Participant's Journey
PARTICIPANT'S JOURNEY...
We have launched into a season of community and life change @ Threads. Our practice of sharing life together is focused around apprenticing in the way of Jesus. In our Participant's Journey, you will join others who seek to be stretched and coached in building life-giving practices in their spiritual journey.
We believe transformative spiritual formation happens through:
- Time, space and intentionality
- New understandings
- Rigorous self-examination
- Intentional group encounters
- New decisions, behaviors and patterns
- Guidance and mentoring
If we want to believe Jesus' message and become the kind of followers his early disciples were, we may have to shift our expectations of what spiritual education looks like -- leaving the metaphor of a lecture hall to enter a "Participant's Journey." In this Journey we commit to apprentice in a way of life. Apprenticeship means "learning a calling by practical experience under skilled workers".
Jesus once declared, "I am the way, the truth and the life," implying that he is both a savior AND a teacher for life-- he provided the way to God and teaches us how to live in the way of God. We enter apprenticeship with Jesus through new experiences and by moving from ideas to action.
Our Participant's Journey offers a variety of Community Encounters focusing on various aspects of the life and message of Jesus. These experiential learning encounters are based on practices in the way of Jesus' love. They are geared toward introducing new practices and providing a context to practice the concepts that are introduced.
Each Community Encounter provides a way for us to go deeper in following Jesus in His Kingdom. These encounters may last anywhere from 3 weeks to 8 weeks. Participant's Journey is an invitation into our community-- to be loved and trained into a life of discipleship.
FAQs...
Q: Will Participant's Journey be just like our Community Groups last year?
A: It will be exactly like Community Groups, only VERY different. J Building relationships was a huge strength people identified in our past Community Groups. At the same time, many felt that those relationships lacked spiritual transparency and did not empower personal growth. So...our new Participant's Journey Community Encounters will be intentional about helping each other practice a way of life in Jesus' love while sharing life together and building relationships.
We will continue to practice the "open chair" meaning anyone can join us in this experience with community. However, we are asking people to commit to travel for a season - whether it's 4 weeks, 5 weeks or up to 8 weeks. Every person joining our Participant's Journey will be asked to register in advance. Then that particular Community Encounter will remain closed until the next Encounter in our Journey together. (Think of each Community Encounter as an onramp into deeper community within Threads.) We will provide multiple onramps into this Journey. At the same time, we are attempting to honor commitment as an essential ingredient to biblical community.
Q: Am I signing up to attend these encounters for life?
A: No! At the end of a Community Encounter, you're welcome to continue with us in the next one. However, some people may decide to not continue in Participant's Journey. Others will join in or continue later.
Q: Who will I be travelling with during these encounters?
A: Each time we gather, we will join together in a mid-sized group of 25-50 people that will break down into small groups (9-12 people) and triplets/quads (3-4 people). Each encounter will incorporate and facilitate experiential learning. For the duration of a specific encounter, you would join with and travel with the same small group of people.
Q: Can I come and go as I please...show up when I can?
A: We ask people to commit to a whole encounter in a specific practice. That means committing to all the weekly encounters. Following Jesus' radical call to apprenticeship in community may require a shift or reordering of our lives. It will be impossible to apprentice and build community together without a commitment to Jesus and to His people.
Imagine if someone learns at week 6 that a special meeting is mandatory for their college class or for their child at school. They're unable to meet that day due to circumstances beyond their control. Think, too, of traveling together in community. If a circumstance beyond your control arises (accident, sick child, etc) how can you catch up? Through the help of those with whom you share life.
Now imagine another person having a tough day at work and deciding to skip out on their fellow travelers. We urge that person to allow God to relax and refresh them through their pursuit of Him with other followers of Jesus.