In Soulfeast, Marjorie Thompson defines a rule of life in this way: “A rule of life is a pattern of spiritual disciplines that provide structure and direction for growth in holiness…. It fosters gifts of the Spirit in personal life and human community, helping to form us into the persons God intends us to be.”
Developed in part out of the life already being lived together, but also in response to how we see the Spirit calling us forward to be the church for a new millennium, Ginter Park Baptist has adopted its own Rule of Life. It is intended to describe the values and character traits that reflect how we seek to live as followers of Jesus, along with the life-shaping practices that are central to the hopes and dreams of our shared life together.
This Rule of Life is not a list of rules a person must obey or a list of doctrines a person must believe. Rather, it seeks to be a way to guide our lives as followers of Jesus, a lens through which we view our decisions, order our actions, and reflect on the outcomes.
Ginter Park Baptist Church’s history is one of responding to a call we believe to be from God. We ask each person who wishes to identify with this community of faith to commit to this Rule of Life as we seek together to live as the body of Christ in this time and place.
Rule of Life
As disciples of Jesus, we seek to live in such a way that our individual lives and our shared life together reflect the life of Christ in the world. With the help of the Holy Spirit, each of us thus commits to:
- Practice radical acceptance and welcome of all persons, affirming them as created in the image of God and as beloved of God
- Build relationships among ourselves and throughout our community in a commitment to shared mission and a common life
- Serve our Richmond neighbors and the wider world, working towards the dismantling of oppressive systems and serving with those whose lives seek transformation
- Engage in learning as a lifelong pursuit, acknowledging complexity and embracing mystery while seeking, giving, and receiving truths in humility
- Operate with a culture of generosity, trusting in the abundance of God and refusing to operate with a scarcity mentality
- Be accountable to one another, speaking out when necessary and asking awkward questions that may upset the status quo
- Live our lives as a conversation with God in a commitment to personal spiritual practices
- Extend grace to ourselves, to one another, and to all those whose paths we cross whenever we fall short of our pursuit to love God with our whole selves and our neighbor as ourselves.