New Spaces
This space is dedicated to Moms of Young Children. It is a place of encouragement where we support, pray, intercede for, and simply care for one another. It is an online space, so women from all parts of the world might join. The unique needs of young moms require a unique kind of support - one that lets one know they are not alone and that there are other women who are going (or went through) similar challenges, survived, and continue to walk with God.
In this space, we give each other support -- those who care for special needs children. We will offer prayer, support, a place to share stories and pictures. This is an ongoing group of support.
This is a fellowship designed for seniors to get out and enjoy the world with locals and through reflecting their experiences online. Primarily for folks over 55 years old, but others are welcome as well. We will plan trips to senior centers to pray and support them as well as meet needs in our local areas. We may schedule trips to different parts of the world -- both for fun and for ministry purposes as well.
In this space, we participate in the prayer of examen in order to draw closer to God through an introspection of God's work in our lives.
In this space, members will express their thanks to God in many ways. Through writings, songs, audio, video, poetry, to name a few modes of prayer.
In this space, we seek to draw closer to God through song. We will experience songs to worship God throughout the week, both to listen to, to watch, and to meditate upon the lyrics.
In this space, we seek to grow closer to God through reading the writings of Christian authors through history. We will read and share our experiences of these texts with one another.
In this space, we will experience the Lectio Divina. We will use this ancient bible reading practice to draw us closer to God through the stages of lectio, oratio, meditatio, and contemplatio.
In this space, we will experience the psalms in many ways to lead us to God. We will sing the psalms, watch them sung, chant the psalms, listen to chants, experience prayer stations that use the psalms.
In this space, we seek to draw closer to God through immersing ourselves in the Lord's prayer. We will experience, read, listen to, watch different versions and expressions of the Lord's prayer.
In this space, we seek to grow closer to God through contemplation. The contemplative tradition seeks to experience God, not through things, but through emptying ourselves, our minds of all things. Centering prayer is one prime example of this type of contemplation, as well as the fourth stage of Lectio Divina, contemplatio.
In this space, we will meditate on Scripture, on creation, on spiritual literature among other holy things. Our desire is to grow closer to God through the practice of meditation. For Christians, meditation is within the kataphatic tradition, focusing on filling your mind and heart with holy things. This is not to be confused with contemplation, where one sits before God in emptiness (the apophatic tradition).
In this space, we seek to draw closer to God through the experience of Sabbath. The focus is on worship of God, but it is a highly communal space where members share their own Sabbath experiences of worship.
In this space, we focus on drawing close to God through the praying of the Jesus prayer. The Jesus Prayer, a prayer of the early church, and most often referred to those in the Orthodox tradition of Christianity is a very simple prayer and most frequently is uttered many times a day.
In this space, we experience the praying of the hours together. Historically these prayers were said every three hours over a twenty-four period, but some pray these twice or three times a day. In this space, we share our experiences as we each draw closer to God.
In this space, we seek to experience God through self-directed retreats, but done in community. We will draw on all sorts of retreat styles from the Christian tradition.
In this space, we seek to experience God through the built environment, primarily architecture. We will exploring these human creations with the goal to experiencing a deeper connection to God.
In this space, we experience God through beauty. That beauty may be in art, in creation, in the built environment, or in people. The focus is how we might draw closer to God as we experience God's presence through these other means.
In this space, each member will experience the lectionary together, in the hopes that each person will grow more deeply to God as they pray with the global church.
In this space, we connect with others who love dance as a means to worship, who desire to watch and experience dance worship media from around the world, and those who would create these forms of media. The goal of the space is that members would receive a deeper experience of God through dance.
In this space, we experience the praise of God!! We will spend time together in praise and thanksgiving, through our comments, through media sharing, through our posts.
In this space, we create a yearly devotional rhythm based on historic days of the Christian year. Beyond Advent, Lent, and Ordinary Time, we will celebrate the season of Pentecost, as well as many saints days and feasts. The focus of the space is to have a deeper spiritual walk with God through celebrating these special times and seasons.
In this space, we seek to obtain a deeper experience of God through Spoken Word.
In this space, we seek to encounter God more deeply by experiencing dramatic works of art.
In this space, we seek to experience God through poetry. Together, we will read inspiring works, both historical and contemporary. The goal is to deepen our walk with God through connecting deeply with these works.
In this space, we allow ourselves to be drawn to God through material reality, specifically human creations. The goal of this space is that each person will have a deeper encounter with God through the Arts.
In this space, the goal is to read scripture through a devotional (not study) lens. How might we draw more intimately closer to God through reading his word? We will use various methods of devotional scripture study, such as Lectio Divina and Christian scripture meditation among several others.
In this space, we will experience many types of prayer as gateways to deeper intimacy with God. We will experience the Jesus prayer, praying the hours, quiet time prayers, the prayer of examen, prayers in a heavenly language, among others.
In this space, we create a space for experiencing the act of footwashing online. We will watch online, as well as encourage those who live near to each other to experience this spiritual act. We will also encourage those in the group to visit churches that participate in this ancient practice.
In this space, we will explore how it is we might grow closer to God through writing down our words. We will explore various kinds of spiritual journaling and read, from time to time, the spiritual journals of Christian writers of the past and present. The focus will be on our own spiritual practice before God.
In this space, we focus on the worship of God through the ancient creeds.
In this space, we look to experience God through various kinds of homilies and sermons from around the world. The focus will be on going deeper with God experientially, as opposed to study.
In this space, each person will have an opportunity to experience God through communion. Those who are ok with receiving communion online may do so, and others who desire to experience communion through their own tradition in a face to face context may choose to go that route. Either way, there will be opportunities to experience communion (Eucharist, Lord's Supper) in a number of ways and to share our experience together.
In this space, we experience the worship of God through liturgy. We will experience different liturgical traditions, going back to the early church liturgies all the way through 21st century liturgies. The focus in this particular is to worship and journal on your experience through the group blog.
In this space, we will practice fasting from a number of perspectives -- Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Emerging perspectives, both from West and East, and the Global North and South. The focus on the group is experiencing fasting together. We will have a group journal where we share our experiences of God and self through fasting. The group will get going when we have a certain number of members.
Experiencing worship through icons and the visual arts has a long history and yet still inspires and leads us to God today. In this group, we will sit experience a different icon every week. For now, this will be an ongoing group, and it will get going as soon as we get enough members.
When I started my DMiss at Fuller, Ryan Bolger introduced me to the concept of the "flipped" classroom. Here is a helpful graphic from www.knewton.com that describes how the "flipped" classroom is different than a traditional one.
In the traditional model, lecture is given in class and homework is taken home. In the "flipped" model, the lecture is viewed at home and homework is done together in class. This would not have been possible even a few years ago but the prevalence of social media networks and connected devices allows this to be a (more…)
Weʼre passionate about converting entrepreneurial vision into thriving new communities of disciples. Our sole focus is to cultivate and accelerate the work of Christ-following leaders.
- We nurture growth. We are not the right fit for everyone. We cross boundaries of denomination, culture, style, and worldview without hesitation because of our larger vision.
- Weʼre unafraid to face local cultures in creative, insightful ways. We are serial entrepreneurs.
- We are a perpetual start-up. We will never stop encouraging leaders with intensity and zeal.
Beginning in 2014, Altadena Free Methodist Church was created to share the gospel of Jesus with the city of Altadena and with the world!
Our intention is to join God’s purpose through Jesus Christ, “All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.”
This intention (more…)
a group for women who became moms somewhat before they, or others expected them to. here we will voice concerns, sorrows, joys; ask questions, provide answers and listen to, support and pray for our sisters.
questions, answers, debate of philosophical topics.
In this space, we pray for AIDS epidemic throughout the world, with a specific focus on consciousness awareness through World AIDS day.
Note: This group was for Advent 2014. Feel free to enjoy the art and conversations are always open.
Advent is the four-Sunday period before Christmas Day. It marks the start of a new Christian Year and is traditionally used by the Western Church worldwide to reflect on the coming of Christ. Advent – ‘to reach for’, ‘to come’ – has to do with waiting and hopeful expectation. Advent is the time Christians look forward: to celebrating the birth of Christ and also, ultimately, to the return of Christ.
Waiting through Advent is far from passive. It is also far more than the (more…)
This is an online space where we will read a devotional book together -- Richard Rohr's Immortal Diamond.
In this space, I put my various content, my upcoming events, discussions I am leading.