Guide 2: Incarnational Prayer
A Prayer Shaped Life, 2025
(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.
