The ministries started not with money, and sometimes not even with technical expertise, but with priests and lay volunteers who sought to practice their faith as a way of life in community. Their example made a deep and lasting impression on me. Churches have called these ministries “social outreach” for more than a generation, but I think the term is inadequate to describe what I found on my bus rides and the service that continues daily in congregations today. It makes these ministries sound like a separate department—the Community Relations Division—when they truly put our faith into action. The people I know understand that their tutoring, cooking, cleaning, and advocating are spiritual practices that form them as people of faith.

Commitment to spiritual practice requires us to delve more deeply into what it means to be Church. Ascetical (practical) theology has traveled this path. For two thousand years, monks and anchoresses have linked their interior spiritual journey to the exterior movement for social transformation. One sustains the other through dry seasons. More recently, Craig Dykstra, senior vicepresident of the Lilly Endowment, has used both his scholarship and Lilly’s funding to understand “how a way of life that is deeply responsive to God’s grace takes actual shape among human beings.” Dykstra and his colleague Dorothy Bass define Christian practice as “things people do over time to address fundamental human needs in response to and in light of God’s active presence for the life of the world.” Their writing explores a wide range of spiritual practice, from hospitality to Sabbath.

For “faith in action” ministries that pursue the transformation and reconciliation of the world, we might look at three essential practices:

Incarnation: Anglicans believe that God becomes Incarnate not only in Jesus Christ but lives embodied within all of us. We find the sacred in the faces and stories of our neighbors. Through service, we form mutual relationships with our partners. The Baptismal Covenant from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer has become a central narrative within the common life of the Episcopal Church. Its examination calls us to “seek and serve Christ in all persons.” Jesus said, whoever serves the least of these also serves me. Archbishop Tutu says, there are no ordinary people. We head out into the world not as missionaries intending to save the needy but as seekers looking to find new friends.

Invitation: We are all called to serve. As a faith community, we are also called to make the possibility of meaningful service real for everyone. The practice of invitation extends beyond those whose religious beliefs mirror our own. Part of the thrill of service lies in connection to people from diverse backgrounds whom we would not otherwise meet. In my own life, the people who most helped me to understand spiritual practice in congregational service were Conservative Jews training to be cantors. Their different tradition has enlightened my own faith.

Stewardship: Our service calls for effective use of all of our gifts, as individuals and as a community. We have many resources— people’s time, people’s expertise, our congregational space, our relationships, and our funding. We are a sacramental Church, which means that we find the sacred in everyday items. Just as within our faith there are no ordinary people, there are also no ordinary gifts. Everyone and everything has the possibility of use in God’s service. That could mean serving sandwiches to people who are hungry, building houses, or advocating for additional funding for public schools. Denominational agencies and other partners, like community organizers, can play critical roles in informing spiritual practice in congregational ministries. Congregations can also certainly seed agencies that spin off—I served for a decade on the board of an elder care agency that started with a priest’s greeting older residents as he walked through his neighborhood and ended up a very sophisticated separate nonprofit. But my observation has been that nonprofit organizations tethered to churches stretch clergy and lay leadership, and separate service from faith. This direction is the opposite of where we are called to go. We cannot outsource our discipleship.

I take subways more often than buses nowadays. The view is not as good but the trip moves more quickly. I continue to be amazed at how creatively congregations practice their faith—community gardens grown by school children to give fresh vegetables to their families or music programs for young people in resurrected New Orleans. Stacking cans on food pantry shelves or calling your city councilperson about a policy question may not hold much romance. But these activities contain much that is faithful, and we are called to practice our faith as a way of life.

The Rev. Matthew Heyd is director of Faith in Action for Trinity Wall Street.