Morning: Bible in One Year

Start each day by letting God speak to you through the Bible. Offer your day to God, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and reveal what He is saying to you, today. Weekday Church Online (available here, and on Facebook and Instagram) offers some reflections on the Bible in One Year readings at 8:00am, Monday to Friday. The church has always devoted itself to reading the Bible. See Acts 2:42 and Ephesians 6:17. Download the Bible in One Year app for iOS or Android, buy ‘The Bible in One Year: A Commentary’ by Nicky Gumbel, or access the Bible in One Year Readings PDF below.

Afternoon: Lord’s Prayer

In the middle of your day (try setting an alarm for 12:00 noon), pray the words Jesus taught us. Pray for some people you know, who don’t follow Jesus, and pray for God’s kingdom to come in their lives, and in our town. Jesus tells us to pray the Lord’s Prayer. See Matthew 6:5-13.

Evening: Examen

End your day with an examen: a simple prayer in which we reflect on our day, thank God for the good parts, say sorry to God for the parts we messed up, and ask Him to help us become more Christ-like tomorrow. Jesus told us to reflect on our lives and turn away from what is bad. See Matthew 4:17.

Download “Bible in One Year Readings” BiOY-Readings.pdf – Downloaded 11 times – 1 MB

Sunday: Worship

Every Sunday at 10:30am, we’ll worship in our homes, by tuning into Sunday Church Online. Commit to setting aside this time to worship God every week, as part of your RHYTHM. As well as singing, teaching, and praying, use Sunday’s worship as a time to set up or review your financial giving; make a weekly gift or monthly standing order part of your financial RHYTHM. Jesus went to worship weekly. See Luke 4:16. Find Sunday Church Online live at 10:30am on Facebook Live or here on our website every Sunday during lockdown.

Thursday: Prayer

Each Thursday at 8:15am, we’ll gather for Prayer Online, to pray for our world, our community, our church, and ourselves, using Zoom. Praying with others is a faith-building time for us to contend for breakthrough in our lives. The Bible tells us to pray about anything, anytime. See Ephesians 6:18. Join the Prayer Online Zoom call using ID: 744 0072 1981 and Password: Pr4y3r.

Sabbath: Rest

God created us to take a Sabbath: a day each week to resist working or producing, rest in God’s presence, and refocus on our purpose and calling. Make time for God the first thing you schedule into your week. Sabbath doesn’t have to be Sunday—set aside whichever day makes sense for you. Jesus took a Sabbath, and says it is goo for us to, as well. See Mark 2:27-28. Try taking a Sabbath as a household, or spend some of it (virtually) with friends or family.

Community: Connect Groups

Connect Groups are groups of 10-25 people who worship, pray, and study the Bible together, and care for one another. Connect groups are running virtually using phone, Zoom or other means during lockdown. They are a great way to find community and friendship, as well as helping us to grow in our faith. Connect Groups meet fortnightly, and different groups meet on different days and at different times. Whatever your situation or stage of life, there’s a Connect Group perfect for you. Jesus spent lots of his time with twelve friends. See Matthew 10:1-4. Click here for more information, or contact Ann Boxall at ann.boxall@staugustinesipswich.org.uk to join a Connect Group.

Discipleship: Huddles

Huddles are groups of 3-4 people, who meet regularly (via phone or Zoom during lockdown) to support each other, pray together, and help each other to grow in their faith. Huddles are a small, confidential group, where you can share and be supported in the personal or more challenging areas of life that might not be best shared in a Connect Group. Try meeting with your Huddle fortnightly or monthly, whenever works well for you. Huddles work best with people you know, of the same sex as you, so create your own Huddle, or we can help you form one. Jesus regularly met with three close friends. See Matthew 17:1. Contact Matt Key at matt.key@staugustinesipswich.org.uk for help forming or joining a Huddle.

Alone: Retreat

Take a day—or longer if you like—on your own, away from it all, free from distractions and notifications, to reset and recenter on Jesus. There are lots of ‘retreat houses’ across the country who can guide you through a retreat, but you can also pick a location and plan a retreat yourself. Some people find taking a shorter daytime retreat every few months helpful—find a rhythm that works for you. Jesus regularly too retreats to pray. See Luke 5:16. For help planning a retreat, contact one of the ministry team.

Together: Focus

Be inspired and refreshed by gathering together with our wider HTB Network family to worship, relax, and holiday as a church. Focus can’t run this year due to lockdown, but we can all look forward to getting together at Focus 2021 from 23rd to 27th July 2021 at the Somerley Estate. The Church has always gathered together in large numbers and seen God at work amongst them. See Acts 2:41. You can visit focus.htb.org for more information.

Try some RHYTHM Practices

In the church, we need unity and diversity. A lot about our patterns of prayer as we follow RHYTHM will be the same, to help unite us as a church, but all of us are different, and connect with God in individual ways. To recognise this, we have put together a list of Practices—different ways to pray—for you to use, to customise your own RHYTHM and build on the basic foundations of the Bible in One Year, the Lord’s Prayer, and the examen. You can use these practices on your own, in your Huddles, or in your Connect Groups. Download a PDF list of Practices using the button below, or click here to view the list as a webpage.

Download “RHYTHM Practices” RHYTHM-Practices.pdf – Downloaded 20 times – 318 KB

Get your own RHYTHM Booklet

To get all your RHYTHM resources in one place, offline, you can download and print your own RHYTHM Booklet, using the button below. If you would like your own RHYTHM Booklet, but can’t print your own, email Matt Key at matt.key@staugustinesipswich.org.uk to help you access one.

Download “RHYTHM Booklet” RHYTHM-Lockdown-Edition-FINAL.pdf – Downloaded 35 times – 5 MB