March 2026 – Week Two (Mission Gathering)
- Mar 2
- 3 min read
Open In Prayer
Begin by praying together – taking some intentional time to breathe, be still, and invite the Holy Spirit to be with you all as you set aside time to be together.
Below is an optional liturgy you could pray:
Lord, You are holy. You are near. You desire to be with us, and for that we say, thank You. We invite You, Holy Spirit, to form us into people of love. Amen.
Around The Table & Reflect On Last Gathering’s Practice
This is space during your gathering to share a meal, build relationships, and enjoy one another.
If your week were a candle, is the flame burning bright, low, or somewhere in between? Why?
What is God’s current invitation to you in journeying forward in your life with Him?
Mission Gathering: Spiritual Formation For The Sake of Others
Read This Aloud Together
The kinds of prayer that Jesus prayed often moved him away from the center of society and towards its periphery, where He befriended those on the outskirts. As people who want to do as Jesus did, we also often find ourselves among the most vulnerable…not as service providers, but as family.
Jesus made family everywhere he went, constantly inviting people to a deeper level of relational intimacy with God and with one another.
One of the core values of an Ethos Community is that we are on mission together—that we are taking spiritual responsibility for our part of Columbus by becoming like family with those who are most in need…whether those in foster care or the under-resourced, the unhoused, the incarcerated, the refugee, and so many others.
So, for this gathering, we are going to explore how we can take a step deeper into engaging in spiritual formation for the sake of others; in becoming answers to our own prayers for others with the aim of kinship. Kinship happens as we share life with those who are often overlooked or on the margins…when we’re open to being interruptible, intentional, and honest in friendship. We don’t reach down or try to fix; we walk alongside, discovering that the line between “us” and “them” is only an illusion.
As we serve together, may we have eyes to see people as Jesus does. May we have hearts that have been loved into loving. May become more attune to His voice as we walk in obedience to His invitations. And may be slow down so that we may be present with God and with every single person around us.
Below are some opportunities to serve within our larger Ethos family together, but you could also choose to serve somewhere entirely different!
Sponsor & Serve an ESL Kids Club Meal (contact Tess at tesselavsky@ethosoh.com for more details)
Serve together at our Food Pantry on the 1st or 3rd Saturday of the month (email outreach@ethosoh.com to schedule)
Serve at the Egg-stra Special Easter Egg Hunt together on 3/28 *registration coming soon
Serve in Ethos Kids during one of our Easter gatherings on 4/4 or 4/5 (contact Maddie at maddie@ethosoh.com for more details) (involves a background check process)
Practice: Know, Pray, Serve
This week we are each going to take a few steps towards knowing and loving the people in our lives.
We’ll do it in 3 steps: know, pray, and serve.
First, know: learn the names of 4 neighbors on your block or in your apartment building.
Next, pray: pray every day for those 4 neighbors by name.
Finally, serve: look and listen for what they may need, and serve them—the needs could be relational or physical needs, like taking someone to coffee, mowing a yard, picking up groceries, etc. However you serve them, consider how you can pursue a deeper relationship together.
And when you sense an invitation – obey. Use this practice of creating more margin as a means by which you can walk in obedience to wherever the Lord is leading you.
End in Prayer
Before you conclude, spend some time as a Community praying for one another.
Below is an optional liturgy you could pray:
Lord Jesus, There is no greater prayer than yours — make us one as you are one, in devotion, in living, in love. Amen.