Getting Started

The whole purpose of CityLife is to encourage a particular type of living: walking through all of life naturally with Jesus, pursuing excellence in and through our work, living with grace in all our relationships and seeking out a few allies for encouragement and to link arms with.

What CityLife offers is a little bit of direction, a few materials and some connections - to older mentors and to peers.

Obviously, there are going to be many ways to put all these pieces together. As you are getting started as a CityLife team, we suggest that you and your teammates (or potential teammates) choose or modify one of these tracks.

The Whole Enchilada Express Track     Mix-and-Match   
If you want to take a deep look at everything before you get started, here is a good way to go. If your team is just coming together or you are all just starting work, this might be the best way to go.

Week 1: Action Learning
Week 2-3: Pursuing Christ
Week 4-5: Work
Week 6-7: Among the Lost
Week 8-9: “The Swamp”
Week 10-11: Teaming
Week 12: What’s Next?		 Want to take a quick look at the big ideas before deciding what to do next? Has your team already been meeting for a while and knows each other pretty well? Here is a way to hit the main ideas before you dive in any deeper.

Week 1: Started/re-started with God
Week 2-3: Work
Week 4-5: Among the Lost
Week 6: Community and Teams
Week 7: What’s Next?

(If you are really in a hurry, cover the work and living among the lost topics in one week each.)
If there is some other way you want to do this, no problem. Decide how long you want this "orientation" phase to last, pick the topics your team is interested in and decide how long to spend on each topic.

 Pick from the ideas below, but make sure you hit the 4 areas of the covenant. Once you feel like you have gotten a good start, use the resources on the “What’s Next?” page to help you decide how to organize the rest of your time with CityLife.


Topics

Even during this more directed part of CityLife, the goal is still the same: "life-to-Bible." The only difference is that we are asking you to pay particular attention to a few selected areas of your life. Each paper, Bible study, etc. below is designed to bring focus but still leave lots of room for reflection and discussion about what is really going on in your lives. 

  • "Pursuing Christ" - what does it mean to walk with God here in this new context?
  • More on "pursuing Christ"
    • Before you meet, pick 10 or so Psalms to read (maybe a couple each day?) Record your thoughts on how many of these Psalms start with truths about God and how many start with reflections of the writer's life? How do these two things interact? (If you want a few more ideas on reading the Psalms, try this Bible study On Connecting w/ God.)
    • Together, share your thoughts. Spend a good amount of time praying.
  • What "excel at work" is all about and why it matters
    • Together, work through The Gift of Work. It's divided into two parts. At the end, share what you've learned about your job and spend some time praying.
  • Living and discipling among the lost
    • Work together on the "POWER Guide." Do the first 2-3 pages the first week. Finish together the second. As you go, talk about your expectations for each other: do you expect to live these ideas out individually, all together, in pairs? What makes sense?
  • "The swamp" - adjusting to the "real world" can be a little harder than it looks. Here are a few resources that might help:
    • Before you meet, read Jumping into Work and work on the Bible study
    • Together, share what you found. Spend a good bit of time praying.
  • More on the swamp
  • Teaming and expectations
    • Before you meet, do the Value Study on Community Bible study
    • When you get together, talk about the values and ideas from the Bible study that are the most import to you and any that cause you trouble.
    • Share your previous team experiences. Include:
      • Joys and disappointments
      • Your unique contributions
      • Healthy and unhealthy expectations
  • More on teaming
    • Before you meet, read this paper on Community and Teams
    • Together, talk about implications from the paper for your group: what stages do you think you are at? Is that okay? Talk about the hopes and dreams you are hearing from each other and spend some time praying. The goal of this meeting is not to make decisions but to get expectations out on the table.
  • What's Next? Planning and praying for the rest of your CityLife experience
    • Together, reflect on what you have learned so far about each area of the covenant. Pray.
    • Make plans for the next phase: when, where, how will you spend time together? What kind of group will you be?
    • You can find some ideas here.

Depending on your work situation, even the little bit of outside work we are asking for may feel overwhelming. Just do what you can. On the other hand, you may have the space to do more. Use any of the suggested materials or whatever else you think would help you pursue these topics.