Formative Practices

     Worship Regularly

     Pray Daily

     Learn & Apply God's Word

     Participate in a Ministry

     Give Financially

Time in Solitude with God

     Identify a regular time each day to be alone with God.  Use this time for reading the Bible and for prayer.  The use of a daily devotional will deepen this experience.  Plan on a minimum of twenty minutes a day.

Time in Community with Others

     Each week, spend one hour with one or more people reflecting on one passage of scripture.  Provide for the group your personal response to two questions: "What would you have me hear, O Lord?" and "What would you have me do, O Lord?"

Time Sharing Your Faith with Another

     Our faith expands richly by sharing with another person how we are personally experiencing God or what we are discovering by our personal reading of the Bible.  The purpose here is not to defend our faith or to teach.  One positive approach is to answer, "This is how my life is different because of my faith."

Copyright W. Douglas Hood, Jr.