Vision Series 2022, Pt. 4: Moving From Prayers To Proximity
Take Communion
(Leader: Begin your gathering together by taking communion together, whether as a full meal together or some version of the bread and the cup before or after your meal. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, take a moment to be still and have people reflect with gratitude on the prompt: Where did God go above-and-beyond today or this week? After some time in silence, have a few people share their prayers of gratitude to God.)
Review The Last Practice
How has Evening Prayer of Gratitude been going for you?
Which part of the Daily Prayer Rhythm have you found the most fruitful in your life? Which one has been the most difficult to keep consistent?
Does anyone have any new creative ideas that have helped them remember or enter into the Daily Prayer Rhythm?
Read This Overview Aloud Together
In prayer, the people of God throughout history have been moved by the Spirit to the margins. The rhythms of prayer and justice become almost an inhaling and exhaling of the church: we inhale the presence and life of God in prayer and, being pushed out of our living rooms and onto the streets, we exhale justice. When you find something beautiful and transformative, the only right response is to share it. And as we become more like Jesus, we begin to see God’s presence in our city – especially in places and spaces that we considered too dark or broken. We begin to become our prayers.
As we heard on Sunday, we believe the time has come for Bridgetown to be mobilized and sent out to serve our city, like Jesus, by becoming proximate to the poor. With this, our Communities are setting out to adopt a monthly rhythm of mission. Now, Communities have tried for years to wait and discern where we should serve, but since most of us have not been in regular proximity with those on the margins, we are not ready yet to discern in the biblical sense. Instead, Bridgetown leadership has asked each Community Leader to pick a missional expression for their Community. And while this is not necessarily our Community’s forever mission, it is one that will get us started. So, tonight, we want to explore this mission and what it all entails practically.
Do This Practice Tonight
With every Community adopting a monthly missional expression, we want to talk tonight about ours. We believe that our church and our Community is ready to take this next step. All the potential energy of our prayers over the last few months and years are transforming us to be a people who follow God to the ends of the earth. And we’re ready to start! Besides all that, we believe that it’s what Jesus is up to in our midst, so we want to yield to what he calls life that is truly life.
As we talk about our mission, let’s acknowledge that whenever something changes, some of us will feel the instinctual pull to critique it and talk about why it won’t work. These aren’t bad things to feel, but they also don’t have to take over the conversation. So, even now, remember that we’re all on the same team and let’s all do our best to lean into our conversation tonight. Instead of thinking about why something won’t work, try to offer creative solutions and ask “How can we make this work?”
(Community Leader: Let your Community know more about which mission you chose from bridgetown.church/justice. Helpful details for them to have might be:
The Organization – If the mission is attached to an organization, tell them about the organization.
The Commitment – What exactly is the commitment? Is it an ongoing commitment? How Long?
Day & Time – Will it be something you all can do the night you meet? Or is it on another day? If it’s another day, feel free to cancel your weekly gathering on the week you’re serving. Start by planning the next few months. If you have dates already for November and December, have everyone put them on their calendar. If the mission you selected is open and can happen whenever, have everyone take out their calendar and find a date for November and one for December.
Questions – Open up the room for questions. What else do people want to know about?
Close in Prayer – When you’re ready, close the prayer thanking God for what he’s done, for what he’s doing, and for how he will continue to be good to us.)
Read The Practice for the Week Ahead
In theory, we worked out the dates and times we are going to serve in November and December. This week take those dates and make a conscious effort to work out your schedule in order to be there each month.
It could help to take some time to reflect on any emotional or schedule conflicts you are experiencing that could keep you from participating. And then, take some time to bring these things before God. Sit with him and list out all the reasons why you can’t do it or don’t want to and ask for his help (whether to change your heart posture or your schedule). God doesn’t need us to bring him to the margins – he’s already there. But he certainly wants us to meet him in the faces, stories, and lives of the poor. Because he knows that the overflowing love of our mutual relationship with those on the margin will change our city forever.
End in Prayer
(Leader: Close your time together in prayer, asking that God would help us train to be the kinds of people who order our lives by rebellious fidelity to Jesus and that we would see his Kingdom break into our lives, our city, and our world.)