252 Project

What is the 252 Project?

Born out of conversations with men in our church and the “Loving God with Your Whole Person” core class, the 252 project hopes to challenge and encourage men of HPBC to increase in wisdom, stature, favor with God, and favor with men over the course of the calendar year by completing specific challenges in the context of community and accountability. If you are single, this is a great way to connect. If you are a father, we encourage you to participate with your son. If you are a 20-something, middle-aged, or a senior saint we encourage you to participate. 

252 comes from Luke 2:52 which reads, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Jesus grew physically, as all boys grow into men. At the same time His wisdom deepened so that as the years advanced His influence on other men also deepened. His good reputation provided Him favor as He began His public ministry. What opportunities in our lives might be helped by our own growth? We want to group up with other men to begin answering this question.

What would I be committing to?

We will be dividing the year into 3-month increments for a total of 4 increments. Each man would work with a small group for accountability while completing challenges that fall into the following categories: Intellectual (Wisdom), Physical (Stature), Spiritual, and Relational (Favor with God and with man). You will have options for each challenge allowing every man at HPBC to participate regardless of age or physical ability. 

Why commit to the 252 Project?

Statistics tell us that more than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only one out of six attend church on a given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ but fails to see any value in going to church. Much of this is due to difficulty in building friendships. This leads to less commitment to the classic spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study and ultimately weakens the effectiveness of specific families and local church bodies.

We believe the 252 Project will allow men the opportunity to pursue friendship (favor with men) recommit to spiritual disciplines (favor with God). We believe the community the 252 Project provides will help men seek to be more physically and intellectually healthy. All of these outcomes would be a blessing to the individual, their friends, their family, and their church body.

I want to participate. What are my next steps?

The second quarter of 252 begins on April 2 and ends on July 1. If you want to begin participating, or if you want to continue participating, please follow the link provided and choose your disciplines. Additionally, please purchase the book, "Disciplines of Grace" by Jerry Bridges, which will be read and discussed with the small group throughout the quarter.

In this challenge, we encourage you to choose one goal from each of the four categories - intellectual, physical, spiritual, and relational. You are welcome to choose more than one goal, but we ask that you choose at least one. If you built a habit during the last quarter, we encourage you to continue that habit and choose a different goal to build upon the habit(s) established last quarter.

252 Project Quarter 2 Sign Up