together beyond the weekly gathering.
(2) Mission. We want to focus on engaging the needs of our world. We long to join God in serving our local and global brothers and sisters. It is impossible to separate true discipleship from mission, and we’re asking God to form us into contemplative activists.
(3) Build on the foundation. Finally, instead of using the next year to explore brand new ideas, forms, and practices, we want to keep building on the current foundation. While we hope to never stop exploring and experimenting, our goal is to be formed into Christlikeness for the sake of the world. And that takes practice, and God’s transforming Grace.
If you want to hear the full story, here are my comments/reflections from last night. Give them a listen and let us know if they capture a bit of what you’re discerning also.
PODCAST: “What we’re learning and where we’re going” (Aaron Niequist)
We’re not gathering on Sunday nights in July, but we’re doing three Thursday night BBQs–starting July 9th. We’ll post the full summer schedule and share all the details later this week. Can’t wait for the next part of our journey together!
Grace and peace,
Aaron and The Practice Team
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