Text “self denial” to our church’s phone number. During the first week of every month, we will lead our church in the practice of self-denial through Feed the Mission. Feed the Mission is a monthly practice where we corporately practice self-denial during the first week of each month. It’s all hands on deck. Or, better yet since we’re talking about self-denial, it’s all hands on the cross.
Why did we pick the first week? We picked the first week for symbolic reasons, because the Bible is clear that we give God our
firstfruits and
firsts and
bests and
most valuable and
most precious and
most cherished and
most esteemed.
We think this will be helpful because self-denial needs to be a community project. Although the week of the month will be predictable, what we will give up will be different on a monthly basis. In other words, though the week doesn’t rotate, the subject of our self-denial does. On certain months, we will practice self-denial by
fasting on a certain day of the week or
saying no to television for the week or
saying no social media for the week or
saying no to caffeine for the weekend or
giving up this indulgence or
giving up that luxury or
giving up this or
giving up that or
giving up x or
giving up y,
you get it.
Ultimately, the most effective strategy that Frontier Church has for helping you integrate this practice into your life is Fighter Groups. There is nothing more helpful than committing to a small group of people following Jesus together, and to ask and listen to how others are being formed by the Holy Spirit through the practice of self-denial. Spiritual formation is a community project.
