Prayer is the center-point of life with God.  It’s the way in which we communicate with Him.  

Often we have a fixed idea of prayer (before meals, before going to sleep) but prayer comes in many different forms and there are many different ways we can work prayer into our rhythms and routines in an effort to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5).  Prayer is one of the primary ways that we “abide in the vine” (John 15) as we stay connected to the Holy Spirit.  In this practice, you can explore areas of prayer like contemplation, intercession, lament, unanswered prayer, imaginative prayer, and listening prayer.

Recommended Reading:

Praying The Bible by Donald S. Whitney

The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Fears and Greatest Dreams by Mark Batterson

Teaching Video:

Holy Rhythyms: Meditation (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - June 26, 2022)

Holy Rhythyms: Prayer (Pastor Cathy Ganus - July 3, 2022)

We live in a society - a culture - of perpetual burnout.  Constant motion dictates and dominates our lives.  Yet from the beginning of creation, God set in motion a rhythm of work six, rest one.  We were indeed designed for work, but also for rest.  

Sabbath reminds us that rest is something we work from, not something we earn through hard work.  It’s a day to remember God’s goodness and faithfulness.  A reminder that God is in control and life is not dependent on our ability to pull it off.  Sabbath is a day for rest and worship and is one of the most important practices of Jesus.

Among the ancient practices of the way, silence & solitude is the number one practice for apprenticeship to Jesus. Simply put, it’s a moment of intentional time in the quiet to be alone with God. In the modern era, this just might be the first step to a life well-lived.

Jesus was often found retreating to the eremos which is a Hebrew word that can be translated as wilderness, quiet place, lonely place, solitary place, or desert. He retreated to be alone with the Father. He always found time to reset his soul with this intentional time. In today’s world, perhaps more than ever in the digital tidal wave we face everyday, it’s important that we are disciplined to step away from the world and retreat to a silent, solitary place with the Father.

Recommended Reading:

Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God's Transforming Presence by Ruth Haley Barton

An Unhurried Life: Following Jesus' Rhythms of Work and Rest by Alan Fadling

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World by John Mark Comer

The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster

Resources:

How to Un-hurry - Death to Hurry Workbook: Silence & Solitude (PDF)

Teaching Videos:
Holy Rhythms: Solitude (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - July 31, 2022)

Fasting is a willing abstinence from food for a period of time. For millennia, it was a core practice of apprenticeship to Jesus.  

We are surrounded by messages of more and more. Of excess. Of “I want when I want.” For many of us, fasting can be a patient reminder that God provides for us what we need when we need it. It can be a reminder that just because “I want” right now doesn’t mean “I need” right now. It can be a beckoning call back to the presence of God, as we easily forget His presence throughout the course of a day.  

Recommended Reading:

Beautiful Resistance: The Joy of Conviction in a Culture of Compromise by Jon Tyson

The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth by Richard Foster

Teaching Video:

Holy Rhythms: Fasting (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - July 24, 2022)

Reading scripture is a key tenant of faith in our apprenticeship to Jesus. Scripture is one of the primary ways that we learn about God and how He interacts with people. It shows us God’s Character. It contains the teachings from the life of Jesus. It lays out for us the model of how to practice the way of Jesus. Scripture shapes us, forms us, and convicts us as we seek the Spirit. We can learn different ways to read and understand in order to come to a deeper knowledge of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Resources:

The Bible Project (videos, study notes, podcasts, classes, reading plans, articles, and a mobile app)

Recommended Reading:

Praying The Bible by Donald S. Whitney

Teaching Video:

Holy Rhythms: Study (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - July 17, 2022)

Opportunities at Hope:

Bible Studies 

One expression our our relationship with Jesus is to gather together weekly for worship in community with other believers. 

We were designed to be in community. Jesus made space for weekly gatherings at the synagogue throughout his life. The church has continued the practice of gathering together in the centuries since Jesus’ crucifixion and ascension. The Church gathered together as one body is the expression of Christ on earth today. To abide in Jesus means to be a part of the body of Christ, the Church.

Opportunities at Hope:

Worship Services - Sundays at 9am and 11am

There is power when we gather together around a table. The table is used as imagery for the Kingdom of God several times throughout scripture. Even in modern times we understand that conversations happen around the table, there is a power in a family meal, in someone taking you out for dinner. 

Jesus was often found teaching and being with people at meals. Robert Karris said “in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.” 

There is also power when we live together as believers in community to empower, encourage, equip, and hold accountable one another as we practice the way of Jesus. 

At Hope, dinner groups are one way that we gather around the table with others apprenticed to Jesus to be formed by the Spirit together. We eat food, and work together on spiritual practices that help us practice the way of Jesus in our daily lives.

Recommended Reading:

A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community & Mission Around the Table by Tim Chester

Opportunities at Hope:

Dinner Groups - New groups begin each fall and spring

Teaching Video:

B.E.L.L.S.: Eat (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - October 23, 2022)

Dallas Willard said "God has yet to meet anyone except where they actually are.” There is a connection between our formation to Jesus and our understanding of and wrestling with our authentic self. 

Augustine said ‘Grant, Lord that I may know myself that I may know thee.” 

We have all been implanted with the Imago Dei (Image of God) within us. As we learn about who we are, how we have been formed by our past, our culture, our history, our experience, and our uniqueness as a human being, we learn how to best apprentice ourselves to Jesus and practice the way answering the question “What Would Jesus Do, If He Were Me?” 

At Hope we believe that learning about ourselves can help us connect more deeply with God’s calling on our lives and with our Identity in Him.

Recommended Reading:

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero

The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile

Opportunities at Hope:

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Book Club - Meeting Fall 2023

Coming soon

Each week, we speak a phrase from our stage at Hope: “A community of people, gathered together, passionately pursuing Christ with our lives, doing our part to make our community look more like the Kingdom of Heaven.” We take this responsibility seriously. 

Jesus taught us to pray that God’s Kingdom would come so it would be “on earth as it is in heaven.” We believe that part of the responsibility of following Jesus is to do kingdom work to usher in God’s Kingdom. 

One of the ways we can do that is by making our community a better place to live. A place where people’s needs are met, where people are valued, loved, seen, and known, because in the Kingdom of God, that’s how it is. So we mobilize in our community collectively and individually to help accomplish those goals.

Local Partners:

Life Plan

Hope Ministries

Reach the Forgotten

Spero House

Luvability Ministries

Opportunities at Hope:

Serve at Hope (children's ministry, tech team, ushers and greeters, facilities team, meals ministries, and many more opportunities)

Hope's Missions and Outreach Ministries (Feeding America Mobile Food Pantry, Community Garden, Prayer Shawl Ministry, Weenie Wednesdays, Holiday Giving, Missions Trips)

Teaching Video:

Kingdom Come: Kingdom People (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - October 9, 2022)

We live in a world that is increasingly isolated. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the speed of that movement. If we feel this weight as followers of Jesus who gather regularly together and work to build community into our rhythms, it’s a safe bet that those living in our neighborhoods are experiencing the same. 

We often spend time wishing that we had more opportunities to do Kingdom Work, to show people the love of Jesus. Perhaps one of the easiest ways we can do that is by starting in our actual neighborhoods with our actual neighbors. Jesus called us to love our neighbors, and yes he applied that to even our enemies, but often we take that parable to use it as a reason to NOT love the people who are our actually neighbors. We don’t think that was Jesus intent. 

Being a great neighbor could be one of the most impactful ways you can expand God’s Kingdom on earth as your neighborhood grows in love, support, and community with one another.

Recommended Reading:

The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon

Resources:

The Art of Neighboring website

Teaching Videos:

The Art of Neighboring  Study - RightNow Media

The Art of Neighboring Series (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - June 2023)

One of the tenets of our faith is that all people across the globe are all created in the Image of God, the Imago Dei. 

God created us to be in community with those in our local communities but also to be a part of the full, global Church, the Body of Christ. 

The Spirit of God is alive and at work not just in our neighborhood or city, or state, or country, but all over the world. There is much we can learn from our brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe, and there is much we can share with them. We believe that experiencing how others worship God across the globe and working in ministry alongside other Christians in other parts of the world shapes us, as we are given a more complete picture of God and of the Spirit at work in the world and within us. We believe it’s vital that all followers of Jesus find ways to expand their worldview by going on a trip to see other parts of the global Church.

Opportunities at Hope:

Watch for announcements about upcoming mission trip opportunities.

In the book of Genesis 18, we read a story of Abraham showing hospitality to three men who happened to come by his home. It ended up being angels with a message for Abraham from God. Since that moment, the rest of the history of the people of God has placed a high value on hospitality. 

Throughout scripture those who show hospitality are honored and blessed by God. It’s in some ways a lost value in our culture today, or when people are hospitable it’s a fancy dinner where there is a pressure to be impressive, or it’s patronizing where people “reach down” to help someone who they feel is below them socially or otherwise. Yet true hospitality where we love those around us with a meal, with the opening of our homes, with invitations out to a picnic, or an event, are often lost. How do we as the people of God recapture the discipline of hospitality as part of our apprenticeship to Jesus?

Recommended Reading:

A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission Around the Table by Tim Chester

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff

Teaching Video:

B.E.L.L.S.: Bless (Pastor Nathanael Lyon - October 16, 2022)

The last words Jesus spoke on this earth to his disciples were to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Telling the world about the Gospel, the good news, that Jesus Christ is King is a critical part of being an apprentice of Jesus. This practice has taken many shapes and forms over time and has looked different as each generation and culture wrestles with the best way to reach people in their cultural context. As Paul says “to become all things to all people” so that the Gospel message can be heard. 

To effectively do this as followers of Jesus, we have to first understand what we mean when we use the term Gospel. If we can’t define it, how can we tell others about it? Preaching the Gospel takes practice, and reflection. So in this practice we will take time to understand our own definitions of Gospel, and our own stories and how that impacts the way we preach the Gospel.

One of the best in depth resources we know of that speaks on this is from Practicing the Way

Practicing the Way: Preaching the Gospel

This can walk you and your family or dinner group through the process of preaching the Gospel.