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01.  The Contemplative Stream: The Prayer-Filled Life

The Contemplative Stream focuses on relationship with Christ and depth of spirituality. This stream speaks to longing for a deeper, more vital Christian experience. 

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God (Psalm 42:1–2All Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition, copyright © 1989, 2021 The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.). 

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02.  The Holiness Stream: The Virtuous Life

This stream focuses on personal moral transformation and the power to develop “holy habits.” The Holiness Stream seeks to work against the erosion of moral fiber in personal and social life. 

Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come (1 Timothy 4:7–8). 

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03.  The Charismatic Stream: The Spirit-Empowered Life

The Charismatic Stream focuses on the gifts (charisms) of the Spirit and worship. This stream speaks to the yearning for the immediacy of God’s presence among his people. 

Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts (Ephesians 5:18–19).

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04.  The Social Justice Stream: The Compassionate Life

This stream focuses on justice and shalom in all human relationships and social structures. The Social Justice Stream seeks to live out the gospel imperative for equity and compassion among all peoples. 

Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream (Amos 5:24). 

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05.  The Evangelical Stream: The Word-Centered Life

This stream focuses on the proclamation of the evangel, the good news of the gospel. The Evangelical Stream speaks to the need for people to see the good news lived and hear the good news proclaimed, along with a commitment to Scripture as a faithful repository of the gospel. 

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–27). 

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06.  The Incarnational Stream: The Sacramental Life

The Incarnational Stream focuses on making present and visible the realm of the invisible spirit. This sacramental way of living addresses the crying need to experience God as truly manifest and notoriously active in daily life.Richard Foster. Streams of Living Water: Essential Practices from the Six Great Traditions of the Christian Faith (New York: HarperOne, 2001), 237.

We have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7). 

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07.  The With-God Life

Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). 

All of these Six Streams of living water, the great traditions of the Christian faith, flow from one source—Christ. To truly live the Christ-life, we must first know and follow this God who proclaims the coming of the Kingdom in and through us, here and now. The with-God life is the live lived in daily communion with God, who speaks to us, empowers us, heals us, cleanses us, saves us and loves us. As we move toward Jesus, we move naturally more deeply not only into the stream or streams that come most intuitively to us, but also into those streams that may have otherwise seemed foreign or difficult. All Six Streams typify the life of Jesus as he walked the earth, and by living into his example and obeying his Word, we come to live more fully in the Kingdom of God. “Jesus, alive and among his people today, calls to us exactly as he did those disciples so long ago, saying, ‘Follow me.’”Streams of Living Water, 21.