Monday, December 28, 2009

Spiritual Formation - cont'd

Although we can't completely categorize and measure everything, we have to provide enough organizational framework to give substance to our thoughts. This is particularly true with respect to spiritual formation.

I agree with John Ortberg's assessment:

"It's hard to imagine something more difficult to gauge or measure than spiritual growth. There is a mystery to it. It is intangible."

So -- measuring spiritual growth or formation is always going to be fraught with challenges. There will be some subjective bias involved in any process of accountability. With that said, we still have to do it!

Here is what I am planning to share with my church in 2010. We are going to evaluate ourselves in six basic areas:

1. Worship - seeking God in personal devotion

2. Knowledge - growing in knowledge of Biblical and spiritual truth

3. Obedience - we must integrate what we learn into real life

4. Selflessness/Stewardship - a diminishing selfishness is key to spiritual growth

5. Significant Spiritual Relationships - living in community with fellow believers

6. Evangelism/Missions - sharing Christ with neighbors and the world

We will be using these six areas to assist us in measuring our spiritual development as a body of believers seeking to follow The Jesus Way in the 21st century.

To be continued . . .

1 comment:

Ty said...

Sunday June 20th, 2010 as I read your blog from last year describing the 6 steps that you wanted to share with the church, I couldnt help but to remeinisce of this mornings sermon, one of the greatest sermons, or the greatest sermon I have ever heard from a pastor. It was great because it described the selflessness of our actions and our strengths through god during our weak or defenseless times in our lives. How you correlated the idea with your own experiences, and describe personal anguish through life as a bessing by shamelessnessly allowing god to help in these troubled times is something everyone needs to hear from their pastor. God bless.