They are searching
for spiritual formation and communal belonging and finding them in places that church folks might consider unlikely.
Neither can
offer spiritual formation in this area unless they are aware of the way new sexual self - consciousness affects the lives of teens.
It does require an evaluation of the extent to which present activities contribute to
positive spiritual formation for all age groups in the church.
Family - related growth groups engage adults in life - changing
spiritual formation because this experience can change attitudes about family life.
When all these demographics form a vital part of our worship community and leadership,
spiritual formation takes on a richer texture.
Yet, maintaining some level of financial viability does get priority over
spiritual formation when membership is declining.
Christian women increasingly look to nationally known figures
for spiritual formation and inspiration — especially when they don't see leaders who look like them stepping up in their own churches.
But the very nature of the division of
spiritual formation of Christians between lay leaders in the Sunday School and pastoral leaders in the church leaves people with the idea that Christian faith can be learned by attending classes.
The essential ingredients of
Christian spiritual formation never change: They are the prayerful study of Scripture and learning to live the life of faith through the influence of other Christians.
Willard is well known to many Christians from his books
on spiritual formation, including The Divine Conspiracy (which Christianity Today selected as Book of the Year in 1998), The Spirit of the Disciplines, Hearing God, and Renovation of the Heart.
In the past decade or so the ecumenical climate — especially the close contacts between Protestant and Catholic seminarians — has awakened and heightened concern for
spiritual formation at Southern.
Florida About Blog Women of Grace ® seeks to transform the world one woman at a time by affirming women in their dignity and vocation as daughters of God and in their gift of authentic femininity ™ through
ongoing spiritual formation.
On the other hand, if we just focus on doing good works without attending to our
own spiritual formation, we'll burn out or turn into empty - headed liberals.
Others see it strictly
as spiritual formation and discipleship, from which love, intimacy, and harmony in marriage flow.
The Gospel can not be rightly understood when we begin our theological /
spiritual formation with Original Sin rather than with the biblical narrative of Original Blessing, our being created in the Image of God with the potential to acquire godlikeness.
His family is dedicating a year to explore the role of food in Christian
spiritual formation by eating their way through different food traditions, one month at a time.
That word reality peppers Willard's popular work, too, including the posthumously published The Divine Conspiracy Continued, which moves his focus from
personal spiritual formation to what one might call «the real world» of work.
The purpose of
traditional spiritual formation — the language used to describe faith formation before the time of Christian education — is to deepen awareness of what it means to claim and live through faith that is «the gift of God.»
Gabriel Salguero, senior pastor of the multicultural Lamb's Church in New York City, shared on how diversity
informs spiritual formation.
The issue is how a congregation can provide significant
spiritual formation over an extended period of time that will prepare young women and men to decide whether they are ready to make the commitment of a lifetime.
Ben: Right, but it's that unique blend of mixing charity into cultural understanding,
community spiritual formation, attention to local geography and history, and transmission of our faith to others that makes the Benedict Option so important.
Written by Sharon Garlough Brown, the series tells the story of four women who attend the same
spiritual formation group at a retreat centre.
For many priests and ordinary people, contact with
deep spiritual formation and with the spiritual writings of the saints had been lost well before the Council.
Nouwen's profound and enduring perception of
spiritual formation moves from loneliness to solitude, from hostility to hospitality and from illusion to prayer.
Optimal spiritual formation for the children of the church requires consistency in the attitudes and values communicated at church and at home.
Christian
spiritual formation optimally involves lifelong participation in a Christian fellowship where members can learn and practice faithful response to God.
A couple years ago I wrote about my visit to Augustine College, a nano - institution with paltry resources that offers a one - year program of Christian liberal arts for kids who want serious intellectual and
spiritual formation before entering college.
Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard [publisher: Navpress; non-fiction,
spiritual formation] «When we open ourselves to the writings of the New Testament, when we absorb our minds and hearts...
If a college or university can't coherently articulate the integrated nature of its core curriculum — if it can't explain how all the disciplines relate to one another, or what role is played by moral and
spiritual formation alongside the free enterprise of inquiry — then we should think twice about working for, attending, or sending students there.
If intentional
spiritual formation precedes commitment, it is only the ritual and not the nature of participation in the congregation that would change.
Protestants have practiced
corporate spiritual formation, but there is no corporate equivalent to the attention given to sexuality as a part of Catholic spiritual direction.
(3) The Baptist heritage, as well as size, will likely not allow Southern Seminary to
structure spiritual formation or the integration of piety with learning, and pastoral care with theology, to a great extent.
If an anecdotal analysis of our social consciousness and
spiritual formation leaves us with the realization that, as Brown says, «there are some selective lenses by means of which we read Scripture, and... those lenses need to be torn from our eyes,» (15) then how do we tear them away?
Christian thinker and philosopher Dallas Willard
emphasized spiritual formation and discipleship in his books including The Spirit of the Discipline and The Divine Conspiracy, calling readers to grow more like Christ.
Discipleship is not so much about radical commitment as it is about radical love, and the disciplines are not so much
about spiritual formation as about love formation.
At minimum, it points back toward the importance of the ancient and medieval emphases
on spiritual formation, which is where evangelical scholarship about education has been pointing.