An ancient way
to be human.
Our culture is not made for human flourishing. It's made for production and consumption — with our attention, our labor, and our formation as its commodities.
We’re exhausted. Ungrounded. Hurried. Scattered. Anxious. Lonely.
There is an ancient way to be human. To abide. To dwell. To remain. A life that isn't hurried, scattered, or alone.
A life that is non-anxious. Slow. Content. Grounded. Known. Purposed.
To begin, it's simple: slowing down enough to share a table and becoming known over time.
Strangers become kin. Scattered lives come back together.
Communities bringing renewal to wherever we are.
Abide. Dwell. Remain.
“ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”
Rhythms & Practices
Life Rhythms
Every one of us lives by rhythms — patterns of attention, relationship, and presence that shape who we're becoming. The question isn't whether we have them. The question is: what are they centered around?
Does our center bring peace or chaos? Rest or hurry? Love or apathy? Community or loneliness? Purpose or hopelessness?
We have found that when life is centered on Jesus and his kingdom, we find what we were made for — peace, rest, love, community, and purpose. We find home.
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Abiding, in the simplest words, is staying continually connected to the life of Jesus like a branch to a vine. It is the daily, often slow and quiet, turning of our attention to God in humility through prayer, worship, and listening. Not out of obligation but as the relationship that guides us and reminds us of our belovedness.
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Dwelling in community is what every human is made for. We are not created to be alone. This isn’t simply having many connections or socializing but dwelling. Sharing meals, showing up consistently, being known. The kind of presence that turns strangers into chosen kin.
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To remain is to be faithful to what you've been given — a people, a place, a calling, a mission — and to stay in it long enough for it to change you. It is to continue when it's hard, to endure when it's slow, and to trust that roots bear fruit in their own time. Remaining is the rhythm of a life that is inseparably bound to something bigger than itself.
Core Practices
We are all being formed — by our habits, our rhythms, our attention. The question is never whether we are being formed, but by what. Rhythms shape who we are becoming.
Practices are how we get there. Simple, embodied, and repeatable patterns that, over time, stabilize our rhythms and keep Jesus' life, way, and kingdom centered in our lives. It is in the practices of the ancient way of Jesus that we find freedom.
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In looking at the life of Jesus, his lifestyle is grounded in prayer. He shows us a life of communing with God, listening, sitting in His love, and growing in dependency on the Holy Spirit. Richard Foster wisely said, "To pray is to change," and if the point is our formation then prayer is not only central, it is initial.
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Jesus always seemed to be at, going to, or coming from a meal with people — so we eat together. Regularly, unhurriedly, and with open chairs. The table is where walls come down, stories get told, and people move from stranger to chosen kin.
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Jesus never missed a Sabbath because it was woven into the fabric of creation and humanity. We were made to Sabbath. We Stop. We Rest. We Delight. We Worship. In a culture addicted to productivity, we practice the countercultural discipline of rest — not as self-care but as an act of trust that the world will not fall apart without our constant effort. That God’s world is one of abundance and not of scarcity.
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Jesus was always on mission. Whether that was at a table, on a walk, in prayer, healing, teaching, or being with the oft forgotten and overlooked. He didn't live from a distance — he moved in, lived among, and stayed. So we do the same. Mission is the practice of living as Jesus was, and is, in the places we've been planted.
We are on a mission to invite people into the ancient way of Jesus – to abide, dwell, and remain – and to discover what it means to be wholly human.
Join What’s Beginning
There are many ways to be part of what the Spirit is doing in Chicago with us.
If you're already in Chicago — or moving soon — and want to join our communities on the ground, we'd love to connect.
If you want to follow along from wherever you are, you can join our newsletter, our prayer team, or let us know you're interested in learning more about The Hearth.
Read about each below, then fill out each form to get connected!
Follow the Journey
In getting our newsletter, you will hear some personal updates, more about our mission and vision, what God is doing, what we’re learning, and what’s taking shape in and through Menō Chicago. We would love to be able to share our journey with you!
Join Our Prayer Team
This movement is built on prayer, and we want and need people praying with us. In joining our prayer team, you’ll receive specific needs, updates, and invitations to intercede for what God is doing in Chicago. It was in lives rooted in prayer that planted this seed in our hearts and it will be lives of prayer that will water and tend to it.
Build The Hearth
The Hearth will be a community of regular supporters who have caught the vision and want invest into the work of the movement across Chicago through Menō. Their generosity will fund mission, form leaders, and open doors to the practices that shape lives in the ancient way of Jesus. The Hearth will be launching later this year.
