Faith Practices
Using the tools identified below, talk to your leadership team and explore the following questions:
Part 1: Worship
- Gratitude to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s prompting to live with a grateful heart, cognizant of God’s work in my life and my abundant resources
- Rule for Life to live a sane and holy rhythm that reflects a love for God and respect for how He has made me
- Sabbath to set apart one day a week for rest and worship of God
- Worship to honor and adore the Trinity as the supreme treasure of life
Part 2: Open Myself to God
- Journaling to be alert to my life through writing and reflecting on God’s presence and activity in, around, and through me
- Practicing the Presence to develop a continual openness and awareness of Christ’s presence living in me
- Rest to honor God and my human limitations through restful rhythms
- Self-Care to value myself as my heavenly Father values me
- Simplicity and Slowing to curb my addiction to busyness, hurry, and workaholism; to learn to savor the moment
Part 3: Relinquish the False Self
- Confession and Self-Examination to surrender my weaknesses and faults to the forgiving love of Christ and intentionally desire and embrace practices that lead to transformation
- Mindfulness and Attentiveness to live wholeheartedly in the present moment, alert to God and without judgment
- Silence to free myself from the addiction to and distraction of noise so I can be totally present to the Lord; to open myself to God in the place beyond words
- Sobriety to live with moderation and full attachment to God – without dependence on substances that are harmful to my life
- Solitude to leave people behind and enter into time alone with God
- Submission to have Jesus as the Master of my life in absolutely every way
- Waiting to patiently trust in God’s goodness and timing in the events and relationships of my life
Part 4: Share My Life with Others
- Community to express and reflect the self-donating love of the Trinity by investing in & journeying with others
- Discipling to be in a relationship where I am encouraged or where I encourage another to become an apprentice of Jesus
- Face-to-Face Connection to connect face to face, in person, below the surface of words and conversation
- Hospitality to be a safe person offering others the grace, shelter, and presence of Jesus
- Service to reflect the helping, caring, and sharing love of God in the world
- Spiritual Friendship to develop a friendship that encourages and challenges me to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength
- Witness to reveal the life-changing love of Jesus to others
Part 5: Hear God’s Word
- Devotional Reading to prayerfully encounter and surrender to the Living God through the reading of Scripture
- Memorization to carry the life-shaping words of God in me at all times and in all places
Part 6: Embody the Love of Christ
- Blessing Others or Encouragement to instill courage, confidence, and hope through expressing the delight God has in others
- Care of the Earth to honor the Creator by loving, nurturing, and stewarding his creation
- Compassion to become the healing presence of Christ to others
- Control of the tongue to turn the destructive way I use words into authentic, loving and healing speech
- Forgiveness to live into Jesus’ forgiving heart and stop the cycle of vengeance
- Humility to become like Jesus in his willingness to choose the hidden way of love rather than the way of power
- Justice to love others by seeking their good, protection, gain, and fair treatment
- Stewardship to live as a steward of God’s resources in all areas of life; to live out of the awareness that nothing I have is my own
- Truth Telling to live an authentically truthful life
Part 7: Pray
- Contemplative Prayer to develop an open, restful receptivity to the Trinity that enables me to always be with God just as I am
- Conversational Prayer to talk naturally and unselfconsciously to God in prayer times with others
- Fasting to let go of an appetite in order to seek God on matters of deep concern for others, myself, and the world
- Fixed-Hour Prayer to stop my work and pray throughout the day
- Intercessory Prayer to turn my concerns and worries into prayer; to enter God’s heart for the world and then pray from there
- Listening Prayer to quiet the inner and outer noise so I can open my heart and listen for God’s voice
- Prayer Partners to share the journey of prayer with a trusted companion
- Praying Scripture to allow God to shape my prayer life through the words of Scripture
- Welcoming Prayer to welcome Jesus into every part of my life, body, circumstances, and relationships
Source
Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us, IVP, November 19, 2015.

