God52 – five ideas to make it work for you

(This may all be new to you. To find out what God52 is, read this first)

This started out as my own little New Year’s Resolution, but now it’s taking on a bit of a life of its own. My first post proper is all ready and scheduled to go live at 00.01am (if you’re having a really sad New Year’s Eve), so in advance of that, and with lots and lots of people indicating that they’re planning to join me, I thought I’d post five ideas to help you get the most out of God52…

1. Journal

This is a year to grow closer to God; as much as it’s about public and communal acts, it’s also about spiritual formation and internal transformation. So consider finding a notebook, and noting down what you do, where you see God at work, and anything else of interest throughout the year. If you see all 52 challenges through, it could be amazing to look back at the journey…

2. Set your own challenges

It’s not about me! I’m setting myself 52 challenges… but they might not be right for you. So take the idea, reimagine it for yourself, and then plot your own journey of transformation.

3. Get some friends involved (or your youth group)

I’ve invited our youth group to join in with God52 – I reckon it could be a helpful discipleship tool for yours too, so why not share it with them? Or if you don’t do youth work, what about a small group? Or the people you go to the pub with?

4. Blog / tweet / post / talk about it

I have a feeling that there could be a lot of fun, encouragement and shared learning to be found in talking together as we go. I think it would be amazing if bloggers, tweeters (using #God52) and other social media types embraced the idea and made it their own. Again, you don’t need to link to/credit me. This is about joining together as a group of people who want to take their faith more seriously. 

5. Don’t get religious about it

This has two applications. First – don’t let God52 become like dated Bible reading notes, where you miss the 4^th February and then feel guilty, give up, and stop altogether. If you miss a week, fuggedaboudit. If you only discover this whole idea in April – just join in from now! Second, you don’t actually have to be a Christian to take part. Why not join in anyway with those challenges which interest you, and see if you discover something of spiritual significance somewhere along the way?

Right, that’s definitely the end of the preamble. Challenge one is just around the corner, and I’ll warn you now, for some of us it’ll be a tough start…

See you at midnight!