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.
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.
CLICK HERE for a curated list of other spiritual formation sites that I recommend
My Courses Available on Faith + Lead Academy
Spiritual Formation Posts
Article | CREATING SPACE FOR GOD: TOWARD A SPIRITUALITY OF YOUTH MINISTRY by Michael Hryniuk
Youth Ministry and Spintuality Project A contemplative approach to ministry with youth is founded on the premise that what all young persons ultimately desire, like Franny Glass, is not only an experience of God, but a whole way of life, a spirituality that sustains...
More Than a Weight Loss Program | Thoughts About Lent
Lent is traditionally a time when people take on some sort of fast. That’s a strange word when you think about it. Fast. We go fast all the time in our culture, don’t we? Do we really need to go faster? Maybe we should call it a slow so we can give up going fast. I...
Questions that the Animate.Faith Class will Raise
I'm looking forward to engaging this new group in the Animate.Faith class at Sunday Evenings @ Grace. Here are the key questions we'll discuss over the course of these eight weeks together: Is God Real? Can We Be Spiritual Without Being Religious? What is Salvation?...
The Kingdom of Heaven is like an iPod
"OK, everybody," I said, "There is an iPod hidden in this room and if you find it, you can keep it. Go!" That is how I started the lesson yesterday. It was the first Sunday of February, which means we launched the next topic in our How Do I Fit? Project with the high...
A Very Pastoral Week Ahead
This week I get to feel the full impact of being the Associate Pastor. Our senior pastor is gone for the week on a much-deserved 25th wedding anniversary trip with his wife. That means I preached last weekend and will preach again this weekend. When he left I said,...
Which Race Do We Run?
This is a graphic I made for this week's sermon. Do we run in the rat race which is restricted to pursuing your individual freedom, or do we run the God race, g-race, in which God runs toward all people and invites us to join in. Have we been set free from bondage,...
Recommended Reading
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.
Cultivating A Spiritual Formation Plan for the Local Congregation
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.
Check Out My Spiritual Formation Resources
Mindful Sketching
Learn how to connect your breath to your body and use the process of mark-making to become present with God.
Other Spiritual Formation Sites
Journeying in the Wilderness
