Discussions
Ben Schultz will be holding a collection of conversations once every 4-6 weeks around practicing these disciplines together, with a special emphasis on the daily commitments. The hope is to create regular space to talk through these, ask questions, share experiences, and come up with individual plans that fit your stage of life and discipleship. People could jump in to any meeting, but a medium-term commitment to participate is ideal. The first discussion meeting is TBD. Contact Ben (benrschultz@gmail.com) to let him know you're coming.
Community Commitments
In 2023, the leaders of our church felt a collective burden to pursue something deeper with God, deeper with one another, and deeper with our neighbors here in Portland, all in a spirit of simplicity. One realization we had is that greater depth and richness is often only found through intentional, disciplined pursuit—both individually and communally. To that end, we want to call our whole church community to prioritize 7 simple disciplines that can serve as a starting block for seeking more. These aren’t the only valuable disciplines nor are they a secret guaranteed formula—they’re merely a common means by which we can pursue the things of God with common language and categories.
Our hope is that everyone who calls Door of Hope Northeast home will make an effort to integrate each of these into their lives on a daily (for prayer and scripture), weekly (for gathering for worship and community group), and monthly (for serving, giving, and inviting) basis in at least a basic form. Of course, the sky is the limit for going further with each of these and into other disciplines, but we hope these simple commitments can create a basic foundation for the people of our church to build on over time. There is also always grace for falling short of your goals and zero shame in regrouping and trying again.
Think of this as a simple starting block. However, if we all genuinely commit to start here, we believe the Holy Spirit might do something very special in our midst.
Click here to access the guide:
