Spirituality & Discipleship

This page is my storehouse for both my research about spirituality and discipleship AND the resources I’ve created to help leaders and seekers to grow spiritually.

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Missional Spiritual Formation leaders are called to cultivate growing disciples of Jesus who are equipped to discern God’s action in the world and empowered to participate in it.

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Spiritual Formation Posts

Deep in the Burbs Workshop for Mid-Winter Convocation at Luther Seminary

Please pray for me tomorrow and Thursday. I will present a workshop at the Mid-Winter Convocation at Luther Seminary both days. This workshop is based on the Deep in the Burbs Project I did last year for the dissertation. This will be my first workshop in this new...

Abide in Me | Plugged In

Here is an updated illustration of John 15:1-5. I'm trying to connect Jesus' metaphor of the Vine to a contemporary metaphor of electricity. In John 15, the Creator is the Vinegrower, Jesus is the Vine, the Spirit is the power of life flowing from every direction, we...

The Power of the Frame | How Does this Photo Represent Ferguson?

I'm beginning to think about my sermon for next week. It will be Advent 3 and the Narrative Lectionary brings us to Isaiah 42:1-9. This is the famous "Suffering Servant" passage that foreshadows Jesus' ministry of passion. Juliana Claassens' commentary got me thinking...

Another Own Your Faith Video

These Own Your Faith videos are fun to make. They are designed to help our High School freshmen and their mentors engage with the monthly topics throughout the year. http://youtu.be/C01gG6qrBHY

Love One Another, One Sandwich at a Time

Another PhD Candidate Seeking Missional Spirituality

I was very happy to discover a kindred spirit through the help of Twitter. Christopher B. James is a PhD Candidate at Boston University School of Theology in Practical Theology with a dual-concentration in Church & Society and Evangelism. He blogs about it at...

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Journeying in the Wilderness by Terri Elton

The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster

Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard

Belonging by Karoline Lewis

The Corner of Fourth and Nondual by Cynthia Bourgeault

The Critical Journey by Janet O. Hagberg

Renew Your Life by Kai Nilsen

Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mullholland Jr.

Acts of Faith: Meditations For People of Color by Iyanla Vanzant

Earth Crammed with Heaven: A Spirituality of Everyday Life by Elizabeth Dreyer

Thirsty for God by Bradley Holt

Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices by Brian McLaren

We Make the Road by Walking by Brian McLaren

Cultivating Sent Communities edited by Dwight Zscheile

Power Surge by Michael Foss

I have two favorite metaphors to discuss spiritual formation.

The first is a journey. Jesus called to his first disciples, “Follow me!” and they traveled with him as he demonstrated what it looks like to live in fellowship with God.

The first disciples in John 1:38 asked Jesus, “Where do you dwell?”

Jesus replied, “Come and See,” so they followed him.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to move, to explore, to grow.

But what is the destination?

That leads me to my second favorite metaphor. The Vine and the Branches.

Jesus said in John 15:1-5, “I am the vine and you are the branches…remain/dwell in me and I will remain in you, and you will bear much fruit.”

The destination of this journey is not a physical time or place. The destination is the love of God.

God’s love is infinite, therefore we will never arrive. We simply keep growing.

We go and grow in two directions.

First, we grow deeper roots to be grounded in the love of God.

Second, we grow taller and wider branches to spread the fruit of God’s love wider.

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The local church is the ideal place to grow spiritually. However, it is often difficult to do so. One of my ongoing projects is to experiment with how to cultivate spaces for people to grow spiritually. This article gives some basic outlines for how to think about this.

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