A rule of life is an intentional way of life. These are not "rules" for life, but a rule—a standard by which we intentionally engage our own spiritual formation. We might think of these things as a trellis that supports our journey of transformation, sustains it, and enables our lives to bear the fruit of the Kingdom of God.
In partnership with the Holy Spirit and one another, we seek to accomplish our mission to become a community of people who know God, follow Jesus, and pursue God's purposes in the world by engaging the following distinctives, as a community of faith and as individual followers of Jesus.
We identified these distinctives as areas in which we see God at work in those of us who call ECC home. We believe they are key to having Christ more fully formed in us, and we envision the Kingdom impact they will have in our lives, congregation, and community, as they become more deeply embedded in our ECC culture.
APPRENTICESHIP || We intentionally make room in our lives to learn, grow, and spend time with Jesus as a community and in our personal soul-training practices.
WORSHIP || We make gathering and participation in worship with our sisters and brothers at ECC a priority in our lives.
COMMUNITY || We share life with one another in practical ways, and we pray and care for one another with intentionality and grace.
SERVICE || We discover our passions and gifts, and commit to serving God and others through the ministries of ECC and areas of service beyond our walls.
GENEROSITY || We steward faithfully over our financial resources and commit to the discipline of intentional, thoughtful giving to ECC and to generosity in all our relationships.
These distinctives are the communal framework within which, over time, each of us will begin to develop a personal rule of life as well.
We are currently in the process of creating a simple assessment to help each of us get an accurate picture of where we are individually on our spiritual journey--to become aware of areas where we are growing and areas where we would like to grow more. In addition, the anonymous data collected will help us better understand our church family, celebrate the ministry happening in (and through) the people of ECC, and discern ways to help us grow in these things, together. We hope to open up the assessment in the coming weeks, and once it is available, we will invite you to participate!