ITL Journey of Life Commitment

We commit to practice a Journey of Life with God that by His grace will sustain a healthy life of sacrificial service as Kingdom servant leaders, to be transformed with the fresh newness of a life in Christ (Rom 12: 1–2) to live a called life of empowerment leading to the transformation of communities reconciled to Him and each other (2 Cor 5).

Healthy Priorities

We commit to order our time and energy, prayerfully considering God’s loving priorities for all aspects of our lives as servant leaders living with a healthy lifestyle.

Practices:

  We live with the attitude that what we have is a gift from God, is cared for by God and is available to others when that is right.

  • We seek to practice a regular rhythm of prayer, work, rest and relationships taking into consideration all areas of our lives.
  • We develop a rhythm of daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and yearly devotional practices.
  • We regularly pay attention to indications that healing is needed, -and then will find help.

Learning, discipleship and spiritual formation

We commit to a life of ongoing discipleship, learning and spiritual formation. We desire to find our identity in Christ and to be conformed to His image. We commit continually to learn and discover; to grow in wisdom and discernment; to have our minds and hearts transformed daily through the Holy Spirit and not to be conformed to the patterns set by the media or popular culture. We commit to cultivating the presence of God in the marketplace, following Christ and learning from Him.

Practices:

  • We establish limits for our use of screens, media and entertainment, both in the amount of time spent and in the moral character of the content.
  • We make time for prayer, Scripture reading and meditation, study, reflection, asking questions, solitude and silence, fellowship with believers and valuing all of creation.
  • We take time to reflect daily, asking the Holy Spirit to help us to notice God’s presence in our everyday lives and in the marketplace, and to learn from these experiences.

Integrity in relationships

We commit to live with integrity in relationships, learning from Christ. We desire to be vulnerable, real and interdependent, renewing our relationships through forgiveness and reconciliation, and growing to maturity as we speak the truth in love. We commit to love our neighbours as Christ has loved us, listening to them and seeing them as Christ does.

Practices:

  • We speak the truth in love.
  • We seek to be part of a Christian community, to identify the roles Christ is calling us to play within it and help to build up the Church to become a Community of Love.
  • We prayerfully identify people who can give us input and help. We ask for them to commit to the responsibility to serve us for a shorter or longer period of time.
  • We choose to live with the God given principles and responsibilities in our family and marriage.
  • We learn to love and value ourselves for the sake of Christ. We live with vulnerability, transparency and humility, allowing others to serve us.

Sacrificial service

We commit to live as servant leaders, imitating Christ in His humility and self-giving love (Philippians 2:1-11), which leads to creative service, bringing Life. Instead of accumulating power to benefit ourselves or exploit others, we use it to generate possibility and empower others. We commit to be stewards of the power and positions of influence we are entrusted with, and to serve others sacrificially.

Practices:

  • We regularly keep company with Jesus in the gospels, learning from His life of service.
  • We seek to create opportunities for others.
  • We identify what we have been entrusted with and use it to empower others.
  • We actively seek opportunities to serve.

Holistic transformation of communities

We confess that the Kingdom we pray for and serve on earth as it is in heaven concerns all aspects of life, society and creation. We are called to serve holistically, working and serving together with people of goodwill and especially the Body of Christ. We commit to making disciples (Matthew 28:19) and to seeking and doing justice (Luke 4:18-19 and Matthew 25:31-46).

We confess that the transformation of people, communities and culture, and therefore structures and systems, is the work of the Spirit, at work through the Body; and whom we seek to obey and echo (Psalm 127). We commit to seek the Kingdom first, to submit to God’s leading and to seek His will (Matt 6:33). We undertake to be peacemakers as servant leaders who bring people together in communities and work towards transformation based on Biblical principles.

Practices:

  • We seek insight through love while planning prayerfully and taking into consideration the whole person and context (Philippians 1:9-10).
  • We find ways to serve through facilitation and cooperation, drawing in the involvement of others.
  • We ask for the wisdom and discernment of fellow believers (ITL tribe/clan) in critical decisions and seek fellowship with those who have a shared vocation.

Thankfulness

We are blessed and have much reason for thankfulness in our lives: for our Creator Father, our friend Lord Jesus, and our comforter, the empowering Spirit. We commit to live with simplicity, worship, thankfulness and generosity. We confess that all we are and have is from God and we commit to faithful stewardship of all our talents, gifts, experiences, relationships, resources and time.

Practices:

  • We give thanks daily.
  • We commit to weekly shared worship.
  • We create opportunities for celebration in our lives, family and workplace, deeply connecting with the joy that is from the Lord.
  • We choose to live with simplicity and generosity.
  • We undertake to give sacrificially of our income and resources with special attention to Matthew 25 and Luke 4.