Community Guides

Alafair Kionka 4/12/26 Alafair Kionka 4/12/26

Guide 1: Preparation

Faith, Hope, & Love

Review the Practice (10 minutes)

During this series, we will practice Witness as a way to embody the Spirit’s gifts of faith, hope, and love. Specifically, we will explore how we can aim these relationships toward kinship: the deep, God-rooted recognition that we are all interconnected. Since we’re at the beginning of this series, let’s talk about the people in our life who we want to know Jesus’s love.

Who are the people in your life who you long to see come to faith in Jesus?
What would be different about their lives if they knew Jesus’ love for them?

Overview (2 minutes)

The death and resurrection of Jesus impacts more than what happens to us when we die. Life with God has implications here and now, and everything we do is forever altered: how we work, raise kids, interact with roommates, spend free time, and engage society. But we can’t do any of it with our own willpower alone. We need help to love God with our hearts, minds, souls, and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves—which is why God gives us his Holy Spirit—to empower, transform, and help us to live life with God.

During this series, we will explore three of the hallmarks of this Spirit-empowered life: faith, hope, and love. Each is a gift that God works in us and then through us in the world. Each time we gather together, we are going to focus on the practice of Witness: expressing hospitality and sharing the good news of Jesus with people in our life who do not yet know him. Doing this faithfully often looks less like holding a sign on a street corner or handing out pamphlets to strangers, and more like building relationships, loving people well, and practicing kinship: the deep, God-rooted recognition that we are all interconnected—created in God’s image and called into communion with one another and our neighbor.

Exercise for Tonight (20 minutes)

Our exercise for tonight involves laying the groundwork for what we’ll be doing for the rest of the series. In each Community Guide after tonight, we will simply plan out what we are calling “kinship experiments”—opportunties to deepen relationships with people in our lives who we love. Whether we do these together as a Community or individually on our own, we will partner with the Spirit and one another to find ways to sacrificially love and be radically present to people who need it. Over the next 6 weeks, we will do 3 of these—using one week to plan it, then a week to do it—three times over. The word “experiment” is meant to give us permission to creatively think outside the box and try new things. We might choose to lean deeper into our monthly Service rhythm, or maybe have dinner with our literal neighbors, host a game night for friends who don’t know Jesus, or something else entirely.

For tonight, though, our time will be spent laying some groundwork for these kinship experiments—asking God for creativity, reviewing our current relationships, and dreaming together about how to use these next 6 weeks to pursue kinship.

Let’s begin with prayer. God, as we take time this season to pay closer attention to how you might be inviting us to love people more intentionally, we confess that we need your help. Come, Holy Spirit, and open our hearts in love, our eyes in curiosity, our minds in creativity, and open our hands in willingness. We trust you and we love you. Teach us to love like you. Amen.

Next, let’s have a discussion. A conversation about aiming our relationships towards kinship—towards mutuality, sacrificial love, and towards communion with one another and our neighbor—could go in many directions! For this discussion, we’re going to talk about two kinds of relationships: those we have as a Community and those we have as individuals. Our conversation tonight will help us figure out where and how to use our next few weeks together.

Let’s start with the relationships we’ve cultivated as a Community. Take a moment to consider the people we come alongside during our Community’s monthly Service rhythm:

Who are the people that we’ve come to know and get to interact with each month? (This could be the people we directly serve, the people we serve alongside, or, if applicable, those working in the organization with which we serve.)
What potential opportunities might we have to deepen or build these relationships?

(Leader note: Have someone take notes—this will help you figure out where to steer your kinship experiments in the weeks to come.)

Next, think back to our conversation that began the night—the people in our lives who we long to know Jesus:

Who could God be inviting me to invest time and love into, that they might know him?
How could I creatively experiment in the coming weeks with kinship love?

(Leader note: Encourage people to write some things down—this will help them figure out what God might be inviting them into during the weeks to come.)

Finally, let’s talk about how we could organize our three kinship experiments. There are so many more possible options than we have time to actually do, so let’s pick 5 or 6, and then I will use those to plan out the next few weeks. Here is a list of ideas (feel free to add to it!):

Monthly Service rhythm: We can do our monthly Service rhythm, but strategically think and pray about how we could take a step towards kinship together. (If we don’t have a monthly Service rhythm, we will walk through a Guide together to start one.)
Dinner with neighbors: Instead of all meeting together, we can use our regular Community night to all go have dinner with one of our literal neighbors.
Prayer walk: We can take a prayer walk together (or in smaller groups) around our neighborhood, with the goal of getting to know or help someone in the neighborhood.
Game night: We could throw a game night—Bunco, Fishbowl/Celebrity/Salad Bowl, etc.—for our friends who don’t know Jesus, with the aim of developing deeper relationships in a non-pressured environment.
Practical service: Maybe there is someone in our Community or in our Community network who has a physical need we could help meet—yardwork, housework, home repair, etc. Consider younger families, the elderly, or those who are sick.
Some other creative way of building or deepening relationships!

What does everyone think? We’ll spend the rest of our time together dreaming together. Again, I’ll cull our ideas down into a plan, so let’s not worry about only picking 3. Let’s dream!

(Leader note: Take notes to help you plan your kinship experiments in the weeks to come.)

Exercise for the week ahead (1 minute)

Tonight we took time to dream through various ways that God might deepen our relationships and love other people through us. While we’ll actually plan a kinship experiment the next time we meet together, the exercise for the week ahead is simple:

Consider the obstacles and opportunities. As you go about your week, talk with God about the people in your life. Who is he inviting you to tell about his love? What might get in the way of your witness—an attitude, a fear, a pattern of behavior, etc.? Take a step towards the practice of Witness this week.

Close in Prayer (10 minutes)

Before we close, we are going to pray with and for one another. The kinship relationships we want to develop and deepen are not just with people outside of our Community—they’re with one another as well. Let’s take some time to hear a few specific prayer requests and then offer those up to God together.

Alafair Kionka 3/27/26 Alafair Kionka 3/27/26

Guide 5: Foot Washing

Good News About Our Bodies

Family

(Leader’s Note: Make sure you have the following supplies before beginning the Guide:

A pitcher, large cup, or bowl filled with warm water
A bucket or bin in which to catch the poured out water
A few towels with which to dry feet and one on the ground below the bucket or bin Communion elements.)

Review the Practice (10 minutes)

During this series we focused on how we carry God’s good news to the world in our bodies, and have used this review time each week to reflect on our Lenten renunciation—the neutral appetite, habit, or activity that we are laying down for the 40 days before Easter in order to make space to experience our deeper love for God. With Easter in just a few days, let’s take some time to reflect on how God has met us this Lent.

How did your renunciation this Lenten season shape your awareness of God?
What was God able to give you as you laid down your neutral appetite for 40 days?

Overview (2 minutes)

On the night before Jesus died, at his final dinner with his disciples, he summed up much of his life’s message through a symbolic practice. Jesus used these last moments not to tell one final parable, but to enact one—exactly modeling God’s posture towards humanity and, therefore, what our posture must be towards those around us.

John builds up to the moment in his retelling of the event by writing that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God…” (John 13v3) Jesus knew his source and his destiny. As the readers, then, we might expect Jesus to then stand up and lift a sword to the heavens, setting some covert plan in place to take down Rome. Instead, Jesus’ certainty about identity led him to rise from the meal, removing his coat, wrapping a towel around his waist, and kneeling before each disciple to wash their feet.

The “maundy” in Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word maundatum, meaning command, and references how Jesus explains what he was doing by washing their feet: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13v34–35) Tonight, we will reenact Jesus’ symbolic gesture of foot washing together, remembering God’s love for us and embodying the love he calls us to have for one another.

Exercise for Tonight

We’ll begin with foot washing, then we’ll practice confession and receive communion together.

Foot Washing: As the Community Leader, I will be “washing” each person’s feet and then, at the end someone can volunteer to wash my feet. Here’s how it is going to work:

To maintain an atmosphere of worship, let’s remain quietly reflective (Leader’s Note: Have some sort of worship or instrumental music playing like this playlist.)
Each person whose feet are being washed will sit in a chair with their feet in the bin.
I will “wash” your feet by pouring the warm water from the pitcher over your feet.
I will then dry your feet with a towel.
We’ll repeat steps 2–4 until every person has had their feet washed.

Confession: In John’s account of this event, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet in silence—until he gets to Peter. Having likely grown uncomfortable and embarrassed as Jesus washed his friends’ feet, he expressed his own feelings of unworthiness to have his Rabbi wash his feet. Jesus meets Peter’s confession with grace, showing Peter that God’s love is good. Before we receive communion, let’s take some time to confess together.

To do this, we’ll take a few moments in silent prayer, reflecting on our resonance with Peter’s objection: What about my own life causes me to feel reluctant about receiving God’s love? What deeper attachment do I need to confess? Perhaps it’s my need for control, or my desire to be admired by others, or to feel productive or secure or comfortable? Let’s take a moment in silent prayer to let the Spirit bring something to mind, and to confess it back to him, freely receiving his forgiveness.

(Leader note: Give people a minute or so to confess silently to God.)

Ok, now that we’ve prayed about our sin, we’re going to participate in corporate confession by sharing aloud with one another by going around, one at a time, and confessing in one or two sentences the sin we just confessed to God in prayer.

A confession for tonight might sound like “I confess that I have such a deep attachment to feeling safe and secure, that it’s hard for me to trust God.” or “I confess that my desire to be productive gets in the way of being with Jesus.” or “I confess that I care so deeply about the way others perceive me that I have a hard time hearing what God says about me.” We’ll go around in a circle, starting with me, and each make our confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will begin by saying something like, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you and God forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.

Communion: Having had time now to confess to God and to one another, we’re going to receive communion together. Before we do, let’s take a moment in silence to come back to God’s loving presence to us—to our God who calls us “very good.” Even now, draw your attention to his nearness to you.

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Sisters and brothers, Jesus allowed his own body to be broken for ours—that we might be made whole. Your body is good news because his body is good news. One day, we will be raised, whole and free. Until then, we receive God’s grace to help us live as embodied good news to the world. Take the body and blood of Christ, who poured out his love for us on the cross to freely forgive and restore us to himself. Let’s eat and drink and remember him.

Exercise for the week ahead (1 minute)

Tonight we reflected on the good news about our bodies as we washed each other’s feet, confessing where we’ve erred and receiving God’s grace through communion. Until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Good Friday gathering: Good Friday is the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Gather with the rest of the church on Friday, April 3, at either 5:30 or 7 PM to reflect on Jesus bearing the weight of our sin through his suffering and perfect love. More information at bridgetown.church/holyweek

Pray through the Stations of the Cross. During Holy Week, all are invited to participate in Stations of the Cross—a visual meditative journey through 14 key moments Jesus lived in the final hours of his human life. Walk with Jesus on his journey to the cross, reflect on his suffering, and prepare your heart for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Stations of the Cross is self-directed and available during open hours listed at bridgetown.church/holyweek

Alafair Kionka 3/20/26 Alafair Kionka 3/20/26

Guide 4: Desire

Good News About Our Bodies

Family

(Leader note: Consider inviting people to bring a journal to each night of Community during this series, to capture what God is speaking to them during the moments of silent prayer.)

Review the Practice (10 minutes)

As we focus in this series on what it means that we carry God’s good news to the world in our bodies, we will use this review time each week to reflect together on our Lenten renunciation—the neutral appetite, habit, or activity that we are laying down for the 40 days before Easter in order to make space to experience our deeper love for God.

Have you been following through on your intention in your Lenten renunciation?
How has your renunciation shaped your awareness of God this week?
What resistance, discomfort, or attachment is being exposed in you?

Overview (2 minutes)

After breathing life into humanity, God looked at us and called us “very good” (Genesis 1v31). Since then, however—with the intrusion of shame, sickness, addiction, and broken relationships,—it has grown increasingly difficult to agree with God’s original assessment. Each of us can offer all sorts of protest to his claim: we have deep insecurity about how we look or feel, patterns of sin and shame, chronic illnesses, unwanted desires, and so much more. Despite our discomfort, though, God designed us with bodies—bodies that carry his image and declare his good news to the world around us, even in the midst of our brokenness.

During this series, we will delve into God’s claim of good news about our bodies through the lens of one of the most embodied practices in church history: fasting. But because there is more to our body than nourishing it with food, we will do so using the ancient exercise of renunciation: laying down a neutral appetite, habit, or activity in order to make space to explore and experience our deeper love for God. While we will focus on a different theme for each Guide, tonight we focus on the topic of desire. An embodied spirituality is rooted in trust—trust that God is the Creator of my desire, longs to fulfill my desire, and is the only one who knows how.

We will investigate these various implications to God’s claim of the good news about our bodies using the same framework each week. First, we’ll prayerfully explore our relationship to the week’s theme. Then, we’ll continue our rhythm of confession—this time in groups of men and women—sharing and praying for each other. Finally, we will end by receiving communion.

Exercise for Tonight

Let’s begin the first movement in our exercise for tonight: silent prayer to process with God our resonance and resistance in our relationship to our bodies’ desires, concluding with silent confession.

Silent Prayer (7 minutes). As we pray, let’s keep in mind that while our bodies’ desires are not sin, the way we interact with them can be. Perhaps we have called a desire “good” that God says will harm us. Maybe we know our desire is out of alignment, but we’ve grown numb to resisting it. Or perhaps we don’t trust that Jesus will actually fulfill our desire—we don’t think he’s kind enough, wants to do it, or is even able. We’ll let the Spirit gently name whatever is out of alignment and then confess it back to him.

As we begin, let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer.

(Leader note: Give people a moment to settle in.)

Come, Holy Spirit. Would you accompany each of us now as we pray through a few questions connected to our desires? First, what are some of the strongest and deepest desires within me? What do I think about them? What does God think about them? And, most importantly, what does God think about me in the midst of those desires? Let’s silently explore this with God.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Next, how am I currently experiencing God’s presence to me in these desires? Let’s silently thank God as he brings these things to mind.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

How do I want to be experiencing God’s presence to me in these desires? Let’s silently ask God for these, as they come to mind.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Where do I feel resistance when I think about the good news of my body even with these desires? Let’s silently offer our resistance to God and ask him for help to yield more fully.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Where are my desires out of alignment with God’s desires? What do I need to confess to God and receive his forgiveness? Holy Spirit, we ask for your help to see where we’ve strayed in relationship to our desires and why. Take us to a moment, attitude, or pattern of behavior that is out of alignment with your Kingdom. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to where we’ve strayed, but what led to that sin. And, as you bring these things to mind, we will silently confess them back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Give people 90 seconds to confess silently to God.)

God, thank you for bringing up our sin so that you can forgive it. Thank you for delighting to forgive and restore us back to right relationship with you. Help us live more in line with your good news. Amen.

Corporate Confession & Prayer(20 minutes). Ok, as we’ve begun to process these things with God, now we’re going to continue processing them with one another in two groups—men and women. Once in these groups, we’ll begin by going around, one at a time, to confess out loud in one or two sentences the sin we just confessed to God in prayer.

Before we split up, a confession for tonight might sound like, “I confess that I’ve become apathetic to resisting a desire in my life that I know is not helpful to my relationship with God, and I want to start doing so again,” or “I confess that I’ve been calling a desire in me “good” that God does not, and, even though it’s difficult, I want to submit to him,” or “I confess that I envy people whose broken desires are different than mine, believing the lie that they have it easier,” or “I confess that I actually don’t believe that any of my desires are good, but want to learn to trust the ones that Jesus has given me.”

We’ll begin by going around in a circle so each person can make their confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will say, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you, hears you, and sees you. And so do we. And God freely forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.

After we each take time to confess and declare forgiveness over each other, we’ll spend the remaining time processing what came up for us in prayer and praying for one another.

Remember, due to the personal and sensitive nature of the topics, these conversations will feel different from what we’re used to. With that in mind, in order to guide our conversations and guard our vulnerability, let’s establish some shared agreements for engagement in this series.

Our Posture: Trust the process. For the sake of clarity, focus, and constructive conversation, the scope of our conversation will be highly particular each time we get together. More will be brought up each Sunday than we are able to discuss, so if you need someone to process something we don’t get to, please reach out to me (i.e. your Community Leader) to set up a time to do that.
Our Promise: Honor everyone. As we discuss personal and vulnerable topics, we will build trust and safety and maintain each other’s dignity by protecting confidentiality. If a Community member is absent during a particular conversation, the only person who gets to fill them in—if they choose—is the person who shared. The only caveat to confidentiality is if the confession reveals a threat of harm—in which case the Community Leader will contact a Communities Pastor (if the threat is less urgent) or 911 (if the threat is urgent).
Our Practice: Focus on our own bodies. There can be a temptation to use these topics to discuss other people’s experiences and bodies, instead of our own. Our shared goal, though, is to understand God’s good news about our bodies, so each of us is committing to limit our sharing to the context of our own experience.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around to get everyone’s agreement.)

Thank you. We’ll come back to this weekly to build trust together. For now, let’s break up into those two groups—men and women—and spend the next 15 minutes on corporate confession, sharing what came up for us during that prayer time, and then praying for one another.

(Leader note: Set a timer, calling everyone back together when both groups are done.)

Communion (1 minute). Having had time now to confess to God and to one another, we’re going to receive communion together. Before we do, let’s take a moment in silence to come back to God’s loving presence to us—to our God who calls us “very good.” Even now, draw your attention to his nearness to you.

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (1 minute)

Tonight we reflected on the good news about our bodies in the midst of the desires we experience, confessing where we’ve erred and receiving God’s grace through communion and prayer for one another. Until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Continue your Lenten renunciation, turning the attention you would have given to whatever you’ve renounced to God instead. As you continue your renunciation, be curious about how God might be inviting you towards a deeper relationship with him in your embodied, everyday life.

Plan to pray through the Stations of the Cross. During Holy Week, all are invited to participate in Stations of the Cross—a visual meditative journey through 14 key moments Jesus lived in the final hours of his human life. Walk with Jesus on his journey to the cross, reflect on his suffering, and prepare your heart for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Stations of the Cross is self-directed and available during open hours listed at bridgetown.church/holyweek

Alafair Kionka 3/15/26 Alafair Kionka 3/15/26

Guide 3: Competing Stories

Good News About Our Bodies

Family

(Leader note: Consider inviting people to bring a journal to each night of Community during this series, to capture what God is speaking to them during the moments of silent prayer.)

Review the Practice (10 minutes)

Have you been following through on your intention in your Lenten renunciation?
How has your renunciation shaped your awareness of God this week?
What resistance, discomfort, or attachment is being exposed in you?

Overview (2 minutes)

Exercise for Tonight

Let’s begin the first movement in our exercise for tonight: silent prayer to process with God our resonance and resistance in our relationship to our bodies’ limitations, concluding with silent confession.

Silent Prayer (7 minutes). As we pray, we’re going to ask God to reveal to us where we’ve been believing a story about our body other than his. Perhaps we’ve believed or lived in the lie that how we treat our body doesn’t actually matter—belieivng that what feels good must be good. Or maybe I’ve bought into the cultural narrative about what is beautiful—a body’s size, youthfulness, or ability. Or perhaps that my life is less fulfilled because I’m not married or don’t have kids. Or that my primary relationship to the opposite gender is understood through the lens of sexuality. We’ll let the Spirit gently name whatever is out of alignment and then confess it back to him.

As we begin, let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer.

(Leader note: Give people a moment to settle in.)

Come, Holy Spirit. Would you accompany each of us now as we pray through a few questions connected to the competing stories about our bodies? First, remind me about your story. What is your will for my body? And what are the competing stories I hear about that truth?

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Next, how am I currently experiencing God’s presence to me in the story you tell about my body? Let’s silently thank God as he brings these things to mind.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

How do I want to be experiencing God’s presence to me in these competing stories? Let’s silently ask God for these, as they come to mind.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Where do I feel resistance when I think about these competing stories? Let’s silently offer our resistance to God and ask him for help to yield more fully.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

In the gap between reality and my resistance, where am I living out of alignment with God’s story about my body? Where I might be telling a lie with my body? What do I need to confess to God and receive his forgiveness? Holy Spirit, we ask for your help to see where we’ve strayed in relationship to our body and why. Take us to a moment, attitude, or pattern of behavior that is out of alignment with your Kingdom. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to where we’ve strayed, but what led to that sin. And, as you bring these things to mind, we will silently confess them back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Give people 90 seconds to confess silently to God.)

Corporate Confession & Prayer (20 minutes). Ok, as we’ve begun to process these things with God, now we’re going to continue processing them with one another in two groups—men and women. Once in these groups, we’ll begin by going around, one at a time, to confess out loud in one or two sentences the sin we just confessed to God in prayer.

Before we split up, a confession for tonight might sound like, “I confess that I’ve bought into the cultural beauty standard and have judged myself or other people by it, instead of seeing myself and others by their true selves.” or “I confess that I’ve lived in contradiction to God’s good news for human sexuality and I want to return to his good way.” or “I confess that, as a single person, I envy married people, and that I’ve given into the cultural assumption that my life is incomplete as a single person.” or “I confess that my own pleasure has been the guiding value of my sexuality.”

After we each take time to confess and declare forgiveness over each other, we’ll spend the remaining time processing what came up for us in prayer and praying for one another.

Our Posture: Trust the process. For the sake of clarity, focus, and constructive conversation, the scope of our conversation will be highly particular each time we get together. More will be brought up each Sunday than we are able to discuss, so if you need someone to process something we don’t get to, please reach out to me (i.e. your Community Leader) to set up a time to do that.
Our Promise: Honor everyone. As we discuss personal and vulnerable topics, we will build trust and safety and maintain each other’s dignity by protecting confidentiality. If a Community member is absent during a particular conversation, the only person who gets to fill them in—if they choose—is the person who shared. The only caveat to confidentiality is if the confession reveals a threat of harm—in which case the Community Leader will contact a Communities Pastor (if the threat is less urgent) or 911 (if the threat is urgent).
Our Practice: Focus on our own bodies. There can be a temptation to use these topics to discuss other people’s experiences and bodies, instead of our own. Our shared goal, though, is to understand God’s good news about our bodies, so each of us is committing to limit our sharing to the context of our own experience.

Do we all agree to this?
(Leader note: Go around to get everyone’s agreement.)

(Leader note: Set a timer, calling everyone back together when both groups are done.)

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (1 minute)

Tonight we reflected on the good news about our bodies in the midst of the competing stories we encounter, confessing where we’ve erred and receiving God’s grace through communion and prayer for one another. Until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Continue your Lenten renunciation, turning the attention you would have given to whatever you’ve renounced to God instead. As you continue your renunciation, be curious about how God might be inviting you towards a deeper relationship with him in your embodied, everyday life.

Alafair Kionka 2/28/26 Alafair Kionka 2/28/26

Guide 2: Limitations

Good News About Our Bodies

Family

(Leader note: Consider inviting people to bring a journal to each night of Community during this series, to capture what God is speaking to them during the moments of silent prayer.)

Review the Practice (10 minutes)

Have you been following through on your intention in your Lenten renunciation?
How has your renunciation shaped your awareness of God this week?
What resistance, discomfort, or attachment is being exposed in you?

Overview (2 minutes)

Exercise for Tonight

Silent Prayer (7 minutes). As we pray, let’s keep in mind that while our bodies’ limitations are not sin, there are ways that sin can show up in them. Perhaps we resent our body for not being as well as we want. Or maybe our resentment is towards God for not healing us. Perhaps God is calling out pride in us for the way we ignore our bodies’ limitations, making it do something it isn’t able to. Perhaps we’re in denial about our age or stage of life. Maybe we’ve given over to hopelessness or bitterness. We’ll let the Spirit gently name whatever is out of alignment and then confess it back to him.

As we begin, let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer.

(Leader note: Give people a moment to settle in.)

Come, Holy Spirit. Would you accompany each of us now as we pray through a few questions connected to our bodies’ limitations? First, what is the truth about my body’s limitations? Where am I weaker, sicker, or more vulnerable than I care to admit? Where do I struggle to agree with God’s claim that I am “very good”?

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Next, how am I currently experiencing God’s presence to me in these limitations? Let’s silently thank God as he brings these things to mind.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

How do I want to be experiencing God’s presence to me in these limitations? Let’s silently ask God for these, as they come to mind.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Where do I feel resistance when I think about the good news of my body in my limitations? Let’s silently offer our resistance to God and ask him for help to yield more fully.

(Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

In the gap between reality and my resistance, where am I living out of alignment with my body’s limitations? What do I need to confess to God and receive his forgiveness? Holy Spirit, we ask for your help to see where we’ve strayed in relationship to our body and why. Take us to a moment, attitude, or pattern of behavior that is out of alignment with your Kingdom. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to where we’ve strayed, but what led to that sin. And, as you bring these things to mind, we will silently confess them back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Give people 90 seconds to confess silently to God.)

Corporate Confession & Prayer (20 minutes). Ok, as we’ve begun to process these things with God, now we’re going to continue processing them with one another in two groups—men and women. Once in these groups, we’ll begin by going around, one at a time, to confess out loud in one or two sentences the sin we just confessed to God in prayer.

A confession for tonight might sound like, “I confess that I resent my body’s size and have a hard time agreeing with God that it is good news,” or “I confess that I’ve been pridefully avoiding my body’s age, spending too much time and money to make it appear younger,” or “I confess that I feel angry at God for not healing my autoimmune disorder and letting me live in pain,” or “I confess envy of those whose bodies do the things I wish mine could.”

After we each take time to confess and declare forgiveness over each other, we’ll spend the remaining time processing what came up for us in prayer and praying for one another. If you feel led, this sharing could include offering your personal experiences with God in the midst of your own bodily limitations like chronic illness, pain, or disability.

Our Posture: Trust the process. For the sake of clarity, focus, and constructive conversation, the scope of our conversation will be highly particular each time we get together. More will be brought up each Sunday than we are able to discuss, so if you need someone to process something we don’t get to, please reach out to me (i.e. your Community Leader) to set up a time to do that.

Our Promise: Honor everyone. As we discuss personal and vulnerable topics, we will build trust and safety and maintain each other’s dignity by protecting confidentiality. If a Community member is absent during a particular conversation, the only person who gets to fill them in—if they choose—is the person who shared. The only caveat to confidentiality is if the confession reveals a threat of harm—in which case the Community Leader will contact a Communities Pastor (if the threat is less urgent) or 911 (if the threat is urgent).
Our Practice: Focus on our own bodies. There can be a temptation to use these topics to discuss other people’s experiences and bodies, instead of our own. Our shared goal, though, is to understand God’s good news about our bodies, so each of us is committing to limit our sharing to the context of our own experience.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around to get everyone’s agreement.)

(Leader note: Set a timer, calling everyone back together when both groups are done.)

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (1 minute)

Tonight we reflected on the good news about our bodies in the midst of the limitations we experience, confessing where we’ve erred and receiving God’s grace through communion and prayer for one another. Until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Continue your Lenten renunciation, turning the attention you would have given to whatever you’ve renounced to God instead.

As you continue your renunciation, be curious about how God might be inviting you towards a deeper relationship with him in your embodied, everyday life.

Alafair Kionka 2/17/26 Alafair Kionka 2/17/26

Guide 1: Work

Good News About Our Bodies

Family

(Leader note: Consider inviting people to bring a journal to each night of Community during this series, to capture what God is speaking to them during the moments of silent prayer.)

Review the Practice (10 minutes)

Have you been following through on your intention in your Lenten renunciation?
How has your renunciation shaped your awareness of God this week?
What resistance, discomfort, or attachment is being exposed in you?

Overview (2 minutes)

During this series, we will delve into God’s claim of good news about our bodies through the lens of one of the most embodied practices in church history: fasting. But because there is more to our body than nourishing it with food, we will do so using the ancient exercise of renunciation: laying down a neutral appetite, habit, or activity in order to make space to explore and experience our deeper love for God. While we will focus on a different theme for each Guide, tonight we begin with the topic of our paid and unpaid work.

Exercise for Tonight

Let’s begin the first movement in our exercise for tonight: silent prayer to process with God our resonance and resistance in our relationship to our work, concluding with silent confession.

Silent Prayer (7 minutes). As we pray, let’s keep in mind that there are so many ways that sin can show up in our paid and unpaid work. Perhaps we’ve undervalued our calling as a parent or spend too many hours at the office. Maybe we envy someone else’s job, are neglecting God’s invitation to us in retirement, or are placing more importance on work than people. Maybe it’s something else entirely. We’ll let the Spirit gently name whatever is out of alignment and then confess it back to him.

As we begin, let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer.

(Leader note: Give people a moment to settle in.)

Come, Holy Spirit. Would you accompany each of us now as we pray through a few questions connected to our work? First, what are the various aspects of my paid and unpaid work? What is my current understanding of how I’ve been invited to partner with God to bring his good news to the world around me? (Leader note: Give people 30-60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Next, how am I currently experiencing God’s presence to me in this work? Let’s silently thank God as he brings these things to mind. (Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

How do I want to be experiencing God’s presence to me in this work? Let’s silently ask God for these, as they come to mind. (Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Where do I feel resistance when I think about the good news of my body in my work? Let’s silently offer our resistance to God and ask him for help to yield more fully. (Leader note: Give people 60 seconds to reflect on this with God.)

Where am I living out of alignment with my embodied work? What do I need to confess to God and receive his forgiveness? Holy Spirit, we ask for your help to see where we’ve strayed in relationship to our work and why. Take us to a moment, attitude, or pattern of behavior that is out of alignment with your Kingdom. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to where we’ve strayed, but what led to that sin. And, as you bring these things to mind, we will silently confess them back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer. (Leader note: Give people 90 seconds to confess silently to God.)

Corporate Confession & Prayer (20 minutes). Ok, as we’ve begun to process these things with God, now we’re going to continue processing them with one another in two groups—men and women. Once in these groups, we’ll begin by going around, one at a time, to confess out loud in one or two sentences the sin we just confessed to God in prayer.

Before we split up, a confession for tonight might sound like, “I confess that I resent my work because it doesn’t look like my friend’s, which means I’m not trusting how God is using my work,” or “I confess that I’ve been striving to find approval in my work and have been spending too many hours at the office, neglecting my work as a parent and spouse,” or “I confess that I feel so overwhelmed with trying to find a job, that I’ve given into the sin of sloth,” or “I confess that I’ve been trying to do so much because I’m insecure about the sufficiency and importance of my work as a full-time parent.”

After we each take time to confess and declare forgiveness over each other, we’ll spend the remaining time processing what came up for us in prayer and praying for one another.

Our conversations in this series will likely feel different from the ones we’ve typically had, due to the personal and sensitive nature of the topics. With that in mind, in order to guide our conversations and guard our vulnerability, let’s establish some shared agreements for engagement in this series.

Our Posture: Trust the process. For the sake of clarity, focus, and constructive conversation, the scope of our conversation will be highly particular each time we get together. More will be brought up each Sunday than we are able to discuss, so if you need someone to process something we don’t get to, please reach out to me (i.e. your Community Leader) to set up a time to do that.

Our Promise: Honor everyone. As we discuss personal and vulnerable topics, we will build trust and safety and maintain each other’s dignity by protecting confidentiality. If a Community member is absent during a particular conversation, the only person who gets to fill them in—if they choose—is the person who shared. The only caveat to confidentiality is if the confession reveals a threat of harm—in which case the Community Leader will contact a Communities Pastor (if the threat is less urgent) or 911 (if the threat is urgent).
Our Practice: Focus on our own bodies. There can be a temptation to use these topics to discuss other people’s experiences and bodies, instead of our own. Our shared goal, though, is to understand God’s good news about our bodies, so each of us is committing to limit our sharing to the context of our own experience.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around to get everyone’s agreement.)

(Leader note: Set a timer, calling everyone back together when both groups are done.)

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (1 minute)

Tonight we reflected on the good news about our bodies as it relates to our work, confessing where we’ve erred and receiving the grace of God through communion and prayer for one another. Until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Continue your Lenten renunciation, turning the attention you would have given to whatever you’ve renounced to God instead.
As you continue your renunciation, be curious about how God might be inviting you towards a deeper relationship with him in your embodied, everyday life.

Alafair Kionka 2/8/26 Alafair Kionka 2/8/26

Guide 5: Vanity

Seven Deadly Sins

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

Let’s begin tonight by pausing and reflecting on what God stirred in us through last week’s practice of confession around sloth. As a group, let’s share briefly:

Where did you notice yourself checking out, avoiding something important, or numbing out this week?
Did you take one small step toward engagement or responsibility? What happened?

Guide overview (3 min)

We’ve all come face-to-face with brokenness—ours and others’—and know the shame, frustration, and sadness that comes in the aftermath of not loving God or others with our whole hearts. Try as we might, though, willpower isn’t enough to make our sin go away. We need help to overcome what Jesus calls our slavery to sin. (John 8v34)—we need a Savior. The good news is that God has come to our rescue. John tells us that “if we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1v9). We partner with God in uprooting the corrosive power of sin in our lives through the practice of confession: telling the truth about what we’ve done so that we can receive God’s freely-given forgiveness.

During this series, we are exploring seven historically recognized root sins and inviting the light of God’s love to shine into our darkness by confessing our sin to him and to one another. While we may fear that confessing changes the way people see, respect, or even love us, hearing another person’s confession and praying God’s forgiveness over them is healing for both people. Sin is too strong for any one of us to defeat alone. But for us to confess together, we need to treat it with utmost care, which is why we’ve established some ground rules and are using an agreed upon framework each week to ensure safety, build trust, and grow together.

This week, we’re focusing on the sin of vanity. Vanity is a form of lust—not lust for another person, but lust for the perfection of our own body or image. It is the disordered desire to secure admiration, approval, or identity through how we appear. While it can look like confidence or self-focus on the surface, vanity is often driven by shame and insecurity underneath. It fixates on one visible part of us because we quietly believe that we are not enough as we are. Vanity is the attempt to assume responsibility for securing and maintaining an image that God alone can bestow.

So, tonight, we will continue in our aim to be a community of love and depth in a culture of individualism and superficiality through the practice of Community, by means of the exercise of confession.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

One of the many reasons corporate confession is important is that it allows us to hold one another in the loving presence of God, preaching the good news of God’s forgiveness to each other that is often difficult to believe for ourselves. That said, it’s important to be on the same page about how we engage in our practice of corporate confession. As we experienced last week, every confession is vulnerable and sacred, so privacy and confidentiality matter as we keep building a sustainable rhythm together. To that end, we will use the same framework every week, beginning with reading our Shared Community Agreements for Safeguarding by talking about our posture, our promise, and our practice.

Our Posture: Every confession is sacred.

It is a privilege to witness the courage it takes to confess sin out loud. When someone confesses, we are witnessing the outpouring of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We are on holy ground together. So each confession will be met with God’s compassion by responding with something like: “Thank you for sharing. God loves you with an everlasting love and joyfully forgives you.”

Our Promise: Every confession stays in this room.

We build trust and safety and maintain each other’s dignity by protecting confidentiality. A sin confessed by someone is released to Jesus and should not be repeated by any of us. If a Community member is absent during a confession, the only person who gets to fill them in—if they choose—is the person confessing. The only caveat to confidentiality is if the confession reveals a threat of harm—in which case the Community Leader will contact a Communities Pastor (if the threat is less urgent) or 911 (if the threat is urgent).

Our Practice: Everyone participates.

We will show our support for each other by all participating in confession. Simply observing doesn’t help create a safe and vulnerable environment. Each of us is committing to participate in confession and declaring God’s forgiveness.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around and have everyone agree.)

Thank you all. We will keep reading and committing to this each week to build trust together. As you know, our framework for the evening is: a shortened Examen with silent confession, corporate confession, and then communion.

So let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer, and then we’ll take 3 minutes to pray the Examen—asking the Spirit to search us and draw our attention to a moment this week where the sin of vanity was present in our lives. As God brings something to mind, we’ll silently confess it to him, admitting where we sinned and asking for his forgiveness. And as we confess the fruit of our vanity, explore with God the root—where did that vanity originate?

A Condensed Examen. Holy Spirit, as we turn our attention now to the week we’ve lived so far, we ask for your help to guide us back through it with special attention to the particular sin of vanity. Take us to a moment when our desire to manage how we were seen was more important than living honestly before you. Take us to a moment when we tried to secure worth, approval or identity through our appearance, performance, or image—when we were trying to quiet shame or insecurity by controlling the outside. Come Holy, Spirit. We yield to you. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to how we presented ourselves, but what we were trying to cover or fix. As you bring something to mind, we will silently confess it back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Set a timer for 3 minutes.)

God, thank you for bringing up our sin so that you can forgive it. Thanks that it is your delight to forgive and restore us back to right relationship with you. Thank you for rescuing us. Amen.

Corporate Confession. Ok, now that we’ve prayed about our sin, we’re going to participate in corporate confession by sharing aloud with one another by going around, one at a time, and confessing out loud in one or two sentences the sin we just confessed to God in prayer.

A confession for tonight might sound like “I confess my sin of vanity when I cared more about how I looked than how I loved by avoiding admitting a mistake because I didn’t want to seem incompetent,” or “I confess that I vainly obsessed over my appearance this week, feeling ashamed of myself and wanting to feel worthy,” or “I confess vanity in how I hid how I was really doing, trying to appear put together out of fear that people wouldn’t accept the real me.” We’ll go around in a circle, starting with me, and each make our confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will begin by thanking that person for confessing and reminding them that God has forgiven them. This could be as simple as saying, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you and God forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.

(Leader note: Begin with your own confession. “I confess…” It’s possible that in the anxiety of the moment, someone may forget to thank the previous person for their confession or remind them of God’s forgiveness. If that happens, don’t interrupt them, but go back once they’ve finished to thank the previous person and remind them of God’s forgiveness. Once everyone has finished, move onto the next section.)

Absolution & Communion. As we have each confessed silently to God and aloud to one another, let’s take a moment in silence to come back to God’s loving presence to us—to the Father who runs to each of us, forgiving us and clothing us in robes of righteousness. Even now, draw your attention to his nearness to you.

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Sisters and brothers, hear the good news: when we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. We have been washed clean of our sins by his love and restored to right relationship with him. Hallelujah! Thanks be to God! Take the body and blood of Christ, who poured out his love for us on the cross to freely forgive and restore us to himself. Let’s eat and drink and remember him.

Exercise for the week ahead (2 min)

As we look ahead to Ash Wednesday, we begin preparing for the Lenten practice of renunciation—the intentional laying down of a particular appetite or attachment in order to make space for a deeper love for God. Renunciation is not about rejecting good things for the sake of self-denial alone, but about loosening our grip on lesser loves so we can return to our first love. This week, prayerfully consider the following question, ready to begin your Lenten renunciation on Ash Wednesday:

What neutral appetite, habit, or activity do I want to lay down during the season of Lent in order to give God more room to speak to me? (e.g. social media, meat, sweets, caffeine, the news, video games, online shopping, podcasts, etc.)

Find someone this week to process and share this with. Also, in place of Community next week, please gather at Bridgetown for Ash Wednesday on February 18 at either 5:30 or 7:00 PM.

Isaiah Adeoye 1/29/26 Isaiah Adeoye 1/29/26

Guide 4: Sloth

Seven Deadly Sins

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

Let’s begin tonight by pausing and reflecting on what God stirred in us through last week’s exercise of confession. As a group, let’s share briefly:

As we’ve practiced confession together these past four weeks, what have you noticed happening in your heart or in how you experience God’s forgiveness?
Where did you practice generosity this week instead of holding it all for myself?

Guide overview (3 min)

This week, we’re focusing on the sin of sloth. Sloth is not simply physical laziness—it is a spiritual and emotional resistance to the good we are called to do. It is a kind of inner disengagement in which we avoid love, responsibility, growth, or obedience because it feels difficult, uncomfortable, and costly. Sloth shows up as apathy toward God, indifference toward others, or neglect of the work of becoming who God is forming us to be.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

Our Posture: Every confession is sacred.

Our Promise: Every confession stays in this room.

Our Practice: Everyone participates.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around and have everyone agree.)

So let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer, and then we’ll take 3 minutes to pray the Examen—asking the Spirit to search us and draw our attention to a moment this week where the sin of sloth was present in our lives. As God brings something to mind, we’ll silently confess it to him, admitting where we sinned and asking for his forgiveness. And as we confess the fruit of our sloth, explore with God the root—where did that sloth originate?

A Condensed Examen. Holy Spirit, as we turn our attention now to the week we’ve lived so far, we ask for your help to guide us back through it with special attention to the particular sin of sloth. Take us to a time when sloth shifted from healthy rest into avoidance, apathy, and disengagement from the good you were inviting us into. Take us to a moment when we chose comfort over obedience, distraction over presence, or indifference over love. Come, Holy Spirit. We yield to you. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to where we checked out, but why. As you bring something to mind, we will silently confess it back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Set a timer for 3 minutes.)

God, thank you for bringing up our sin so that you can forgive it. Thanks that it is your delight to forgive and restore us back to right relationship with you. Thank you for rescuing us. Amen.

A confession for tonight might sound like “ I confess that I chose comfort instead of doing what love required when I kept putting off a needed conversation with my spouse because I didn’t want to deal with the tension,” or “I numbed out instead of being present with God when I spent hours scrolling on my phone at night because I felt emotionally drained and didn’t wait to face what was going on inside me,” or “I checked out instead of leaning in when a friend reached out for help and I ignored the call because I didn’t want to rearrange my evening.” We’ll go around in a circle, starting with me, and each make our confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will begin by thanking that person for confessing and reminding them that God has forgiven them. This could be as simple as saying, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you and God forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (2 min)

Tonight we again practiced corporate confession and absolution — bringing our sin into the light and receiving God’s mercy together.

Keep building a rhythm of confession. As we move past the midpoint of this series, begin thinking about how confession can remain part of your life with God beyond these seven weeks. Where could this practice regularly fit in your life?
Choose engagement over sloth. Sloth often looks like spiritual passivity, avoidance, or numbing out. This week, notice where you feel tempted to check out from God, others, or responsibility. Ask: What is one small, faithful step I can take instead? Then take it.

Isaiah Adeoye 1/15/26 Isaiah Adeoye 1/15/26

Guide 3: Greed

Seven Deadly Sins

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

Let’s begin tonight by pausing and reflecting on what God stirred in us through last week’s exercise of confession. As a group, let’s share briefly:

What was your experience of confession like last week?
What was one way you practiced confession intentionally this week?

Guide overview (3 min)

This week, we’re focusing on the sin of greed. Greed is the desire to have more and to acquire without consideration of one’s actual needs or those of other people. Greed replaces a love for God with an idolatry of created things, forming an insatiable craving for more.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

Our Posture: Every confession is sacred.

Our Promise: Every confession stays in this room.

Our Practice: Everyone participates.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around and have everyone agree.)

So let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer, and then we’ll take 3 minutes to pray the Examen—asking the Spirit to search us and draw our attention to a moment this week where the sin of greed was present in our lives. As God brings something to mind, we’ll silently confess it to him, admitting where we sinned and asking for his forgiveness. And as we confess the fruit of our greed, explore with God the root—where did that greed originate?

A Condensed Examen. Holy Spirit, as we turn our attention now to the week we’ve lived so far, we ask for your help to guide us back through it with special attention to the particular sin of greed. Take us to a time when greed shifted from a desire for provision into a way of protecting ourselves, gaining control, or securing our future apart from trust in you. Take us to a moment when we held too tightly to money, possessions, opportunities or status, when “wanting more” began to distort our love and damage our relationships. Come, Holy Spirit. We yield to you. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to how we were greedy, but why. As you bring something to mind, we will silently confess it back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Set a timer for 3 minutes.)

God, thank you for bringing up our sin so that you can forgive it. Thanks that it is your delight to forgive and restore us back to right relationship with you. Thank you for rescuing us. Amen.

A confession for tonight might sound like “I confess that I acted out of greed this week when I carried my lunch past a houseless person, too preoccupied with making sure I had enough” or “I confess the sin of greed when I was too conscious about my to-do list to check in on a coworker who knew I was having a hard time because I knew it would take longer than I wanted to give,” or “I confess that I acted out of greed by prioritizing my own comfort and weekend plans–staying home to relax and watch the game–instead of showing up to help a friend move.” We’ll go around in a circle—starting with me—and each make our confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will begin by thanking that person for confessing and reminding them that God has forgiven them. This could be as simple as saying, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you and God forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (2 min)

Tonight we returned to the exercise of corporate confession and absolution—bringing our sin into the light with God and with others, and receiving his mercy and forgiveness. The exercise for the week ahead is to:

Stay committed to developing a personal rhythm of confession. Begin giving attention to what this practice of confession could look like in your everyday life, and let it lead you into greater freedom, honesty and forgiveness.
Choose generosity to counteract greed. Greed is taking more than we need for ourselves, regardless of how that affects others. This week consider where you can be generous. Ask yourself: What do I have more than enough of? And who could I share it with?

Isaiah Adeoye 1/8/26 Isaiah Adeoye 1/8/26

Guide 2: Anger

Seven Deadly Sins

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

Let’s begin tonight by taking time to reflect on our practice of confession over this past week by answering these few questions together.

What was our time in confession last week like for you?
How did your personal practice of confession develop this last week—whether praying the Examen or confessing with friends?

Guide overview (3 min)

While society often views “sin” as archaic and outdated, we’ve all come face-to-face with brokenness—ours and others’. Each of us knows the shame, frustration, and sadness that comes in the aftermath of not loving God or others with our whole hearts. And, try as we might, our willpower alone isn’t enough to make our sin go away. Jesus says that “everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8v34), which means we need help. In the language of the Scriptures, we need a Savior—someone to deliver us from our sin. The good news is that God has come to our rescue. John tells us that “if we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1v9). The way we partner with God in uprooting the corrosive power of sin in our lives is through the practice of confession: telling the truth about what we’ve done so that we can receive God’s freely-given forgiveness.

During this series, we are exploring seven historically recognized root sins and invite the light of God’s love to shine into our darkness by confessing our sin to him and to one another. While we can fear that confessing may change the way people see, respect, or even love us, hearing another person’s confession and praying God’s forgiveness over them is healing for both people. We need help to uproot sin in our lives—it’s too strong for any one of us to beat alone, and we are not meant to. It’s for this reason that confession needs to be treated with utmost care, which is why we’ve established some ground rules and are using an agreed upon framework each week to ensure safety, build trust, and grow together.

This week, we’re focusing on the sin of anger. While the Bible teaches that anger isn’t always sinful (Ephesians 4v26), it becomes sinful when it moves beyond a momentary emotion into a disordered response that is misdirected or detached from the love of God and neighbor. It is often driven by wounded ego, fear, or frustration, and looks like wanting to punish or diminish someone to relieve our own discomfort—resentment, harsh words, being short-tempered, harboring bitterness, punishing by withdrawing, or justifying cruel thoughts because we felt wronged.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

Our Posture: Every confession is sacred.

Our Promise: Every confession stays in this room.

Our Practice: Everyone participates.

We will show our support for each other by all participating in confession. Simply observing doesn’t help create a safely vulnerable environment. Each of us is committing to participate in confession and declaring God’s forgiveness.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around and have everyone agree.)

Thank you all. We will keep reading and committing to each week to build trust together. As you know, our framework for the evening is: a shortened Examen with silent confession, corporate confession, and then communion.

So let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer, and then we’ll take 3 minutes to pray the Examen—asking the Spirit to search us and draw our attention to a moment this week where the sin of anger was present in our lives. As God brings something to mind, we’ll silently confess it to him, admitting where we sinned and asking for his forgiveness. And as we confess the fruit of our anger, explore with God the root—where did that anger originate?

A Condensed Examen. Holy Spirit, as we turn our attention now to the week we’ve lived so far, we ask for your help to guide us back through it with special attention to the particular sin of anger. Take us to a time when anger shifted from a signal that something is wrong to a way of protecting ourselves or asserting power over others, and distorting our love and damaging our relationships. Come, Holy Spirit. We yield to you. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations—not just to how we were angry, but why. As you bring something to mind, we will silently confess it back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Set a timer for 3 minutes.)

God, thank you for bringing up our sin so that you can forgive it. Thanks that it is your delight to forgive and restore us back to right relationship with you. Thank you for rescuing us. Amen.

Corporate Confession. Ok, now that we’ve prayed about our sin, we’re going to participate in corporate confession by sharing aloud with one another by going around, one at a time, and confessing out loud in one sentence the sin we just confessed to God in prayer. It just needs to be one sentence.

A confession for tonight might sound like “I confess that I acted out in anger by snapping at my kids this week when I really felt overwhelmed by this season of parenting,” or “I confess that I harbored resentment toward a co-worker when they received praise I felt was undeserved,” or “I confess that I withheld love from a friend by deliberately not responding to their text to punish them for hurting me.” We’ll go around in a circle—starting with me—and each make our confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will begin by thanking that person for confessing and reminding them that God has forgiven them. This could be as simple as saying, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you and God forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (2 min)

Tonight we again tried out a way to practice corporate confession and absolution—of naming our sins before God and others and receiving God’s forgiveness. The exercise for the week ahead is to:

Continue developing a personal rhythm of confession. Keep taking time to intentionally consider what a personal rhythm of confession might look like in your life. Whether it’s praying the Examen each evening (here’s a Guide to help guide you in that) or starting a confession group with some friends, keep moving towards living a life of freedom and forgiveness.

Isaiah Adeoye 1/4/26 Isaiah Adeoye 1/4/26

Guide 1: Envy

Seven Deadly Sins

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

Since there is no practice so far to review, let’s discuss the aim of the Guides in this series: to establish a common vocabulary for sin and confession and a sustainable rhythm of confession in our Community. So, before we dive into the overview, let’s take a moment to discuss our personal experiences—good or bad, brief or long, past or current—with confession.

Have you ever had a rhythm of confession (whether individual or with a group)? If so, what was that like?
Based on those experiences, what might we want to emulate and what might we want to be mindful of or avoid as we grow in confession as a Community?

Guide overview (3 min)

In our day and age, society often views the concept of “sin” as archaic and outdated. And yet we’ve all come face-to-face with our brokenness—ours and others’. Each of us knows the shame, frustration, and sadness that comes in the aftermath of not loving God or others with our whole hearts. And, try as we might, our willpower alone isn’t enough to make our sin go away. Jesus says that “everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8v34). We need help. We need, in the language of the Scriptures, a Savior—someone to deliver us from our sin. And the good news is that God has come to our rescue. Jesus’ friend John tells us that “if we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1v9). So the way we partner with God in uprooting the corrosive power of sin in our lives is through the practice of confession: telling the truth about what we’ve done so that we can receive God’s freely-given forgiveness.

During this series, we will explore seven historically recognized root sins and invite the light of God’s love to shine into our darkness by confessing our sin to him and to one another. Now, understandably there may be some initial resistance to the idea of confessing your sin to other people because we fear that it may change the way people see, respect, or even love us. It’s for this reason that confession needs to be treated with utmost care. So in a moment we will establish some ground rules and use an agreed upon framework each week to ensure safety, build trust, and grow together.

This week, we’re focusing on the sin of envy. Envy is when we respond to feelings of personal inadequacy with 1) passive resentment over the good fortune of others or 2) with active delight in their misfortune. It could look like resentment over a friend’s new house, jealousy of a coworker’s promotion, joy that someone messed up in their presentation, not celebrating another’s accomplishment, or comparing yourself to someone who you think is better, prettier, smarter, healthier, or more successful than you. So, tonight, we will engage the practice of Community through the exercise of confession. Each Community Guide in this series will be the same. We will: define and explore one of the seven sins, do a shortened Examen with silent confession, practice corporate confession, and then end by receiving communion together.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

We want to be a community of love and depth in a culture of individualism and superficiality through the practice of Community, and during this series we will lean into the exercise of confession to help us get there.

One of the many reasons corporate confession is important is that it allows us to hold one another in the loving presence of God, preaching the good news of God’s forgiveness to each other that is often difficult to believe for ourselves. Hearing another person’s confession and praying God’s forgiveness over them is healing for both people because it reminds us that sin is alive in all of us and that each of us is in need of a Savior. We need help to uproot sin in our lives—it’s too strong for any one of us to beat alone, and we are not meant to.

Now, since we are just beginning, it’s important to be on the same page about how we engage in our practice of corporate confession. Every confession is vulnerable and sacred, so privacy and confidentiality matter as we build a sustainable rhythm together. To help maintain confidentiality and safety, we will use the same framework every week. But before we get there, let’s begin with some Shared Community Agreements for Safeguarding by talking about our posture, our promise, and our practice.

Our Posture: Every confession is sacred.

Our Promise: Every confession stays in this room.

Our Practice: Everyone participates.

Do we all agree to this?

(Leader note: Go around and have everyone agree.)

Thank you all. We will be reading and committing to this each time we meet to keep building trust together. And since we’ve now established our Shared Agreements for Safeguarding, we’re ready to start. Each night we meet during this series, we will follow the same framework: a shortened Examen with silent confession, corporate confession, and then communion.

So let’s all find ourselves in a comfortable, open posture of prayer, and then we’ll take 3 minutes to pray the Examen—asking the Spirit to search us and draw our attention to a moment this week where the sin of envy was present in our lives. As God brings something to mind, we’ll silently confess it to him, admitting where we sinned and asking for his forgiveness.

A Condensed Examen. Holy Spirit, as we turn our attention now to the week we’ve lived so far, we ask for your help to guide us back through it with special attention to the particular sin of envy. Take us to a time where we either experienced passive resentment over the good fortune of others or active delight in their misfortune. Come, Holy Spirit. We yield to you. Guide our minds, memories, and imaginations. As you bring something to mind, we will silently confess it back to you and ask for the forgiveness that you so freely offer.

(Leader note: Set a timer for 3 minutes.)

God, thank you for bringing up our sin so that you can forgive it. Thanks that it is your delight to forgive and restore us back to right relationship with you. Thank you for rescuing us. Amen.

Corporate Confession. Ok, now we are going to practice corporate confession. But before we do, I wanted to share a bit about my own personal experience with it these last few months.

(Leader note: Share about what confession has been like for you as you started your own rhythm of it after the Confession Workshop at November's Community Leader Cohort.)

We’re going to go around, one at a time, and confess out loud in one sentence the sin we just confessed before God. A confession for tonight might sound like: “I confess that I was envious when I didn’t celebrate my neighbor getting a new car this week.” or “I confess that I was envious when my coworker got an opportunity to share in the meeting instead of me.” or “I confess that I was envious when I got excited that my sister had to share some bad news with the family.” or “I confess the envy I felt looking at my friend’s social media post that made his family seem perfect.” It just needs to be one sentence, “I confess that…” We’ll go around in a circle—starting with me—and each make our confession. After each person confesses, the next person to go will begin by thanking that person for confessing and reminding them that God has forgiven them. This could be as simple as saying, “Thank you for your honesty. God loves you and God forgives you.” And then they will make their own confession.

(Leader note: Allow everyone about 30 seconds of silence, and then hand out the communion elements and speak these words of absolution before receiving communion together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (2 min)

Tonight we tried out a way to practice corporate confession and absolution—of naming our sins before God and others and receiving God’s forgiveness. So, until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Begin to develop a personal rhythm of confession. Take some time to intentionally consider what a personal rhythm of confession might look like in your life. Whether you do the Examen each evening (here’s a Guide to help guide you in that) or start a confession group with some friends, take a step towards living a life of freedom and forgiveness.

Isaiah Adeoye 12/14/25 Isaiah Adeoye 12/14/25

Guide 2: Stilling Our Bodies

First Light: Advent 2025

Communion

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

In this series, we are focusing on the practice of Solitude—intentionally quieting our lives to be with the One who loves us. In the last Guide, we agreed on our exercise for the week ahead: to intentionally put into practice something that helps make your life 10% quieter and slower this Advent season. So let’s talk about how that’s going!

What step did you take to slow and quiet your life this last week? And how did it go?

Guide overview (2 min)

Hospitality is the practice of making space in our lives for other people to experience the healing of God in theirs. The idea of hospitality around the holidays, though, likely causes two different reactions in a room like this—some of us feel inspired, and others of us feel paralyzed. In the frenzied pace of “Christmas noise,” we can jump into hospitality with an unsustainable vigor or a weighty moral duty. Instead, we will continue our practice of Solitude tonight, remembering that it is from stillness that, like Jesus, we “only do what we see the Father doing” (John 5v19). Stillness grants us the vantage point of seeing where in our lives God is already working so that we can join him—not the other way around. From stillness, all of our action takes on creative potential in God’s mission to remake the world and all who live in it in his image.

Without time and space to be quiet and still, all of the seasonal tradition—friends and parties, gifts and carols—will devolve into Christmas noise and busyness. We choose, instead, to slow and quiet our bodies down as a way of cultivating an openness to God. And so, tonight, we join the global church in continuing this Advent season with the practice of Solitude through the exercise of stilling our bodies.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

We aim to be a community of peace and quiet in a culture of anxiety and noise through the practice of Solitude. The Christmas season is a prime opportunity to see this anxiety and noise on display—in the world around us and the world in us. So, it is also a prime opportunity to, like Jesus, pull away from the world to sit before the Father in stillness. Very regularly in the gospels, we find Jesus going into the wilderness to be alone with God. And if Jesus needed solitude, how much more do we?

Because it’s hard to practice Solitude with a group of people, in our pursuit of becoming a community of peace and quiet, our exercise for tonight will focus on how we can begin to practice stilling our bodies in pursuit of peace. To do this, we will practice stillness together for 3–5 minutes, and then we’ll get into smaller groups to reflect on that experience and plan for how to best integrate it into our lives this season.

As we start, find a comfortable place and posture. As you do, let’s remember that it’s unlikely that any of us will be able to experience the fullness of this experience in just a few minutes in a room full of people. And, besides that, we are so often in motion that stillness is likely to cause a slight increase in nervous energy in our bodies rather than a feeling of connectedness to God. This is ok! Instead of perfection, let our goal be to practice sitting as still as possible in this nervous energy––believing that God is here with us in it—shifting our attention away from our anxiety and towards God's presence. Feel free to use a breath prayer like we practiced last week. Perhaps, “Jesus, I receive your peace.”

Ok, I am going to set a timer and we’ll all practice stilling our bodies in God’s presence.

(Leader note: Set a timer for 3–5 minutes. If it’s helpful, consider playing soft instrumental or ambient music to help people focus.)

Next, let’s break into smaller groups to discuss two things:

That exercise: What was that exercise like for you? What did you notice when you stilled your body for that long? Did you find it easy or difficult?
Our Advent season: This Advent season, we are reorienting ourselves towards quiet and stillness—not instead of the joyful Christmas traditions or hospitality, but so that we can more fully enjoy them. So, let’s have a conversation about how we can grow this stillness in our lives. Remember, though, the only way to cultivate a sustainable practice of anything is to start small. So we’re not asking about how we overhaul the entirety of our lives, but simply: What can I do this Advent season to make my life 10% slower and quieter?

(Leader note: Allow people to talk for 15–20 minutes before moving onto the next section.)

Exercise for the week ahead (3 min)

Tonight we tried out a way to practice stilling our minds and continued exploring the ways in which we could slow and quiet our lives this Advent season. So, until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Add stillness to your Solitude practice. Take some time to intentionally put into practice the stillness we tried tonight. It may not connect directly to your Silence practice from last week if you chose something that involves movement (like on your drive home from work). However you choose, practice it intentionally this week with the continued goal of continuing to make your life 10% slower and quieter this Advent season.

Isaiah Adeoye 12/8/25 Isaiah Adeoye 12/8/25

Guide 1: Quieting Your Mind

First Light: Advent 2025

Communion

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

Since there is no practice so far to review, let’s discuss this series’ aim. We want to see our community grow in our capacity to wait with God, listening to him and opening ourselves to him through the practice of Silence & Solitude. Through the Guides in this series, we will be invited to slow down and get quiet in a few areas of our lives. So, before we begin with tonight’s Guide, let’s take a moment to discuss our personal experiences—good or bad, brief or long, past or current—with the practice of Silence & Solitude.

Do you currently have a rhythm of Solitude in your life? If so, what is it or what has it been?
What internal resistance or external distractions come up in you during Solitude?

Guide overview (2 min)

While our cultural calendar begins in January, the church calendar starts about 4 weeks before Christmas with the season of Advent. At its most literal, the word "advent" simply means "coming." It's the season of slowing down and getting quiet, allowing our own longing for Jesus' return to grow in us as we reflect on his first long-awaited arrival as Emmanuel, "God with us."

Without time and space to be quiet and still, all of the seasonal tradition—friends and parties, gifts and carols—will devolve into Christmas noise and busyness. We seek to slow and quiet down as a way of listening to God and cultivating an openness to him.

And so, tonight, we join the global church in entering this Advent season with the practice of Solitude through the exercise of quieting our minds.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

We want to be a community of peace and quiet in a culture of anxiety and noise through the practice of Solitude. The Christmas season is a prime opportunity to see this anxiety and noise on display—in the world around us and the world in us. So, it is also a prime opportunity to, like Jesus, pull away from the world to sit before the Father. Very regularly in the gospels, we find Jesus going into the wilderness to be alone with God. And if Jesus needed silence and solitude, how much more do we?

Because it’s hard to practice Solitude with a group of people, in our pursuit of becoming a community of peace and quiet, our exercise for tonight will focus on how we can begin to practice quieting our minds in pursuit of peace. To do this, we will practice silence together for 3–5 minutes, and then we’ll get into smaller groups to reflect on that experience and plan for how to best integrate it into our lives this season.

As we start, find a comfortable place and posture. As you do, I want to remind us of a few things. First, it’s unlikely that any of us will be able to experience the fullness of this experience in just a few minutes in a room full of people. So, to set appropriate expectations, assume that our minds will wander to your to-do list, we may experience a slight increase in nervous anxiety, and we may not find ourselves feeling connected to God. All of this is ok! Instead, let your goal be to practice redirecting your attention to Jesus each time it strays using a breath prayer. Tonight, we’ll all use the same one: “Come, Holy Spirit." So, each time you find your mind wandering, simply say “Come, Holy Spirit,” silently to yourself, redirecting your attention to God. Instead of getting frustrated by how many times your mind wandered, celebrate how many times you returned to Jesus. With repetition and rhythm, this practice of redirecting your attention again and again will allow your mind to quiet and your spirit to come awake to God’s presence.

Ok, I am going to set a timer and we’ll all practice quieting our minds in silence with the breath prayer.

(Leader note: Set a timer for 3–5 minutes. If it’s helpful, consider playing soft instrumental or ambient music to help people focus.)

Next, let’s break into smaller groups to discuss two things:

That exercise: What was that exercise like for you? What did you notice about your attention or the breath prayers? Did you find it easy or difficult?
Our Advent season: This Advent season, we want to reorient ourselves towards quiet and stillness—not instead of the joyful Christmas traditions, but so that we can more fully enjoy them. So, let’s have a conversation about how we can grow this quiet in our lives. Remember, though, the only way to cultivate a sustainable practice of anything is to start small. So we’re not asking about how we overhaul the entirety of our lives, but simply: What can I do this Advent season to make my life 10% slower and quieter?

(Leader note: Allow people to talk for 15–20 minutes before moving onto the next section.)

Exercise for the week ahead (3 min)

Tonight we tried out a way to practice quieting our minds and explored the ways in which we could slow and quiet our lives this Advent season. So, until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead is to:

Slow down and get quiet. Take some time to intentionally put into practice something that you discussed tonight. There are so many ways to do this. You could:

Begin or end your day with the Silent Prayer exercise we did tonight (here’s a Silent Prayer Guide to help you)
Spend your first or last car ride of the day without the music, podcasts, or phone calls.
Limit the number of Christmas parties you commit to.
Go on a walk in the evening.
Decide to not spend money or do any shopping on a particular day each week.

Whatever you choose, practice it intentionally this week with the goal of making your life 10% slower and quieter this Advent season.

Isaiah Adeoye 11/20/25 Isaiah Adeoye 11/20/25

Guide 5: Evening Prayer

A Prayer Shaped Life, 2025

Communion

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

In this series, we are focusing on the practice of Prayer—the slow-growing, sweet-tasting fruit of communion with God over the long haul. In the last Guide, we agreed on our exercise for the week ahead: Praying Compassion. So let’s talk about how that went!

What did you experience as you made space for midday prayer this last week?
As you’ve been leaning into the practice of Prayer these last few weeks, have you noticed any small shifts in your heart, habits, or attention?

Guide Overview (2 min)

As we’ve explored for the last two weeks, so much is competing for our attention, which is one of the most significant resources we can steward. If we’re not careful, this bombardment of noise can overtake us like a flood, sweeping away our time, energy, and attention in its fast-moving current. This attempt to distract us and pull apart our focus is an age-old problem. And, for millennia, God’s people combatted it by ordering their days by communion with God, stopping at multiple times each day to pray.

Following in this tradition, Bridgetown’s Daily Prayer Rhythm aims at building a habit of communing with God in the normal parts of our lives, so that we can grow in intimacy with him and participate in his coming Kingdom in and around us. We stop to pray with intention and specificity three times a day: praying Scripture in the morning, praying compassion at midday, and praying the Examen in the evening. Over the last two weeks we explored morning and midday prayer; and tonight we conclude the series with evening prayer.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

For tonight, we’ll engage in the practice of Prayer through the exercise of praying the Examen. Each evening, we have the opportunity to either forget our day or remember our day—choosing activities that help us escape the day we just lived or to reflect with the intention of finding God in the day. While there are many tools that can help us learn to hear God’s voice and notice his presence in our daily lives, one of the most helpful is praying the Examen—a form of prayer in which we take time with God to look back over our day, paying special attention to where we noticed or missed God’s presence. Doing this reflection over time helps train our attention to find God in our ordinary days. We begin to more easily recognize what God is up to in and around us, helping us to keep in step with the Spirit.

There are four steps to the Examen: Review, Resonate, Repent, and Request. We’ll walk through each step silently together, reflecting together at the end about how it went and where we noticed God. As we begin, let’s take a moment to get comfortable, and then I’ll guide us through the four prompts, giving us space between each to silently interact with God. If it’s helpful, feel free to journal your conversation with God as we go.

Review: Holy Spirit, as we turn our attention now to the day we just lived, we ask for your help to guide us back through it. Before we assign meaning or jump ahead to the next step: from the moment we woke up to the moment we started this prayer, what happened today? What did we do? What did we feel? Where did we go? Who did we see? What did we get done? What was left undone for another day? What did we say? What victories did we experience? Where did we feel loss? We take time now to review our day with you.

(Leader note: Throughout this exercise, take care to leave a brief pause between each question. Give people 3–4 minutes in silence to Review their day. Consider playing instrumental music during this time to help people focus.)

Resonate: Now, Holy Spirit, help us comb back through our day with special attention to your presence. Where did we feel near to you? What in our day “resonated” with your closeness? Whether it was something I saw, said, felt, did, or received, or someone I interacted with, where did I feel you draw near to me? We take a moment to thank you for where we felt near to you,

(Leader note: Give people 3–4 minutes in silence to notice the resonance of his presence in their day.)

Repent: Next, Holy Spirit, help us go back through our day with special attention to where we missed or ignored your presence. We take a moment to explore with you the moments we felt far from you—Where might we have strayed? Where might we have missed you?—and then to repent, confessing those moments to you and receiving your forgiveness.

(Leader note: Give people 3–4 minutes in silence to notice where they strayed and to repent.)

Request: Finally, Holy Spirit, with our review of today in mind, we turn our attention to tomorrow: What is one simple thing we would ask of you for tomorrow in light of our reflection about today? We take a moment now to request something from you.

(Leader note: Give people 1 minute to ask God for tomorrow. Then close in prayer, thanking God for speaking and asking him to continue to make you all aware of his presence.)

Reflect & Plan. The exercise for the week ahead is to pray the Examen each evening. With that in mind, we’re going to get into smaller groups and spend 10 minutes reflecting and planning with two prompts:

What was it like for you to pray the Examen tonight?
How and when could you pray the Examen each evening this week?

(Leader note: Let people get into smaller groups to discuss. Afterwards, call everyone together to read the exercise for the week ahead.)

Exercise for the week ahead (3 min)

Tonight we explored the evening prayer portion of Bridgetown’s Daily Prayer Rhythm. For the week ahead, we are all going to continue practicing praying the Examen on our own:

Evening prayer: This week, we’re all going to end each day by praying the Examen, walking through the framework we used tonight—Review, Resonate, Repent, & Request. Since most of us don’t have extra time each evening, remember that it can be really helpful to pair the Examen with something else you do habitually. For example, pray on your commute home, while you’re getting ready for bed, or even as you get into bed. Also, the evening prayer section of the Lectio365 app is a helpful, free resource that will guide you in the practice of praying the Examen. And, consider continuing your morning prayer rhythm of praying Scripture and your midday prayer rhythm of praying compassion each day as well.

Isaiah Adeoye 11/13/25 Isaiah Adeoye 11/13/25

Guide 4: Midday Prayer

A Prayer Shaped Life, 2025

Communion

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

In this series, we are focusing on the practice of Prayer—the slow-growing, sweet-tasting fruit of communion with God over the long haul. In the last Guide, we agreed on our exercise for the week ahead: praying Scripture. So let’s talk about how that went!

What did you experience as you made space for morning prayer this last week?
As you’ve been leaning into the practice of Prayer these last few weeks, have you noticed any small shifts in your heart, habits, or attention?

Guide overview (2 min)

As we explored last week, so much is competing for our attention, which is one of the most significant resources we can steward. If we’re not careful, this bombardment of noise can overtake us like a flood, sweeping away our time, energy, and attention in its fast-moving current. This attempt to distract us and pull apart our focus is an age-old problem. And, for millennia, God’s people combatted it by ordering their days by communion with God, stopping at multiple times each day to pray.

Following in this tradition, Bridgetown’s Daily Prayer Rhythm aims at building a habit of communing with God in the normal parts of our lives, so that we can grow in intimacy with him and participate in his coming Kingdom in and around us. We stop to pray with intention and specificity three times a day: praying Scripture in the morning, praying compassion at midday, and praying the Examen in the evening. We looked at morning prayer last week; and up for tonight is midday prayer.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

For tonight, we’ll engage in the practice of Prayer through the exercise of letting compassion move us to intercession. The middle of the day is often when we’re most tempted to turn towards ourselves—to space out or numb out. And it’s then that we choose to pause, steer our focus away from our computers, chores, schoolwork, or laundry, and towards others—the sick and dying, the lost and wandering, the poor and those struggling with addiction. We pause at midday to ask the Spirit to bring to mind someone in need, asking him to provide—salvation, rent money, friendship, help, etc.—and then asking him to send us as an answer to our own prayers.

As we practice this tonight, we are going to take some time to let compassion stir us to intercede for the three categories of people we talked about on Sunday—the lost, the lowly, and the lively—and then end by asking God to send us to be his compassion to these people. Here’s how it will work. We will work through each category, one at a time. I will invite the Spirit to bring to mind people for whom to pray, and then we will take time to pray out loud for them one at a time. As we do, let’s pray with trust and hope, remembering that our Father in Heaven is a good giver. And, let’s be sure that our prayers protect their dignity by not using names or identifiers where doing so would reveal something sensitive or private.

Come, Holy Spirit. Teach us how to let your compassion guide our intercessions.

(Leader note: Give people about 30 seconds in silence to settle in.)

Pray for the lost. God, each of us knows people who are far from you—those who are searching for home, for safety, and for rest. Even now we ask that you would bring a name or face to our mind, that we might pray for them to know your loving presence and salvation.

(Leader note: Pause for 30 seconds, and then invite people to pray out loud one at a time. Give people about 5 minutes to pray and then move to the next prompt.)

Pray for the lowly. God, each of us knows people who are experiencing some level of pain—those who are vulnerable and hurting. Whether the pain is related to health, finances, relationships, or something else, we want to see you move on their behalf. Even now we ask that you would bring a name or face to our mind, that we might pray for them to know your loving presence in their need.

(Leader note: Pause for 30 seconds, and then invite people to pray out loud one at a time. Give people about 5 minutes to pray and then move to the next prompt.)

Pray for the lively. God, each of us knows people who seem to be growing in new ways—those in whom we can see signs of new life. They could be experiencing new life in their relationship with God, or taking vocational risks, or having a baby, or something else. Even now we ask that you would bring a name or face to our mind, that we might pray for them to know your loving presence as they are on the cusp of new life.

(Leader note: Pause for 30 seconds, and then invite people to pray out loud one at a time. Give people about 5 minutes to pray and then close with the following prayer.)

Holy Spirit, thank you for the way you moved your compassion in us. As we have asked you to meet these people with your loving presence, we now ask that you would send us to be your loving presence. If there is any way that you would like to use us as answers to our own prayers, please show us how. Thank you. Amen.

Reflect & Plan. The exercise for the week ahead is to pray compassion at midday each day this week—inviting God to show you one person from one of those categories to pray for. So we’re going to get into smaller groups and spend 10 minutes reflecting and planning with two prompts:

What was it like for you to let compassion stir your intercession tonight?
How and when are you going to pray compassion at midday this week?
(Leader note: Let people get into smaller groups to discuss. Afterwards, call everyone together to read the exercise for the week ahead.)

Exercise for the week ahead (3 min)

Tonight we explored the midday prayer portion of Bridgetown’s Daily Prayer Rhythm. For the week ahead, we are all going to continue practicing praying compassion on our own:

Midday prayer: This week, we’re each going to pause at midday to pray compassion. We will pause for just a few moments in the middle of our day (setting alarms or reminders on your phone can be so helpful for this) to ask the Spirit to guide our attention towards a person or people for whom he is inviting us to pray. This could be praying for friends who don’t know Jesus, neighbors in need, people who are experiencing the grief of loss, or anyone else who needs to experience God’s compassion. Also, the midday prayer section of the Lectio365 app is an incredible, free resource that will guide you in the practice of praying compassion. And, consider continuing your morning prayer rhythm of praying Scripture each day as well.

Isaiah Adeoye 11/12/25 Isaiah Adeoye 11/12/25

Family Activity for Dec 28

Advent 2025

Family

Families with children can use the following activity to remember the last year together. This reading and activity should take about 15 minutes to complete. You’ll need: markers and 5 stones or rocks for each person. The stones should be big enough to write a word or do a simple drawing on. If you don’t have stones, small pieces of paper will work too.

Remember

In the book of Joshua, God’s people, the Israelites, were preparing to enter the land that He had promised to give them. To help them on their way, God stopped the flow of the Jordan River, so His people could cross safely on dry land. Let’s read what happened after they crossed the river:

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

God’s people made a monument—a special structure made to remember an important event—from the rocks they took from the middle of the river. God said that whenever their children ask what the monument of stones means, the people could share the amazing ways God had been with them and helped them.

Just like the Israelites at the Jordan River, we are going to remember the ways that God has been with us and helped us this year. I am going to ask us 5 questions to help us remember. You can write or draw your own answer to each question on a stone.

(Leader Note: give the group 2 minutes after each question for writing or drawing on their stones. Before moving on to the next question, give each person a chance to share their stone if they’d like.)

What was one good thing that happened this year?

What was one hard thing God helped us through this year?

Where did we see God this year?

When did you feel close to God this year?

What’s one thing from this year that we can thank God for?

Now, let’s stack or arrange all of our rocks together as a monument, just like the Israelites did. (Leader Note: give group 1 minute to set up monument)

Let’s end by praying together, thanking God for all of the ways he has been with us this year, and ask for his help as the new year begins.

God, thank you for your love—thank you for helping us remember the year behind us, and all of the ways you have loved us, been with us, and helped us.

Jesus, thank you for your friendship—help us to be with you, become like you, and do the things you did.

Holy Spirit, thank you for speaking to us—as the new year begins, would you guide us, teach us, and go with us wherever we go.

Amen.

Isaiah Adeoye 11/12/25 Isaiah Adeoye 11/12/25

Table Liturgy for Dec 28

Advent 2025

In place of gathering together as a congregation on Sunday, December 28, we are meeting in homes to remember and renew—to reflect on the work of renewal that God has been up to in our lives over the last year and to recommit to walking in step with that transformational work in the year to come. The following liturgy is written to be read out loud word-for-word, with facilitator notes in parentheses and italics. Before you begin this liturgy, make sure you have communion elements (e.g. juice or wine and bread or crackers), something to keep time, and something for people to jot down notes as they listen and pray. Consider having instrumental music playing throughout to help people focus during moments of silent reflection.

Note: If you are part of a family with young children, we’ve created a family activity for this liturgy which you can find here.

Family Activity

Read Psalm 100

What we call Psalms was the prayer book for the early church. This collection of prayers that reflected the spectrum of the human experience: joy, despair, trust, gratitude, hope, anger, repentance, and peace. And while each of these emotions likely surfaced in us this last year, we are going to begin our time together by reading out loud a psalm of gratitude: Psalm 100. Hear these words of praise:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Overview

On this threshold between years—the ending of one and the beginning of another—we pause in a moment of intentionality to remember and renew. We will remember by recalling God’s faithfulness to us this last year and the transformation, healing, and deepening he has worked in our lives, celebrating with gratitude by receiving communion together. And then we will renew by committing to continue walking in step with his faithfulness in these areas of our lives over the coming year. By taking time to consider what God was up to in our previous year and what he may be up to in the next one, we allow him to draw a throughline in our consciousness, partnering with him by consenting to his loving presence.

Remember

As we begin a time of remembering our past year by reflecting through a few guided questions, find a comfortable posture that helps you reflect your openness to God, like opening your hands on your lap.

Come, Holy Spirit. As we turn our attention now to the year we just lived, we ask for your help to guide us back through it. As we walk through the library of moments, we acknowledge that more happened than we will be able to remember. So we ask that, like an expert librarian, you would guide us to the titles that stuck out to you—the ones that you want to place together that we might see common themes and get a fuller picture of what you were up to.

What happened this year? What were the big moments you lived through? Where did you go? Who did you meet? What were the highs and lows of this last year? (Facilitator note: Let people sit with each question for 2 minutes or so before asking the next one.)

What felt heavy? What felt light? As you reflect on this last year, what about it feels or felt heavy to you? Where did you experience weariness or overwhelm? And what about your last year felt light? Where did you experience a victory or growth, or feel joy? (Facilitator note: Let people sit with each question for 2 minutes or so before asking the next one.)

Where was God? Over this last year, where did you experience God’s presence? Where might you have missed his presence? Where did God show up in your home, your work, your family, your friends, your celebrations and grief? Where was God in your life this last year? (Facilitator note: Let people sit with each question for 2 minutes or so before asking the next one.)

What was God up to? As you consider God’s presence to you, begin to ask him about the work of renewal, healing, deepening, or transformation he was working through it all. How might you give name to what he was up to in your life through this last year? (Facilitator note: Let people sit with each question for 2 minutes or so before asking the next one.)

Express gratitude. Before we move on to the next movement, let’s take some time to pray out loud, one at a time, thanking God for where he revealed himself last year—for experiences we had, people we met, ways he provided, and the themes of transformation that he was growing in us. (Facilitator note: Allow at least 5 minutes for people to pray out loud. If there are any periods of silence, do your best to resist the urge to move on too quickly. Then close with the following prayer.)

Jesus, thank you for where you met us this last year. Thank you for letting us live these moments then, and for letting us relive them now with you. Every good and perfect gift comes from you. Amen.

Receive Communion together

At this point, with the last year in our focus, we are going to receive communion. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and broke it into pieces for his disciples to eat, symbolizing his own body that was about to be broken so that they (and we) might feast at the resurrection. He then poured wine for his disciples to drink, symbolizing his own blood that was about to be poured out so that they (and we) might be washed clean. He invited his disciples, as he invites us, to eat and drink, remembering his love and renewing our commitment to him.

As we hold the plate of bread/crackers for the person next to you to receive Christ’s body, we will say, “The body of Christ, broken for you.” And we will hold onto the elements until each person has them and then, after a moment in silence holding our last year before God, we will eat and drink together. (Facilitator Note: After each person has the elements, hold 30 seconds of silence.)

The body of Christ, broken for you. And the blood of Christ, shed for you. Take, eat and drink, and remember him.

Renew

For the next movement of our time together, we will turn our attention from the year behind to the year ahead. As we do, we will begin by reflecting with curiosity about whether there are themes from last year that God may want to continue this year—themes of renewal, healing, and transformation. Re-entering our postures of prayer, we will dream together with God about the next year with hope and desire, taking some time to silently reflect over a few questions, letting God guide our attention and imagination. After that, we will share our desires for the coming year with one another.

Come, Holy Spirit, guide our imaginations as you guided our memories. Would you speak to us about your desire for us this next year, that our desire might be stirred towards the same.

What does God want to do? Based on what the Spirit did last year, begin a conversation with him about how he may want to continue or deepen that work in the coming year. How may he want to heal you or transform you? (Facilitator note: Let people sit with each question for 2 minutes or so before asking the next one.)

What symbol represents this? As this work begins to take shape—even if just a wisp or stirring—continue talking to him by exploring what word, phrase, symbol, song, Scripture, or something else could represent the work he wants to do over this next year, to help us remember and return to his invitation to you. (Facilitator note: Let people sit with each question for 2 minutes or so before asking the next one.)

How will you say yes? Part of why God shares with us the work he wants to do in us is that he wants our permission and consent to do it. Give him your “yes” and then begin wondering: How do I keep in step with God’s transforming love this next year? How can I be faithful to show up to this work? (Facilitator note: Let people sit with this question for 2 minutes or so before moving on.)

Jesus, thank you for beginning to share with us—even if just faintly—what you might be up to in our lives over this next year and how we can keep in step with you. Every good and perfect gift comes from you. Amen.

Now, we’re going to share what we sensed God saying to us about this next year, starting with what he seemed to be up to last year, as a way of bearing witness with each other to where God might be moving in our lives. As we share, do your best to be fully present to each person’s words, giving them your attention and focus. We’ll take a good chunk of time for everyone to share something. Sharing hope or desire may be vulnerable for some, so assume that if people are sharing vaguely, they are doing so on purpose.

Share. What did God do in you this last year? What might God want to do in you this year? How will you say yes? (Facilitator note: Set a timer so that each person has equal time to share. While a timer may feel off-putting at first, it both allows people to stay present to what’s being shared, and it allows the person sharing to not get self conscious about how much time they’re taking. After each person shares, thank them and move to the next.)

Pray together

Before we close, we are going to lift these hopes up to God together, asking that we would receive all the good that he has in store for us. To do this, we are going to break into groups of 2 or 3 to commission each other into the coming year to pray for what each person shared. We’ll take 10 minutes to pray in these groups and then I’ll call us all back to end our time. (Facilitator note: After 10 minutes, call everyone back. It could be helpful to give everyone a 2 minute warning before closing.)

God, thank you for bringing us together today for this time. Thank you for helping us reflect on last year and renew our desire for the next one. Thank you for the vulnerability we witnessed and the community we experienced together. We covered so much ground today, so let each of us go in peace, filled with your love. We love you, Jesus, and we’re so grateful for your presence to us in and through each other. We give you praise for this last year and head into this next year with as much hope as we can muster. Help us to love you and one another well. Teach us, guide us, and guard us. Thank you, Father, Son, and Spirit. Amen.

Isaiah Adeoye 11/9/25 Isaiah Adeoye 11/9/25

Guide 3: Morning Prayer

A Prayer Shaped Life, 2025

Communion

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

In this series, we are focusing on the practice of Prayer—the slow-growing, sweet-tasting fruit of communion with God over the long haul. In the last Guide, we agreed on our exercise for the week ahead: Incarnated Prayer. So let’s talk about how that went!

Who did God lead you to as you practiced Incarnated Prayer and what happened?

Guide overview (2 min)

Our attention is one of our most significant resources we can steward, and from the second we wake up, so much is vying for it—notifications, needs, news cycles, and noise. If we’re not careful, this bombardment can overtake us like a flood, sweeping away our time, energy, and attention in its fast-moving current. And while there are certainly newer ways our attention is being stolen—like social media, the international news cycle, and having our work email on our phones—the problem is ancient. For millennia, God’s people ordered their days by communion with God, stopping at multiple times each day to pray.

Following in this tradition, at Bridgetown we too have a Daily Prayer Rhythm, the goal of which is for each of us to build a habit of communing with God in the normal parts of our lives, so that we can grow in intimacy with him and participate in his coming Kingdom in and around us. We stop to pray with intention and specificity three times a day: praying Scripture in the morning, praying compassion at midday, and praying the Examen in the evening. For the next three weeks, we will focus on one of these movements, practicing it together each night we meet and practicing it on our own throughout the week. Up for tonight is morning prayer.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

For tonight, we’ll engage in the practice of Prayer through the exercise of praying Scripture. We aim to pray Scripture each morning because we become like what we pay attention to, and because whatever we give our first attention to has exponential formative power in our lives. While any passage of Scripture can guide us in prayer, one of the most helpful is the prayer book for the early church: the Psalms. This compilation of prayers guided the prayers of the Old Testament Temple, Jesus himself, and the early church. Within the Psalms, we find the full array of human emotion on display, which makes them uniquely useful for prayer because they teach us how to pray more than what to pray. Praying the Psalms reminds us that whatever we’re feeling is safe with God. We don’t need to clean up or get our act together before coming into God’s presence; we can show up in prayer exactly as we are.

As we pray Scripture tonight, we’re going to use Psalm 84 as our guide. Here’s how it will work: I will read through it in three different sections, pausing to give us space between each to pray out loud one at a time. There is no right or wrong way to pray the Psalms, simply allow the psalmist’s words—in this case, the Sons of Korah—to guide our prayers. Maybe a word or image sparks a thought, or a feeling or emotion resonates, or maybe you want to echo something the authors actually pray themselves. Whatever it is, we’ll simply allow these words to guide our prayers as we pray out loud, one at a time. As we start, though, find a comfortable position, and we’ll take a moment in silence to become aware of God’s presence with us. And feel welcome to follow along in your own Bible, if that’s helpful.

Come, Holy Spirit. Teach us how to let the Scriptures guide our prayers.

(Leader note: Give people about 30 seconds in silence to settle in.)

Read Psalm 84v1–4. “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.”

(Leader note: Give people about 5 minutes to pray.)

Read Psalm 84v5–9. “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.”

(Leader note: Give people about 5 minutes to pray.)

Read Psalm 84v10–12. “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.”

(Leader note: Give people about 5 minutes to pray. Close in prayer, thanking God.)

Reflect & Plan. The exercise for the week ahead is to pray Scripture each morning. So we’re going to get into smaller groups and spend 10 minutes reflecting and planning with two prompts:

What was it like for you to pray Psalm 84 tonight?
How and when will you pray Scripture each morning this week?

(Leader note: Let people get into smaller groups to discuss. Set a timer for 10 minutes. After it goes off, call everyone together to read the exercise for the week ahead.)

Exercise for the week ahead (3 min)

Tonight we explored the morning prayer portion of Bridgetown’s Daily Prayer Rhythm. For the week ahead, we are all going to continue practicing praying Scripture on our own:

Morning prayer: This week, we’re all going to begin each day by praying Scripture, particularly the Psalms. Whichever Psalm you choose, simply read it and let it guide your prayers to begin your day. Also, the morning prayer section of the Lectio365 app is an incredible, free resource that will guide you in the practice of praying Scripture.

Isaiah Adeoye 10/27/25 Isaiah Adeoye 10/27/25

Guide 2: Incarnational Prayer

A Prayer Shaped Life, 2025

Communion

Family

(Leader note: Under the “exercise for tonight” section, you will find two options—one for Communities who have an established mission and one for those who do not. Use whichever one applies to your Community’s situation and completely skip the other.)

Review the practice so far (10 min)

In this series, we are focusing on the practice of Prayer—the slow-growing, sweet-tasting fruit of communion with God over the long haul. In the last Guide, we agreed on our exercise for the week ahead: Silent Prayer. So let’s talk about how that went!

What has your experience with Silent Prayer been like?
(Optional) On Sunday, Gerald announced that he is leaving Bridgetown to work with Practicing The Way. We are so grateful for all that Gerald has been to our church, so sad to see him go, and so excited for what God has in store for him. How are you processing Gerald’s departure?

Guide overview (2 min)

The kinds of prayer that Jesus prayed often moved him away from the center of society and towards its periphery, where he befriended those on the outskirts. As people who want to do as Jesus did, we also often find ourselves among the most vulnerable—not as service providers, but as family. Jesus made family everywhere he went, constantly inviting people to a deeper level of relational intimacy with God and with one another.

One of the core values of a Bridgetown Community is that we are on mission together—that we are taking spiritual responsibility for our part of Portland by becoming like family with those who are most in need—whether those in foster care or the under-resourced, the unhoused, the incarcerated, the refugee, and so many others. So, for tonight’s exercise, we are going to explore how we can take a step deeper into incarnating our prayers with the aim of kinship. Kinship happens as we share life with those who are often overlooked or on the margins—being interruptible, intentional, and honest in friendship. We don’t reach down or try to fix; we walk alongside, discovering that the line between “us” and “them” is only an illusion.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

Option 1: For Communities with a monthly rhythm of mission

Since our Community already has an established monthly rhythm of mission, we are going to take some time tonight to ask the Spirit about this idea of kinship, and if there is another step we can take towards the people we are serving. We want to be curious about how we can become like family with them, not just service providers.

(Leader note: If your Community already has a story of kinship, please let us know! We would love to hear about it — fill out this form)

Be curious about kinship: Before we talk to each other about any ideas we have, let’s pray and ask the Spirit for creative ideas about how we can move closer to the people we’re serving. Where is there an opportunity to deepen our relationships? Who specifically might God be inviting us to share a table with or meet a more personal need? What would it look like to become like family with someone? I’ll set a timer for 2 minutes as each of us engages with the Spirit in creativity and curiosity.

Reflect & explore (in smaller groups): Next, we’re going to get into groups of three or four and discuss the ideas that came up during that time in prayer—creative ways to cultivate kinship, specific people God might have been pointing out, and other invitations he may be extending. I’ll set a timer for 10 minutes, after which point we’ll come back and share a few of these ideas with the whole Community and decide on one we want to take action on.

Share (as a Community): Ok, now that we’ve done some initial processing, we’re going to share our ideas all together. What resonated in your smaller group that you think the whole Community should hear? What creative ways might the Spirit be inviting us to kinship relationships with someone we’re serving? Where is the Spirit stirring a creative imagination in us for kinship?

Decide on one thing: Finally, we’re going to decide on one thing that we want to commit to together. Let’s keep in mind that if something feels important to you, but isn’t selected, it doesn’t mean we will never do it, just that it’s not what we're going to do first. That said, it may also actually be a personal invitation from God—something he is specifically asking of you. We’ll talk more about that in the exercise for the week ahead. But for now: What one thing are we going to commit to together? And what does each of us need to do to make it happen?

(Leader note: Once something is decided, pray to thank God for guiding you all, and ask him for help to be faithful to it and that he would give you favor as you step towards kinship together.)

Option 2: For Communities without a monthly rhythm of mission

Since our Community hasn’t yet established a monthly rhythm of mission, we are going to take some time to decide on a step we can take towards establishing one. As we do, let’s remember that a mission is not measured by our ability to do something nice or to help others for our own sake, but by our willingness to see people on the margins as our brothers and sisters. The kind of mission that develops kinship requires us to be proximate, consistent, and vulnerable. While it can be costly and inconvenient, it draws us into true relationships of seeing and serving others with dignity, bearing witness to God’s love in and for them.

So, we’ll start our exercise for the night by exploring the roadblocks we’ve hit in establishing a monthly mission, and then we’ll decide to take one step together towards establishing a regular mission. The option we pick likely won’t be perfect or ideal, but it’s important we take one!

Look Back: First, let’s have a 10-minute conversation looking back at any previous experiences our Community has had with mission or kinship—beautiful experiences, roadblocks, and anything else. Let’s commit to reflecting creatively and constructively, understanding that our goal is to find something that works, not an exhaustive list about what all will not work. I’ll set a timer as we discuss two questions:

What positive experiences have we had with mission, service, or kinship as a Community?
What roadblocks have we faced in establishing a monthly rhythm of mission?

Look ahead: Next, with those past experiences in mind, and understanding that we won’t be able to address all of the roadblocks, we are going get into groups of 3 and take 5 minutes to look at Bridgetown’s list of partners and service opportunities, with the goal of each group picking one we think our Community could commit to for the next 6 months.

(Leader note: Send everyone this page to see the list of partners and serving opportunities. And then set a 5-minute timer, calling everyone back afterwards.)

Make a quick pitch: Next, I’ll set a one minute timer for each group to make a quick pitch for why they think this is the one our Community should commit to for the next 6 months. There will always be reasons that something won’t work, so when you’re listening to these ideas choose to have an openness and curiosity about how it could work.

Pick one: Finally, we’re going to decide on one thing that we want to commit to trying together for 6 months. If your option isn’t selected, that’s ok. It doesn’t mean we will never do it, just that it’s not what we're going to do right now. And, keep in mind that it could be a personal invitation from God—something he is specifically asking of you instead of the Community. We’ll talk more about that in the exercise for the week ahead. But for now: What one thing are we going to commit to together? And what does each of us need to do to make it happen?

(Leader note: Once something is decided, pray to thank God for guiding you all, and ask him for help to be faithful to it and that he would give you favor as you step towards kinship together.)

Exercise for the week ahead (3 min)

Tonight we explored ways in which our Community can pursue a deeper family-level relationship with the people we serve through the exercise of Incarnational Prayer. That said, there are also ways for us to grow in this exercise on our own throughout the week. So this week we are going to each lean into the exercise of Incarnational Prayer by responding to the Spirit’s invitation to care more intentionally about someone in our life who is on the margins.

Incarnational Prayer: This week we are each going to take a few steps towards knowing and loving the people in our lives. We’ll do it in 3 steps: know, pray, and serve. First, know: learn the names of 4 neighbors on your block or in your apartment building. Next, pray: pray every day for those 4 neighbors by name. Finally, serve: look and listen for what they may need, and serve them—the needs could be relational or physical needs, like taking someone to coffee, mowing a yard, picking up groceries, etc. However you serve them, consider how you can pursue a deeper relationship together.

Isaiah Adeoye 10/10/25 Isaiah Adeoye 10/10/25

Guide 1: Prophetic Prayer

A Prayer Shaped Life, 2025

Communion

Family

Review the practice so far (10 min)

Since there is no practice so far to review, let’s discuss this series’ aim. By ordering our days around the practice of Prayer, we want to become a Community in which the Spirit cultivates the slow-growing, sweet-tasting fruit of intimacy with God. Through the Guides in this series, we will experience and engage rhythmic expressions of Prayer together: Silent Prayer, Incarnational Prayer, and the Daily Prayer Rhythm. So, before we begin with tonight’s Guide, let’s debrief the Prophetic Prayer Training and then take a moment to discuss our personal experiences with the practice of Prayer, whether good or bad, brief or long, past or current.

What did you take away from the Prophetic Prayer Training?

How would you describe your current comfort level with the practice of Prayer?

Guide overview (2 min)

Prayer, like any relationship, has many forms of communication—talking about concerns, asking for things, receiving affirmations and challenges, and sitting in silence. Prayer is an opportunity to slow down enough to be with God and to sometimes even hear him say something back. In this series, we will be diving deeper into the kinds of prayer that shape and form our lives in God’s love.

One of those kinds of prayer is prophecy—hearing and speaking God’s voice on behalf of an individual or group. Last week, we attended the Prophetic Prayer Training and got to try it together. Prophetic Prayer is all over the pages of Scripture, and it’s something that Scripture’s authors take for granted. God does not need a stage and music to speak: anytime God’s people gather, he is speaking. Smaller groups of friends and family—like our Bridgetown Community—is one of the best places to listen for God’s voice. So, as we lean into the practice of Prayer, our exercise for tonight is Prophetic Prayer.

Exercise for tonight (30 min)

Tonight we’re going to take some time to practice Prophetic Prayer together. As we do this, we’ll use the four-step model for Prophetic Prayer that we learned at the training: ask, listen, search, and risk. Just like at the training, someone will volunteer to be prayed for and we’ll all ask God what he may want to say to them through us. Then, after a minute or so of listening, we’ll share what we sense and pray for that person. Finally,we’ll end by having the person share what resonated with them. Remember: there’s no pressure to get it right—we’re just practicing, and this is a safe group in which to risk!

Before we start, let’s remember together that prophecy is a form of prayer in which the Spirit works in cooperation—not competition—with our imagination, in order to encourage another person or group. Oftentimes, we can miss the voice of God because it sounds or feels too familiar, so it’s important to remember that it almost never feels intense or dramatic, but like a thought entering our imagination from the outside (as opposed to from the inside). Usually, we’ll see some sort of picture, symbol, or memory, or hear a word, phrase, or Scripture. Three helpful questions to process through with God are: What am I hearing/seeing? What might it mean? And what do I do with it?

Select someone: We’ll hopefully get to pray for a few people, but who wants to go first?

Ask, listen, and search: Okay, now that we know who we’re praying for, let’s all take some time to ask God what he may want them to know. Remember, the kind of Prophetic Prayer we’re practicing is not correcting or confronting, but encouraging. So, if you sense something, ask yourself if it is encouraging, if it lines up with or contradicts Scripture, and if it sounds like something Jesus would say. Search yourself to ensure that what you sense is from God and not just something you think this person should know or do. I’ll set a timer for 90 seconds of listening, and then we’ll come back and share.

Risk: Okay! Let’s take some time to risk together by sharing what we sensed. Would a few people share what they heard or saw, and what they think God might be saying through it? After you share it, take a moment to pray it over the person receiving it. (Leader note: Leaders, consider going first to help set the pace for the group. And, for subsequent rounds, encourage people who have already shared to let others share, so everyone can try it.)

Reflect: Thank you all for sharing. As we hear from the person who received all the words now, let’s remember that if and where something connected with them, it’s something we can be praying for and checking in with them about in the future. Okay: What resonated with you and felt like God was speaking to you through another person? And was there any word that you may need to weigh more, whether for clarity or application?

(Leader note: As you have time, move onto another person, continuing to give people more opportunity to receive and practice hearing and sharing.)

Exercise for the week ahead (3 min)

Tonight we experienced an exercise that involved community, but there are also ways for us to grow in the practice of Prayer on our own throughout the week. We all have busy lives, so the ask is not to turn your life upside down to practice Prayer 24/7, but rather to take a step forward in the practice of prayer. In doing so, we partner with God in our own formation for the benefit of our Community.While the practices are personal, they are not private—they are ways of letting God shape us so that when we come together, our Community will be richer, deeper, and more like Jesus.

That said, while we practiced Prophetic Prayer together tonight, until our next Community Guide, the exercise for the week ahead involves the exercise of Silent Prayer:

Silent Prayer: This week we are going to practice Silent Prayer–the prayer of remembering and remaining in the love of God. I will send out a one-page Guide (linked at the button below) to help you develop and build this rhythm.

Silent Prayer Guide