Praxis: What we do

While in Grace Year, fellows engage in praxis—or a cycle of action and reflection—around the values of interfaith spirituality, intentional community, and meaningful vocation. The goal of all these practices is to give fellows a year to dive deep into questions about how they would like to live their lives, relate to others, and contribute to the world.

In action
Grace Year is all about putting our values into action. Life at the vicarage is a core part of that process. Fellows engage in group spiritual practices together, learn about and live out values of intentional community, and manage the house together. Fellows spend Tuesday through Friday at service positions with local organizations. Fellows are also paired with spiritual directors who meet with fellows on a regular basis to provide spiritual guidance. Additionally, each fellow is paired with a host family, a local family who can help connect them to the local community. For those fellows who aren’t able to travel home on holidays, a host family can welcome their fellow to join in their celebrations. Fellows are also welcome to participate in services and life at the church to the extent they would like, are invited to get to know the church community, and are expected to contribute to that community in some way. These practices in action allow fellows to live their values and contribute to the world in meaningful ways.

	Just the fellows	With program partners	In the world
Spirituality	Group practices: Fellows participate in group spiritual practices of their own choosing on a regular basis.	Spiritual Directors: Fellows are each pared with a spiritual advisor who they meet with monthly.	Services: Fellows are invited to attend services at Grace Church, Buddhist meditation, and other services.
Community	Intentional community: Fellows live together, share meals, have weekly meetings, and support each other.	Host families: Fellows are each paired with host families who pray for them, occasionally have them over for meals and host them for holidays if needed.	Gatherings: Fellows host and attend parish and community gatherings to get to know the broader community.
Vocation	House Management: Fellows are responsible for budgeting, cleaning their house and other housekeeping responsibilities.	Service work: Fellows are each paired with a local organization that they serve at for 32 hours per week.	Volunteering: Fellows are encouraged to volunteer at Grace Church and in the local community.

In reflection
Each Monday, fellows spend studying the program pillars of spirituality, community, and vocation with each other and the program staff in seminar. In these seminars, they develop a rule of life, reflect on social justice and leadership, and engage in vocational discernment. These seminars culminate in a capstone project at the end of the year. Throughout the year, these seminars are supplemented by retreats at Christian and Buddhist monasteries, group bonding trips to facilitate and reflect on community, and other workshops and conferences for networking and professional development. These practices in reflection help fellows discern and live in line with their values, individually and as a collective.

	Study objective	Overnight trips
Spirituality	Rule of life: In the first part of the year, fellows develop a "rule of life," or a weekly set of spiritual practices that work for them.	Retreats: Fellows attend retreats at Buddhist and Christian monasteries throughout the year.
Community	Servant leadership: In the second part of the year, fellows reflect on their leadership style and how to lead through service.	Trips: Fellows periodically go on group bonding trips such as camping or a trip to a city to grow closer as a community.
Vocation	Vocational Discernment: In the third part of the year, fellows reflect on their skills, values, and the work they want to do in the world.	Conferences: Fellows attend conferences to learn, network, and work on professional development