“Pull up a chair to the white board…”
Making the Extraordinary Normal in Your Life
We believe that being part of the Grace community is both a fantastic opportunity and an incredible responsibility. That’s because we want to be people who live lives that matter. Because of that, we hold ourselves and each other accountable to a certain way of life – a way of life we refer to as the Extraordinary Norms of grace. Now, we know all of our lives will move in lots of different directions and take all kinds of different forms, but we hope that all of us can put these Extraordinary Norms into practice in any and every circumstance. These five commitments are at the core of making the extraordinary life of Christ flourish in every arena.
Living out the Extraordinary Norms of Grace means we desire to:
- Hear the voice of God and act on it.
- Grow in our ability to reflect the character and competency of Jesus.
- Live with a strong sense of identity and calling.
- Participate in and eventually lead a missional family.
- Help someone else do the same.
The truth is that none of us can live these Extraordinary Norms of Grace (much less the dynamic life that god has called each of us to) on our own. We need the help of others. To this end, the adult ministry team has developed CORE content and training initiatives that help us put these five Norms into practice. At the center of the diagram below, you will see COMMUNITIES because we are convinced this way of life is really only possible within “extended families” of people on mission together. Around COMMUNITIES, we have placed 3 triangles that act like scaffolding to support and sustain your growth in each extraordinary Norm. When we understand and integrate our IDENTITY, our INVESTMENTS, and our INTERACTIONS, we can holistically step into all that god has for us.
IDENTITY: Identity classes center their learning around helping each of us discover who we are, who God is, what God is doing in the world, and how each of us is gifted to be part of that work. Our CORE Identity Classes include Younique, Listening Prayer, and The Story of God.
INVESTMENT: Investment classes help us maximize our lives by growing our resources, or “capitals” in each of five key areas: Spiritual, Relational, Physical, Intellectual and Financial. We then learn to invest, share, and multiply these capitals with and for others. Our CORE Investment Classes include The Five Capitals, Discipleship 101, Ventures in Oneness, and Financial Peace University.
INTERACTION: Interaction classes are built to help us awaken to the opportunities and needs in our neighborhoods and in our world. We want to learn to recognize where Jesus is at work so that we might join him in bringing the peace, healing, and salvation of his Kingdom into our broken but beautiful world. our CORE Interaction Classes include JAQ, Family on Mission, and The Way of the Kingdom.
