Level 1: Novice

1. 📖 Read Psalm 139 in front of a mirror
2. 🦵 Pray over every part of your body, thanking God for what each has done for you
3. 🤸‍♂️ Start each day with a few stretches
4. 🚶‍♀️Go on prayer walks, asking God to speak to you through what you see, hear, smell and touch

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🏋🏿‍♂️ Invite God into your workout routine by listening to worship music or praying during your sets
2. 🏃🏽‍♀️ Find a running buddy, and chat about your walk with God as you move
3. 🙏 Make your prayer life embodied by using labyrinths, prayer beads, or candles
4. 🌙 Commit to getting enough sleep every night

Level 3: Master

1. 🏺 Start a hobby that gets your body involved, like pottery, painting, or gardening
2. 🧘🏻‍♀️ Create and practice a breath prayer to combat unhelpful thoughts
3. 🥘 Invite friends over for a dinner party, and cook something delicious together!
4. 🏘 Find a way to serve your community: volunteer at your local soup kitchen, YMCA, or thrift shop

Level 1: Novice

1. 👕 Go through your closet and donate anything that you doesn’t fit or that you don’t wear anymore
2. ☕️ Make your coffee at home for a week instead of going to the cafe
3. ❌ Cancel one subscription that you could go without
4. 🛑 Install an ad-blocker on your browser

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🗓 Look at your weekly schedule, and try to remove something that isn’t life-giving or helpful to you or others
2. 📖 Spend this entire month reading and meditating on only one Bible passage 
3. 💸 Create a budget, and identify the areas in which you’re most tempted to overspend
4. ✍🏼 Spend extended time journaling about what you desire in this season of your life, and ask God to reveal to you his desire for you

Level 3: Master

1. 📱 Turn your smartphone into a “dumb phone” by setting time limits, blocking content, turning it to black and white, and deleting unnecessary apps
2. 📦 Choose a period of time, like a month, or a whole year, to participate in a “buy nothing” challenge! Try to only purchase consumables, like food, hygiene products, fuel, etc.
3. 💰 Use the money you’ve freed up from these other practices and give to a cause or family in need
4. 📆 Try The Minimalist’s 30-Day Minimalism Game

Level 1: Novice

1. 🥤 Go without straws for the month!
2. 🛍 Avoid single-use plastics, like grocery bags, and opt for reusable alternatives
3. 🗑 Commit to picking up trash whenever you see it around your neighborhood
4. 🚶‍♀️Go on prayer walks through your neighborhood, noticing what people, places, and creation are in need of help

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 📖 Integrate this Song of Creation into your rhythm of prayer
2. 🌳 Set aside a local park to be a special place for quiet time with God
3. 🚴‍♂️Walk or bike to work, a friend’s house, or your local cafe, instead of driving
4. 👕 Buy clothes second-hand!

Level 3: Master

1. 🌱 Plant a garden!
2. 🥕 Join a CSA in your area to support local farmers (and get delicious produce!)
3. 🦉 Donate to, or volunteer at, your local nature center
4. 🐕 Foster a pet from an animal shelter

Level 1: Novice

1. 📵 Pick one night a week to go without screen time
2. 🍿 Fast from snacks on weekdays
3. 🏠 Fast from a meal with friends, and gather for a time of prayer instead
4. 🙏 Make a habit of praying the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🍔 On weekdays, cut something you enjoy from your diet— like meat, dessert, or junk food!
2. 🪞 Pick a day that you don’t have a first date or an interview, and “fast” from using a mirror!
3. 🍽 Pick one day a week to fast during breakfast and lunch, and spend that time in prayer instead
4. 🎮 Identify something that acts as a “crutch” in your life, like a show, a video game, or alcohol, and go without it for the month

Level 3: Master

1. 🎻 Fast from all recorded music for the month, and find some live music to see instead
2. 💸 Adjust your budget for the month! Skip expensive coffee, and give to a charity in your community
3. 💭 Identify something for which you need God’s guidance. Take an intentional day or two to fast and pray, asking God to speak to your situation
4. 🥘 After practicing one of these practices during the week, host a Sunday feast with friends!

Level 1: Novice

1. 🤔 Consider when you most often stretch the truth, and commit to only telling the truth in those situations.
2. 🔍 Ask God for guidance to find a friend you can be 100% honest with. 
3. 📖 Read some stories of confession and forgiveness in scripture, like Luke 18:9-14 and John 8:2-11.
4. 📝 Begin a prayer journal to house your raw, unedited conversations with God. 

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🙏 Incorporate this traditional prayer of confession into your devotional time.
2. 📖 Slowly pray through Psalm 51.
3. ✍️ Identify any guilt or shame you carry. Take time to journal about these things, asking God to heal these wounds.
4. ☕️ Meet with your trusted friend to talk about the things you identified.

Level 3: Master

1. 💭 Learn Psalm 103:8-12 by heart, and recite it daily.  
2.  🧘‍♀️ Abide in the parables of Luke 15, asking God to help you internalize his merciful character.
3. ✝️ Meet a pastor, priest, or spiritual director to ask for advice on overcoming any obstacles in your life with God.
4. ❓ Practice spiritual friendship with your trusted friend, asking each other, “What in you needs to be celebrated, forgiven, and healed?”

Level 1: Novice

1. 🃏 Host a game night!
2. 📞 Think of someone in your life you haven’t talked to in a while, and give them a call, just to catch up.
3. 🎁 Surprise a friend with a random act of kindness.
4. 🤣 Make room in your life for laughter with friends. Watch a comedy special, or get together, and tell embarrassing stories!

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 📖 Spend time reading about some of the great friendships  in scripture (Jonathan and David, Naomi and Ruth, Jesus, Mary and Martha).
2. 🪕 Host a worship night.
3. 👋 Take the initiative, and try to make a new friend at your workplace, local coffee shop, or church!
4. 🍜 Start a weekly gathering with friends. Make dinner, have good conversation, and enjoy quality time!

Level 3: Master

1. ❓ Decide with a friend to practice Spiritual Friendship for the month, meeting weekly to ask each other the questions at the end of the video above.
2. 🤔 Think of someone in your life who may need a friend or mentor, and ask God to show you if you should meet this need.
3. 🏝 Plan a trip (or staycation) with some of your close friends!
4. ❤️‍🩹 Consider if there’s anyone in your life for you to forgive, or be reconciled to, and seek reconciliation (Matthew 5:23-24). 

Level 1: Novice

1. 📺 Commit to not binge-watching! Enjoy just one episode of your favorite show at a time.
2. 🧶 Take up a slow, time-consuming hobby. Think: knitting, puzzles, writing, etc.!
3. 🚦 Stop taking shortcuts! Don’t try to find the shortest line at a red light or check-out lane.
4. 🍳 Ditch fast food, and commit to making your own, slow, meals.

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🍽 Practice delayed gratification by fasting one day a week or one meal a day.
2. 📖 Make a habit of reading the Nativity stories in scripture (Matthew 1-2 & Luke 1-2).
3. 🙏 Try praying some traditional Advent prayers.
4. 📱 Schedule time in your day to check social media, and wait until then to open the apps.

Level 3: Master

1. 🕯 Host friends or family for dinner on the 4 Sundays of Advent, asking the question, “How is Jesus drawing near to you?”
2. ✍️ Identify something you’re waiting on God for. Make a habit of journaling about this, asking God to show you why it matters to you.
3. 🤲 Simplify your morning prayer time. Instead of adding more scripture reading or journaling, rest in some breath prayer, or wait on God in silence.
4. 🤫 Enjoy four hours of silence and solitude with your phone off and no distractions.

Level 1: Novice

1. 🧘‍♀️ Pray the words of scripture with breath prayers when life starts to feel heavy
2. 🤓 Read a small book of the Bible you’ve never read before (like Ruth, Jonah, Titus, or Jude) 
3. 🤔 Pick a familiar passage, like Psalm 23 or Romans 8, and read it in a translation that’s unfamiliar to you (like the NRSV or The Message)
4. 📚 Use a lectionary to guide your devotional life

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🙏 Ask God to reveal a meaningful passage (1-5 verses), and commit to memorize it 
2. 👂 Pray through scripture with the practice of Lectio Divina, on your own or listen online!
3. ❤️ Challenge yourself to encourage a friend, family member, or even a stranger with scripture that’s meaningful to you
4. 🏠 Pick a chapter or book and start a Bible study with friends or family

Level 3: Master

1. 📆 Try a “read the Bible in a year” plan
2. 😬 Dive into some tough parts of scripture (imprecatory Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Deuteronomy), and chat about it with a trusted pastor or spiritual director
3. 🔍 Use a concordance to do a word study on something God brings to your attention when reading
4. 🧠 Prayerfully choose a longer portion of scripture to memorize over the course of a year

Level 1: Novice

1. 🔇 Pick a day of the week to turn off music, podcasts, and audiobooks while driving or at home.
2. 🤫 Try “silent prayer,” simply sitting in silence with God, for 10 minutes.
3. 📺 Identify the thing in your life that most distracts you, and give it up for the month. It could be social media, an app, Netflix, or something else!
4. 🤐 Ask God to show you where your speech gets you into trouble. You might find that you struggle with gossip, dishonesty, or complaining.

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🛏 Start waking up 20 minutes before the rest of your household. Enjoy some time of peace.
2. 🤫 Try “silent prayer,” simply sitting in silence with God, for 20 minutes.
3. 👂 For a day, commit to listening to understand rather than to respond. Don’t interrupt or finish anyone’s sentences.
4. 💭 For a week, try to notice when your “inner commentary” starts to run wild. This might look like ruminating on something that upset you or talking out loud to yourself about something that’s stressful. Quiet these thoughts by offering them to God in prayer.

Level 3: Master

1. 🌙 Try a practice called the night watch: wake up between 3am-6am, find a quiet place outside, and share an hour of silence with God under the stars.
2. 😶 Take a vow of silence for a day, going about your daily business, and noticing when you most want to speak.
3. ⛪️ Visit a church sometime when there’s no service. Hang out in the sanctuary to waste some time with God.
4. 🏕 Find a monastery or retreat center in your area, and visit for a weekend silent retreat.

Level 1: Novice

1. 🧘🏽‍♀️ Try “breath prayer” with some phrases from scripture: “Be still…and know that I am God,” or, “Speak, Lord…for your servant is listening.”
2. 🚶🏻‍♂️ Make a habit of taking morning prayer walks, talking to God about the day ahead before you do anything else.
3. 📓 Keep a prayer journal for the month, writing out your requests, and reviewing them at the end of the month.
4. 📖 Try out these short, daily prayers from the Book of Common Prayer.

Level 2: Apprentice

1. 🚿 Pick a mundane activity, like doing the dishes or taking a shower, and consider that to be a mini “prayer time” in your day.
2. 🫂 Each week this month, ask someone how you can pray for them, and commit to it!
3. 🙏 Pray through scripture through the practice of Lectio Divina.
4. 🌙 Make a nightly practice of praying “The Examen.”

Level 3: Master

1. 🤫 Try “silent prayer,” simply sitting in silence with God, for 10 minutes.
2. 🏘 Organize a prayer group, gathering together to practice one of these practices, or simply to pray for each other’s needs.
3. ✍🏾 Write your own “Psalm,” an honest prayer to God of thanksgiving, confession, adoration, lamentation, or all of the above!
4. 💭 Try “Imaginative prayer,” a way of meeting God in scripture through our imagination. Here’s a guided audio experience of the prayer.

Level 1: Novice

1. 📵 Turn off unnecessary notifications
2. 👤 Set a time limit for social media, and stick to it
3. 🚗 Commit to driving the speed limit
4. 🛒 Choose the longest line at the store, and people watch

Level 2: Apprentice

1.  🛏 Revamp your evening routine so you can always get enough sleep
2. 📱 Give your phone a bedtime, and don’t “wake it up” until you’ve had some time with God
3. 😴 Be like Jesus: take naps!
4. 🚶🏻‍♀️ Make a habit of taking leisurely walks, without a screen or podcast

Level 3: Master

1. 📅 Find a day of the week to consistently practice Sabbath
2. 🚫 Eliminate something from your schedule, and take that time to be with God
3. 🖥 Disable your social media accounts for the month
4. 🏕 Go on a weekend retreat

Level 1: Novice

• 🥘 Invite your friends over, and try a new recipe together
• 📝 Celebrate a friend or coworker by leaving them an encouraging note
• 👧🏾 Notice the way the children in your life play, and learn to have fun with them!
• 💃🏻 Dance…? We won’t tell your old youth pastor 

Level 2: Apprentice

• 😂 Find a way to laugh! Go to a comedy event, or tell embarrassing stories with friends 
• 🎭 Look up some lesser-known holidays to celebrate (Walk-on-Stilts Day, anyone?)
• 🎷 Find a way to play— an instrument, a game of frisbee, in the ocean, anywhere!
• ✍🏼 Reflect and journal about an accomplishment you’re proud of, or something God did in your life

Level 3: Master

• 🥳 Plan a friend’s birthday party, and go over the top! 
• 🛶 Take a day off to do something you enjoy 
• 🎩 Save up for dinner at a nice restaurant, and go all out! 
• 🎻 Go to a concert or dance performance, and notice the emotions and beauty