The 4 Practices: Saint Patrick's Rule of Life

Typically, getting involved in a local church is about participating in the programs and activities of a church. For example, someone might attend Sunday worship for a number of weeks and then decide to deepen her involvement by joining a Sunday school class or taking her children to the mid-week youth program.

At Saint Patrick’s we think of getting involved differently than that. While we do have activities and programs, we understand getting involved as primarily about living as a disciple of Jesus Christ. We don’t do that because we think Sunday school or mid-week youth programs are bad things. We do that because we believe this is the mission Jesus has given the Church: to be disciples and to make disciples.

Moments before Jesus left earth to ascend to the Father, he left his disciples with the Church’s standing orders,

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)

This passage is called the Great Commission because here Jesus commissioned the Church with its central mission until he returns again: make disciples.

A disciple is a learner. More precisely, a disciple is one who is learning the way of Jesus. In our setting when we think of learner we think of schools and classrooms. But there was a time when it was highly common for people to be educated – especially if they were learning a trade or a skill – through a process called apprenticeship. An apprentice is one who is learning how to do a certain skill from a master practitioner of that skill. A disciple is learner in this sense. A disciple of Jesus is an apprentice of Jesus. Thus, at Saint Patrick’s we see ourselves as a community of apprentices to Jesus who are in a lifelong apprenticeship learning how to live the life he wants us to live.

So, at Saint Patrick’s Church, getting involved is about being an apprentice of Jesus – learning from the master how to live life as God intends. To help us stay focused on that end we frame Christian discipleship – our apprenticeship – around four practices: Worship, Community, Formation and Mission.

In Acts 2:42-47, we read how the first Christians lived out the Great Commission. They were, “Continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers…” Going on in the same passage, we see that there were signs and wonders taking place, the believers were selling their possessions and sharing with one another, taking meals together in each others’ homes, worshipping together in unity at the temple, and rejoicing as the Lord was adding to their number day by day, those who were being saved. Out of this wonderful description of new life in the Spirit, we derive The 4 Practices.

 Throughout the history of Christianity, spiritual orders like the Order of St. Benedict or the Order of St. Francis and renewal movements like the Methodists led by Anglican priest John Wesley organized themselves around a set of practices. They devoted themselves to practices like voluntary poverty, works of mercy, and living in community.  Each developed what came to be called a Rule of life or Regula.

The word “Rule” comes from the Latin “regula” (“straightedge”) and should not be confused with “Lex” - a set of Laws to be observed legalistically. While we believe that every Christian should embrace these common areas of discipleship to grow closer to God, we also know that each of us has different spiritual needs and preferences. Therefore, the norm for at Saint Patrick’s Church is following a Rule of Life, or Spiritual Plan based on the 4 Practices. We encourage each disciple to develop his or her own unique Plan.

For detailed guidance on how to carry out The 4 Practices Download The 4 Practices Packet.