Last night was a very emotional night as we announced June 25th will be the final Practice Gathering. This decision was not reached easily. For months we have been looking for the strategic place of The Practice within Willow Creek. After countless hours of conversation, tears, and prayer, we could not find a space that was both available and made sense for our gathering. So we came to the sad conclusion that we could not keep The Practice service going.
As we move into the future, we will be experimenting with ways to bring the spirit of The Practice to the larger Willow community in retreats, cohorts, and other experiences. We will also continue Practice Tables as a way of building and supporting practice-based community.
Have a listen to the full announcement on the podcast.
Please note that the Q&A portion of the night was primarily “family business” and not appropriate to include on the podcast. If you typically attend The Practice in person, were not able to attend, and would like to hear the Q&A, please email Jason for a copy.
Kingdom Practice
In this season, we are all swimming in deep emotion. I am comforted as I remember the prophet Isaiah called Jesus a “man of sorrows acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3) The one we follow is not only familiar with the emotions we are feeling, but he is with us in it. As we live through these coming weeks, can we all commit to lean into Jesus?
I am deeply saddened by this announcement as I have been blessed by a distance from the work He was doing through all of you at the Practice- There has to be a reason for this closed door and I will be praying that He shows it to all of you- the Church needs more of these models – this next generation needs multi-sensory ways of engaging Jesus at church. We need more access to going deeper in Him- I know way too many people who are crying out for just such a model-This idea needs to be accessible and modeled in a way that “resources” don’t get in the way- YES to more podcasts – YES to material that can develope the soul and engage this generation. My dream was to take what I was learning and convert it into smaller bite sizes to share with our family and friends who wanted to journey along side of the Practice. The common feedback heard miles from WC is “it takes so many to pull The Practice off”- Please, if God is laying it up on your heart (Aaron or whoever) dig in – create material that average Joe Schmoe can pick up and facilitate. I represent a part of the Christian population who wants to go deeper, who is starving to death for deep community with people and with The Spirit- I’m a fan of church but not if doesn’t challenge me to go deeper into knowing and experiencing Him without having to become a charismatic- It’s the experience of His presence and active nowness that has historically grown this heart- not just head knowledge- I need deep transformation. The Practice is a breath of fresh air – it’s a unifying force against the religious models of denominational expectation and division. THANK YOU….thank you…. I’m so thankful for each one of you and trust that God is up to something even better…..you are respectably in my prayers….
What a bummer! I heard about this gathering from Shauna’s most recent book, and I was looking forward to following along on the journey…will you still leave the website up?
Yes, Audra. We will keep the website up.