We have often talked at City Church about how we are constantly being formed. Our spiritual formation isn’t a question of whether, but how and by what. We are awash in messages that are trying to form us one way or another—to buy this, to read that, to download this app or join that cause or demand more for our own convenience. As we grow in maturity and wisdom, we can recognize more and more of these messages on our own, but there is still a great deal to learn as people who want to be shaped into the image of God. We are easily distracted away from our deepest questions, so here at City Church we want to create and provide a space into which we can intentionally enter to ask questions about the nature of God and the good life.

Specifically this fall, we are inviting you to seek, grow, and engage as vital steps in your spiritual formation.

SEEK: Our Seek courses will be familiar to some who attended last year. These are classes led by City Church pastors and meant for anyone who is curious about the Christian faith, whether you are a committed Christian or taking your time to explore it. In our first meeting, we will talk about the question of who God is. Is God good? Is God near to us? What does our understanding of God have to do with our relationship to God? In our next meeting, we’ll address the things you don’t have to believe to be a Christian. These might come as a surprise and, in some cases, a relief. We’ll also get together to talk about how we can practice Christianity, and what it might look like to incorporate these practices into our daily lives.

GROW: For folks who are searching for opportunities to grow in their faith, there will be a series of classes open to having conversations about just how to do that. When we first meet, we will be talking about what the Bible teaches us about itself. It is the bestselling book in the world and also consistently one of the most misunderstood. How can we listen to what God has to say to us through it? We will meet just ahead of the November election to talk about how faith and politics go together. Later on in the fall, we will take a look at what the Bible says about sexuality.

ENGAGE: Throughout the fall we will be offering different opportunities for you to engage the city around you. As we look ahead to City Church’s 20th anniversary in February we want to better understand our own stories in San Francisco—how we got here, what we love about it, what the city needs right now, and what God is doing here. We also want to seek to understand the needs and desires of our neighbors in San Francisco. So each month we will have a different focus, looking first at our own stories, then at another’s story, and finally, at God’s story in San Francisco, documenting them all with the hashtag #WeAreListeningSF.

You can read more about each opportunity here, and we hope you will. But more than that, we hope you will join us as we undertake the journey of loving God more fully and being formed by God’s words to us all.