Establishing Patterns
The habits of our lives shape the desires of our lives which in turn shape the direction of our lives. Therefore we want to form daily, weekly and monthly rhythms that direct our loves towards Jesus and his kingdom; to form patterns of living that renew the world. We want to be apprentices of Jesus – learning his unforced rhythms of grace – so that we can live right in the thick of this extraordinary world in order to shape it, renew it and serve it.
When starting something new, everyone will have different expectations. To be helpful and kind to each other, make some collective decisions about your patterns of meeting. This is also the moment to decide how you’ll practice your Rhythms.
How Often?
We recommend meeting every 2-4 weeks. It might be helpful to put these dates in, in advance.
How Long?
We recommend you commit to no less than 6 months and no more than a year. Pop in a date where you will review, you may choose to carry on.
What Change?
Allow each person to share how you would love to see Jesus change them. Make note of it so you can pray for one another.
Now let’s get to the core of this material. Establishing how you are going to practice your daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms. At St Gregorys’s we have church wide Rhythms, you can find them here. As a group, name how you are going to implement and practice those rhythms.
What Patterns?
Work through each of the daily, weekly and monthly rhythms, and decide what patterns you will form around them. Try to be specific and think about ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘where’. For example, with the rhythm of daily scripture reading, your pattern could be ‘following St Gregory’s reading plan, I will read my bible in the morning with a coffee in the lounge before I walk the dog.’
As much as possible, keep your patterns as similar as possible. That way, you can help each other. For example, with the rhythm of weekly fasting, if one of you struggles to remember to fast each week, if you do it on the same day you could send a text in the morning to remind each other.
Write down all your patterns and the ways you’ll help each to keep them.