About Urban Abbey
Spiritual Formation
Spiritual Formation Mission
We dream of a world where people will feel a sustained, deep inner-peace about life, the world and their own spirituality. We are committed to working toward this dream. This practice creates resilience in us for the transformation of the world.
Values
Spiritual Practices:
discipline, accountability and regularityCommunity:
We are not meant to be alone. We are relational, both Abbey community and larger community of Omaha.Service:
We take our gifts out into the world through a spirit of connection and learning from the world around us.Creative Expression:
Nature hikes, art and music are all ways to nurture people in finding their spiritual gifts, etc.Inclusion:
EVERYONE is included.Cognitive Expansion: critical thinking, scripture study, "UA 201," continuing education.
Each value intersects and we practice “intersectionality.”
Why Practice Spiritual Formation?
We believe roots matter. The deeper they run and the wider they stretch, the more we can grow. This is a space of depth and connection that feeds each of us on our unique path and nourishes our community, city and world. We do not leave spiritual growth to chance; we explore with intention, try prayer even if we fall asleep, and sing even when we forget the words to the song. Dancers practice positions at the barre before they leap and twirl across the stage. Athletes train building their skills and their endurance before each meet, game or match. Musicians start with scales and in our respective vocations we grow into professionals over time. We approach our spirituality with the same intention and the same grace; that is to say we expect to make mistakes. Our tradition teaches grace in the practice and it requires us to get in the arena, show up and be both vulnerable and strong. These means of grace were the way John Wesley once challenged a community of people to question and to study, to take action as agents of mercy and be workers for justice, pray, and worship as well connect in small groups and take communion – constantly. Our faith is not a spectator sport and there are no solo artists. We do this together. That is the gift; we don’t have to do this alone.
How do we Practice Spiritual Formation?
Worship is at the heart of spiritual formation. Additionally, diverse spaces for intentional reflection, study and learning are created to nurture a diversity of people in our community. We offer resources that make us a hub for spiritual growth individually and communally. We select resources that people can trust with the goal of being seen as a hub for progressive theology. We hope some of the programs offered are a safe place for people to enter in community or to join in alongside other worshipping communities. All leaders working with youth and children will complete Safe Gatherings training and we will create clear boundaries that keep our most vulnerable members safe.
Small Groups
We believe the world should be different. Small groups are a means of grace that make the world different because they make us different. Big things happen in small groups…like how 12 disciples changed the religious landscape of our world. The group creates sacred space of connection, listening, sharing and accountability. Small groups are the first to know when something is wrong and the first to celebrate when something goes right. Small groups hold the hopes of one another in confidence and offer support for the journey.
How Small Groups Work for Us
We've developed our small group programs through five years of trial and error. We learned from the best practices of other churches and made them our own. We focus on five-week sessions that happen three times during the year. Groups meet weekly for an hour and a half to get a foundation of knowing one another. Some groups continue to meet monthly after the initial session and some choose not to. Our five-week time frame, as opposed to a 10 or 16 week expectation, has encouraged more people to make a commitment. Additionally, it gives us some flexibility on shaping and re-shaping groups to include new people more easily. Small groups can meet anywhere and small groups do not require homework but invite preparation in advance: schedule commitments, praying, attending worship and personal reflection.
We follow the method that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement offered his small groups, with a few modern translations of his classic questions. We begin each group with his questions that invite us to reflect on the state of our soul, our growth, our struggles and our hopes. We also make space to hold a conversation around the theme of Sunday’s worship. This takes the hour of worship, the themes, scriptures, songs and prayers a step further. This is space to explore were we were challenged, encouraged or something in between. It is a space to be honest and say, "I really struggle with X..." or "I just am not sure about Y..." or "I never thought of that in that way."
We create groups with participants in similar life phases. Everything we do in ministry is intergenerational but small groups offer a space where people can share more deeply wether it is our boomers, our professionals, our 30/40-something 'dudes' group, our women’s group, our 20-something group or our student veterans group. Each group is invited to launch from a shared experience and share in supporting that journey as partners. Sharing the same curriculum and questions in these spaces proves space for connection in worship or service or during events with people from other groups.
Grow Night!
Urban Abbey 101, 201 & Graduate Class
Grow Night! is the place to start connecting and/or exploring discipleship and membership in our community. It is a hub of exploration for new guests and long time members. We begin with UA 101 and UA 201 to explore the Methodist tradition, the history of the Abbey, our vision for ministry and Biblical studies with critical thinking skills. Each month we will explore prayer, scripture, theology or faith in action through an in-depth class, facilitated by a gifted leader.
How Grow Night! Works
We begin in fellowship, a shared meal so that no one has to rush off to grab a fast meal before we begin. We will start with dinner in community and then partake in various opportunities for spiritual growth.
Classes offered include "UA 101," which is an introduction to Urban Abbey and Methodism. Many of our new congregants come from diverse spiritual backgrounds and are unfamiliar with the story of our church. "UA 201" is a follow-up to UA 101 and dives deeper into the Wesleyan traditions, and a special “graduate” class for those who wish to explore new spiritual topics. Dinner is served from 5:30 - 6:00 pm and classes begin at 6:00 pm and end at 7:30 pm.
Pastoral Care Team
“Pray for me.”
This is the request that can greet us in the most surprising places and ways. Perhaps you have said it yourself. Perhaps you have been asked to pray and responded "yes," but life got busy or you forgot. Perhaps you said "yes," but then thought, "what does that mean?"
Our Pastoral Care team is about intercession. This is about standing with a person in the hard spaces, supporting, listening, asking questions to invite further reflection, and praying. This is making time and space for the needs and cares of others.
Pastoral care is the work of the whole people of the church and we are called to hear one another, care for one another and stand beside one another.
“The words pray for me signal a person in need. And when someone is in need – because of illness, a broken relationship, loss of work, a spiritual crisis or grief – it is as if he or she is carrying a heavy bucket; a bucket filled with emotion, filled with grief, filled with confusion, filled with disappointment.
"A person in need or in grief is carrying around this bucket of emotion. An intercessor is one who comes alongside that individual with an empty bucket. The person in need gives his or her agenda to the intercessor and the intercessor receives that agenda as the work of God, namely prayer. Intercession is carried out by those with space in their lives to include the needs of others: family, friends, congregations, communities and the world.”
– Pray for me: the Power of Praying for Others by Kenneth H. Carter Jr.
How We Perform Pastoral Care
We offer a ministry of presence that says we are here to listen, pray and support. We do this after worship services, in hospital rooms, in moments of crisis and over cups of coffee. Our baristas do this with every latte as they listen to stories of our community members, whether they are worried about sick parents or healing from their heartbreaks. The pastoral Care team meets for training and leadership development as a Launch Team and is led by lay leaders, some of whom have experience in caring and counseling professions and some who do not. Pastoral Care is always peer-to-peer and our training includes best practices for when a referral to professional care might be needed.
Special Studies and Book Clubs
We believe space to read, dream and share the experience of a new book is sacred. We want to invite and include as many people as possible and occasional studies or one time studies are a comfortable way for people to get to know us and begin to feel at home in the Abbey.
Our Approach to Special Studies
We create short term and one-time studies that link into the calendar and culture. We connect with community partners as co-hosts with us, such as Mom’s Demand, Planned Parenthood or Nebraska Appleseed. These gatherings might be held once a month on a Thursday evening or in the winter on a Saturday morning.
One Room Sunday School House
Our vision of Sunday school is one where all ages can be present and older students can help younger students. We create a weekly safe space for our youngest leaders to be at the very center. We want to nurture the seeds of resilience in each soul and give skills for centering, praying, reflecting, thinking and discerning rather than rules to learn and scriptures to memorize.
How We Approach Christian Education
We create curricula that invites empathy, compassion and critical thinking skills. We teach faith stories and invite young people into their own. We seek to practice this effort without reinforcing the toxic Christianity that runs rampant in the world around us; that people often reject when they age. This superficial, violent atonement-based theology fails in the face of real life struggles.
We develop curricula that involves play, scripture, art, songs and all kinds of stories. We develop curriculum relevant to the world around us, so we can give a framework for modern life. Sunday School is more than old coloring sheets and superficial, individually focused salvation.
We are United Methodists and we teach from our tradition a shared method of engaging the hands, heart and head in the life of faith; a holiness that is social and personal. We give tools for study, reflection and centering. We celebrate and support each young leader on the way and never teach from a vantage point of shaming, belittling or limiting.
UnVBS:
Leadership development for Tweens and Teens (Ages 9 through 14+)
We believe young people are leaders and we want to be a place of nurture, care and support as they develop into bold Christian leaders. We believe they are capable of critical refection, deep Biblical study and creative resistance to systems of oppression in the world around us.
How We Work with Tweens and Teens
We create safe space for youth between the ages of nine and fourteen to study scripture, have fun, grow in community, reflect critically on the world around them and dream. Monthly gatherings for two to three hours, for more in-depth reflection and time together. We study ancient leaders, encourage critical thinking when approaching the Bible and application to the daily experience. We develop thoughtful, feminist emancipatory curriculum and we are preparing to share it so that others may benefit from this work.
We refuse to play on the emotions of young people in this vulnerable phase of life with a narrative of salvation that is based on violent, atonement theology and individually focused. We refuse to teach the old norms that will not serve our youth as they grow and encounter the fullness of the world, its struggle and its beauty. We will teach a tradition of communal care and justice seeking; the way of Jesus.
We are United Methodists and we teach from our tradition of a shared method of engaging the hands, heart and head in the life of faith; a holiness that is social and personal. We will give tools for study, reflection and centering. We will celebrate and support each young leader on the way.
Open Mic Worship
(Ages 14-22 +/-)
We believe in the voices of young people, leaders who are in the heart of their emergence and discernment. We craft worship to hear these voices and we place those voices at the center of this service and the preparation for it.
How Does Open Mic Worship Work?
A small group meets to plan the theme and prepare for each Open Mic service. The first 10 minutes of worship and the last 15, including communion, are planned by the team in collaboration with the pastor. The theme is published online and the group invites people in their orbit. With each service we try to expand our relationship orbit by meeting new partners and including new people.