Sometimes we offer a three hour or a four session workshop on the disciplines around quiet, stillness and silence.
These can be face to face or in Zoom. If you are interested, please contact us.
Next workshop:
None planned at the moment.
The Power of Quiet
A look at some very powerful habits for followers of Jesus, with some recent research in how to build habits.
Anyone is welcome.
If we meet on Zoom
Advice about Zoom. Do a few stretches or running on the spot before the session. (Get the blood flowing) Bring a cuppa, a Bible, notebook and pen.
Breathe. Leave a bit of space between you and the screen. Relax. Enjoy!!
If you want a practice on Zoom beforehand, just call.
**Zoom breakout rooms? if you are not familiar with these just relax. It will be OK
Jesus Is the Vine | Followers Are Branches | Abiding precedes Fruitfulness
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing"
Below: indicative content in some of the sessions.
1. Quiet + Habits
Habit 1: What we know about getting still and quiet and how this helps you.
Plus: how to do it.
Plus: how to do it.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10.
Maybe: Cornerstone habits | Tiny Habits (PJFogg) | Getting close to Jesus
From the book of James: "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you"
2. Hearing God
Habit 2: Journaling.
Another powerful habit. Clearing our mind and getting us in a position to hear God.
One of my friends at my weekly Friday breakfast meetup describes this as the "most important habit in his Christian life".
Plus and introduction to the desert mystics.
Maybe: Issues of motivation | Cognitive overload, overwhelm and getting out of this.
3. Find more peace
Habit 3: More learning from the desert monastics.
Introducing: the worlds shortest prayer form, handed down to us through the ages from the dessert fathers.
Rest, abiding, stillness as key habits.
Maybe: Benefits to our heart, mind and soul. Building habits, the power of routine. What did Jesus do?
4. Building routines
Habit 4: Crafting a plan to grow your life in God
This is the big ticket item.
Sometimes called a "Rule of Life"
"We do not learn from experience. . .
we learn from reflecting on experience" - John Dewey
we learn from reflecting on experience" - John Dewey
A few selected references and influences:
Books
Celebration of Discipline - Richard Foster | Ruthless Elimination of Hurry - John Mark Comer
People
Tiny habits
With PJ Fogg. This is a slightly longer video: TEDx talk, on Tiny Habits.
Dallas Willard
A slightly longer teaching - only if you have some time.