Happy New Year Frontier!

As you begin the new year, we want to invite you to read through this Vision + Invitation for 2022 and join us in making this endeavor a pivotal part of your new year!

Last month Christian gave a talk titled, "Distraction: The Great Enemy of Your Life".

In it, he begins to outline our focus for 2022, to become:  A People of Power & Practice.

THE TENSION

There's a tension in being people that pursue lives that carry the power of Jesus, but that also pursue the maturity to endure in difficult seasons, embracing lives of formation into the image of Jesus... 

It's abiding over performing.

This requires practice!

Practicing the Way of Jesus. 

THE PROBLEM: OUR LIVES ARE STRUCTURED JUST LIKE THE CULTURE AROUND US!

The problem is that even those of us who love Jesus so deeply and are committed to his church and building His kingdom haven't actually set our lives up around practicing the Way of Jesus.

OUR LIVES REFLECT OUR CULTURE.

Our habits and the majority of our time looks exactly like everyone else in our culture.

THE ISSUE OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE: DISTRACTION

Michael Zigarelli from the Charleston Southern University School of Business conducted the Obstacles to Growth Survey of over twenty thousand Christians across the globe and identified busyness as a major distraction from spiritual life. Listen carefully to his hypothesis: 

  1. Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to...     

  2. God becoming more marginalized in Christians’ lives, which leads to...     

  3. A deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to...     

  4. Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to...    

  5. More conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload. 

And then the cycle begins again.

THE QUESTIONS

  • Who do I want to become?

  • What if changing my life was critical to becoming who I want to be?

  • What if the key was to re-structure my entire life around "Practicing the Way of Jesus"?

Do you want revival? We will have to change our lives!

If we truly want revival, in our nation, our city, and even in our homes, we will have to face the reality that it requires changing our lives. Our lives cannot reflect the current culture of distraction, hurry, and overload, while expecting God to send a harvest.

Jesus never taught his followers to pray for a harvest of revival, He taught them to pray for us! Those of us to work the harvest!

BOTTOM LINE: WHO DO YOU WANT TO BECOME?

God's posture towards us is sacrificial love + kindness.

Jesus' words should rattle our bones in the climate of today's overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, and in every way distracted culture:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."   (Matt 11)

Soul rest. This was Jesus' core invitation.

Jesus gave 2 basic ingredients to the life of soul-rest that he offers:

  • Power 

    • Empowered by the Holy Spirit (Lk  9:1; Matt 10:1; John 20:22)

  • Practice 

    • "Follow me"...  (Mt 4:19; John 10:27, 21:19)

    • A life of discipleship by practicing the Way of Jesus over the Way of the World.

THE KEY FACTOR

As we pursue becoming "A People of Power + Practice", there is only one factor you and I need to worry about if we are willing to step into this life Jesus offers: TIME

And the  Enemy of time? Distraction. Why? It robs your attention.

But Jesus offers a timeless, simple solution: Abiding (John 15).

THE INVITATION OF 2022

  1. Develop Your Soul through Abiding

So the invitation of this coming year is to ABIDE...  by doing a deep dive into changing your life, by intentionally setting up your life around Jesus being Lord of your TIME. Why? So you can become the "whole person" that you were created to be and that Jesus offers.

Life Categories for Your Soul Health

Contrary to popular usage, in biblical theology, your “soul” (hebrew: nephesh) isn’t the invisible part of you that flies off to heaven when you die. Rather, “soul” is your whole person: the integrating center of your humanity, material and immaterial. Your will, mind, emotions, body, and relationships. The following categories are an attempt to apply a fresh "rule of life" to your whole person, so that all of us can experience all of God.

1. Abiding

2. Mind

3. Body

4. Relationships

5. Rest

6. Work & Money

7. Gospel & Hospitality

 
 

2. Where do we start this new year? DEVELOP A RULE OF LIFE.

WHAT IS A RULE OF LIFE?

A rule of life is a schedule and set of practices and relational rhythms that help us create space in our busy world for us to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what he did—to live “to the full” (John 10v10) in his kingdom, and in alignment with our deepest passions and priorities. 

While the word “rule” may strike you as a strict or binding constraint, the Latin word we translate “rule” was originally the word for a trellis in a vineyard. In the same way a vine needs a trellis to lift it off the ground so it can bear the maximum amount of fruit, and keep free of predators and diseases, we need a rule as a kind of support structure to organize our life around “abiding in the vine,” (John 15v1–8) as Jesus imagined. 

It’s been said that we achieve inner peace when our schedule is aligned with our values. A rule of life is simply a tool to that end. Rather than a rigid, legalistic to-do list, it’s a life-giving structure for freedom, growth, and joy.

3. Do this in Community! Join a 40-Day Group to Start the Year!

  • CREATE SPACE: We are inviting the entire church to Develop a Personal Rule of Life, creating space to abide, for your passions & gifts to flourish, by doing it in the community that Jesus gave us to build His Kingdom life here on earth as in heaven.

  • GROUPS LAUNCH DATE: Groups will launch the week of January 30, 2022! Stay tuned for details, and make space in your New Year schedules + commitments!

  • THE SESSIONS: Below are the 6 sessions we will cover in the 40-day groups:

Why do we need Community?

As we practice the way of Jesus, we need partners for the journey, a community to help us along the way. Jesus invites all who follow him to be a part of a new family. This family of God is not a social club or a group of friends who look, think, and talk similarly, but a community of apprentices following Jesus’ way of life. And despite the work it takes, the fights we will endure, and the learning we will do along the way, together we’re figuring out how to be with Jesus, become like him, and do what he did.

Want to get a jump-start over the holidays?

We are believing this 40-day journey is going to lay a beautiful + key foundation for many years to come at Frontier, and in your personal lives! Prepare your hearts now!

Happy New Year Frontier! We love you all!

Christian + Sue

HERE ARE THE 6 GROUP SESSIONS (40 DAYS) TO DEVELOP A RULE OF LIFE

OUR 2022 BOOK OF THE NEW YEAR

"The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World."