Spiritual formation and discipleship
Originally published at kingdom.blog
I’ve been giving quite a bit of thought lately to spiritual formation and discipleship. How do we as Christians consistently become increasingly like Jesus in our thoughts, words, and deeds? I came across an interesting comment in Leadership magazine by Reggie McNeil where he says: “In the old world, we taught a curriculum, then sent people out to validate it by experience. In the new world, we’ll debrief people’s experiences to see where God is already at work.� I think what he is getting at is that discipleship for too long has been seen to be more about information than it has been about transformation. The modern world has held knowledge to be everything and so a curriculum, information driven discipleship process has held sway. But information doesn’t necessarily equal transformation. I can’t tell you how many ‘Christians’ I know who have truck loads of Bible knowledge and yet who’s lives are nothing like Christ’s. For years I used to be fooled by people who could quote countless verses, knew lots of Bible information, and sounded so ‘spiritual’. I thought they were really mature. I was even intimidated at times because I didn’t remember nearly as many verses. What I gradually began to see though was that in far too many instances, it was nothing more than knowledge. It was information in their heads, but no transformation had taken place in their hearts. And that, for me at least, is not discipleship. As I see it, true spiritual formation is not something that can happen in a classroom (though that may be part of the process). Attending countless Bible studies each week will not necessarily lead to transformation (important as studying the Bible is). Spiritual formation and discipleship is something that has to integrate with every aspect of our lives. It takes place in the nitty gritty of everyday living. It is about learning to think, speak, and act as Jesus would if He was in our shoes. It is not abstract information for our minds, but inner transformation that works itself out in every facet of who we are and what we do. Let me finish this post with a quote for Doug Pagitt, leader of Solomon’s Porch, also from Leadership magazine: “We’ve tried to make the regular doings of our lives count in spiritual formation. People have to eat, so we eat meals together. People exercise, so we make exercise part of formation. Rather than adding programs about God to someone’s life, we try to incorporate God into what people already do.� Join the conversation…what do you think?
