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

Thoughts on Prayer

In our culture it is very easy to feel tossed back and forth by the craziness of life. Between homework, practice, a job, friends, church, texting, "drama", parents fighting, friends fighting, nations fighting, people dying, it can get overwhelming sometimes. How can...

Soaking in Lent

Lent begins next Wednesday, March 9th, with the observance of Ash Wednesday. Many people describe Lent as a journey. That is an especially interesting metaphor for me since the Lenten Vespers of 2010 is where my journey into Grace really took off. Lent was early last...

Four Phases of Spiritual Formation

This is a simple diagram that maps the phases of Spiritual Formation articulated by the medieval mystics.

Where Have All the Students Gone?

Over the past few months of working in youth ministry at Grace, I have noticed some things. As I sit in front of the congregation Sunday after Sunday and look out on all the faces, I’ve noticed that there are not a huge amount of high school students in worship. I am...

Catechism Bible Quiz

Here is a simple 30-question Bible Knowledge Quiz based on the lectures I've given in Catechism this year. Click the links to download the files. The Quiz The Answer Key

Three Basic Needs of Youth

This is an exerpt from the ELCA website concerning the basic needs of youth. It is extracted from the article that outlines the philosophy and methodology of the confirmation process. I thought this was really good: Three Basic Needs As congregations strive to bring...

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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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