Guidelines for Participation in a 3iE Group

3 is Enough is an adventure of discovery about the profound inner life which exists in all of us, about learning to notice others, and most importantly about discovering a life derived from and lived in the Kingdom of God.

Our Spiritual practices:

• Explore new ways to pray. If you have a quiet time, but still find that it does not carry forward in the attitudes and actions of your life, begin to experiment with a situational and “conversational” form of prayer that is rooted in the people and events of your life. Though I pray most mornings (simply orienting myself to God as his cooperative friend and dedicating my day to him) and almost every evening, I do very simple things throughout the day that have revolutionized my life.

  If I am about to pick up the phone for a conference call, I often pray, “may the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be acceptable to you in this conversation.”

  If I have an appointment with someone, I’ll often pray, “may I be really present to this person…Lord use me in any way…give me gifts of discernment, wisdom and knowledge…”

  Before most any activity of my life I’ve learned to pray “may your Kingdom come and may your will be done…”

• Read and interact. This should only take a few minutes a day and then 30–60 minutes per week with your TiE Group.

  The group could mutually agree to read something together or each member could read in a way that is targeted to their needs or curiosity. Each person would then report back to the group how their reading is helping them follow Jesus for the sake of others.

  Read smaller, but consistently targeted material. If you are working on patience, then focus on authors and writings that help you with that point of personal growth.

• Serve others in genuinely helpful ways. A 3iE Group may decide to go dig wells for clean water in Africa—that is great! But what we’re primarily hoping to develop through TiE are ways to practice serving others in the routines of our day to day (a.k.a. ordinary) life. Start with being present to the regular people in your life. Notice them. Carry them around in your heart.

Help people switch stories

• From heaven as goal, to spirituality for the sake of others as the goal.
• Righteousness as alignment to the Story of God, not mere mental assent to propositions.
• Re-define eternal life to include a different kind of life in this life.
• Your routine, predictable life counts too, not just church services or other religious activities.

Help ordinary people rehear the Christian story

There is a better and more compelling question than “if you died tonight, do you know where you would go?” It’s, “What if you knew you were going to live tomorrow, …who would you follow?

• Around what story would you organize the various parts of your life?
• What kind of person would you be?
• How would you determine those answers?