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

When Legos meet Academia

This fall I will be doing an independent study that explores the intersection of Christian Spirituality, Adult Religious Education, and Creative/Digital Media. My advisor for this class is Mary Hess. This morning I came across this video that I thought was really...

Excited to use ANIMATE by Augsburg Fortress this Fall

Pastor Mark is going to use this curriculum as one of our course offerings in Sunday Evenings @ Grace this Fall. Check out this intro.

I Turned in My Final Paper for Trinity and Mission!

The paper is turned in. All that is left is a three-hour conversation/final exam on Tuesday afternoon. Now I can start writing the 30-page paper for Missiology that is due next Friday! Check out my bibliography for this paper. The topic of the paper is the role of the...

Life of Jesus Class Finished

Last Sunday night we finished an 8-week class that took us through all four Gospels. This was a truly wonderful experience with my family at Grace. You can download the book for free, see all the notes pages, and all the slide presentations by clicking here. Can't...

Stations of the Cross — A Thank You Note

On Good Friday we experienced the Stations of the Cross as a congregation through art, music, and word. This was a team...

Another nice video call to worship from the Skit Guys

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Unpack this Image

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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