Formation

We are a church family longing to receive and reorient everything around life in Christ.

This graphic captures this process of formation.

It all begins with receiving. We believe God is going to restore all things, but that doesn't only happen "out there," in the world, it begins within us as we cooperate with God's renewing love and grace in our lives. This love does not come to us through a new ethic, a new law, or a new philosophy, but through a new life in Christ who dwells in us and we in Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we continually receive Christ - His presence, His love, His ways - our lives are reoriented around Him and we become more and more the flourishing people He made us to be. This reorientation can be a "two steps forward, one step back" kind of transformation, but God remains faithful, always inviting us back into His love.

As for us, we do have a part to play. As we receive Christ, we respond by living a Word-Spirit-Sacrament kind of life. These gifts of God nurture and strengthen us for the journey, and as we remain in these communal rhythms we find God uses them to transform us holistically. Remaining sheltered by his love (intimacy), our sense of identity, belonging, and purpose are all redefined. As these deep parts of us are shaped around Christ, all our outward decisions will increasingly reflect this inward transformation.

Let's get practical.

At Advent, our main avenue of formation is Sunday morning worship, where a Word-Spirit-Sacrament life is anchored. Beyond Sunday morning, our primary avenues for formation are Small Groups, relational discipleship, and gospel friendship groups. We also offer other opportunities to grow through men's/women's retreats and summer classes or Bible studies.

If you are interested in a deeper dive on gospel friendship and relational discipleship, read on...

Gospel Friendship

When people think about growing in their relationship with God, they often think of classes, or books, or retreats.  All of those are very helpful, but we believe that transformation also occurs in the mundane aspects of life: family, friends, work, personal devotion, and in the sheer perseverance of following Jesus even on the difficult days.

Throughout Scripture and church history, the spiritual discipline of Gospel Friendships have been a key component to personal, day-by-day transformation.  Gospel Friends talk regularly about their faith, share normal life together, encourage one another, and challenge one another to welcome God's gospel in their lives. It's simple, but powerful!  The practice of Gospel Friendship has been largely lost in our culture, and we want to help recover it.

There are two stages to our Gospel Friendship ministry at Church of the Advent:

1.  RELATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP

To get you started on the journey of Gospel Friendship, we offer a 10-week process called Relational Discipleship that pairs you with another person at Advent and allows you to explore what God is doing in your life, right now, together. 

“What does it look like?”

Relational Discipleship at Advent is a process, not a program.  We meet you where you’re at in your spiritual journey, working together with you to choose a guide to walk through the journey with you.  After that initial phase, every pair looks different…but here’s a typical scenario.  Once a week, you and a guide will sit down over coffee and a lesson that reveals some aspect of God’s grand story.  You’ll chat about the week, pray together, and then dive into the material, asking “How does my story weave into God’s story?”  In the process, you’ll probably be exposed to some new ways of following Jesus and be encouraged to incorporate them into your day-to-day routine.

"What curriculum do you use?"

Relational Discipleship is based on a 10-week curriculum written by Pastor Rob, with input from others in the congregation. It's one-part Bible Study, one-part reflection, and one-part discussion-starter.  The curriculum is a resource intended to guide your conversations, as well as serve as ongoing resource for helping you live the Christian life. You can download the Relational Discipleship curriculum here.  

“What have others said?”

People who have gone through the process have testified that Relational Discipleship connected them into our Advent family more deeply, led to emotional and relational healing, helped them discern God’s leading more clearly, or gave them a new sense of purpose and mission in life. Every journey has been unique!

Scroll down for videos of people from our congregation sharing of their experience!

2. gospel FRIENDSHIPS

After Relational Discipleship, we encourage you to continue the spiritual discipline of Gospel Friendship. You might pursue a Gospel Friendship with someone you're already close to, or you might seek out someone whose life you respect.

The two ingredients of any healthy Gospel Friendship are:

1. Regularity - It's important to set a goal for how often you want to connect, simply because life will get in the way otherwise! 

2. Intentionality - We all need someone to share the journey. Gospel Friends are intentional in sharing their lives with one another in deep and meaningful ways. Gospel Friends seek to help each other look at their lives differently—through a Gospel lens.

Scroll down for videos of people from our congregation sharing of their experience!

You can find more resources and questions to guide your experience of Gospel Friendship here.