Spiritual formation or transformation – what are we doing?
Mark Waltz | …because People Matter: Spiritual Formation Isn’t a Department Ministry
Spiritual Formation Isn’t a Department Ministry
Life Formation
Last week Tim Stevens used a similar diagram to illustrate the importance of keeping the weekend service’s purpose clean and clear. In Steven’s words “We are at our best when we focus our weekend services squarely on those who are at the beginning of their spiritual journey…” (read his post here). Some would argue that discipleship happens in some component outside of the weekend. Perhaps in groups. Or maybe a class.
Really? Since when does discipleship happen in a department of ministry?
Dallas Willard points out in his book, Renovation of the Heart, that spiritual formation begins at birth. As in – human birth. Like as a baby. Through our parents, friends, coaches, pastors, culture, life events – good and bad we are daily being formed. Formation is happening. Hence, because all of life is spiritual, spiritual formation happens whether or not we ever make it to church. Our views of God, life, others and ourselves are being formed everyday in every way. That’s spiritual formation.
However, spiritual transformation – or rather – life transformation (it’s all spiritual) occurs through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. And He utilizes what He chooses to transform us. He uses relationships, the Scriptures, biblical teaching, spiritual practices, serving, giving, and life experiences to transform us.
Spiritual transformation has never been a department. Unless you consider the Holy Spirit to be a department.
Our role in the local church is to leverage every venue, every tool, with clear communication to help our people live integrated lives that are step by step surrendered to the work and cause of Christ through His Spirit. Our role is to be responsible to our people by being responsible for environments that help them take their next step in relationship. (For more on this thought, check this out)
What is your church-wide plan for making disciples?
A Review of Primal by Mark Batterson
I’m not real sure how I qualified for this, but Multnomah was looking for bloggers who would agree to read Mark’s latest book prior to it’s release and post a review on their blog. Let me also confirm that they sent me a free copy of his book if I agreed to do this and if my blog qualified. Somehow it qualified, so here goes the review.
Mark believes that it is time for another Reformation, and this book is a call to that Reformation. He believes that this new Reformation will be led by a generation instead of a Martin Luther. He believes that this Reformation will call us back to our roots as The Church, roots firmly planted in the Love of God. These roots will go deep into the catacombs of Rome where out of fear of death people gathered in order to worship together as the Body of Christ.
Mark believes that these roots will draw deeply from the command of Jesus to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and he explores what it means to do that through exploring with simple yet intricate details how our bodies work, how our planet works, and how our universe works. If you are not drawn to worship through the facts that Mark exposes about us, then I wonder if you’ve forgotten how to be in wonder. Hopefully, this book might call you back to childlike wonder, compassion, and curiosity.
If you think that you might be called to such a thing, then pick up a copy of this book.
Some favorite quotes:
“And when people think analytically, it can hinder their ability to act compassionately.”
“Sometimes our minds interfere with our hearts.”
“The bottom line is this: your focus determines your reality.”
Adoption December 2009 – Life Sucks
While there is no real way to determine this I believe that the adoption experience is the only experience where the father can experience almost exactly what the mother experiences from a pain perspective. Every adoption experience has its fair share of ups and downs. Every adoption is typically immersed in unmet expectations, lots of waiting, periods of lost hope, periods of false hope, and periods of renewed hope. Some adoption stories end with overwhelmed parents, and overwhelmed kids. Some adoption stories end only to begin again once siblings are found. Some adoption stories never begin, and these are the ones that sadden me the most. While all adoption stories include vast similarities every adoption story is different, and ours is off the charts different.
Yesterday was Tuesday. Tuesday is Adoption News Day at the Smiths. This is the day that our adoption agent, Jill, is in contact with the people on the ground in Uganda which may include the Ugandan lawyer and Prossy-who runs the orphanage and is married to the Visionary Pastor of about 100 churches in East Uganda and West Kenya. His name is Lucas.
We have been expecting to hear something for a few weeks. The hopes of my wife, Kristi, were that a newspaper ad had been placed and no one came forward to contest the adoption of the three children that we have been given the opportunity to adopt. The reality was that Lucas and Prossy had been in Kampala for about two weeks trying to obtain NGO status for the orphanage in Busia, and not only had they still not secured the NGO status, but it would be until February before it was granted, if granted at all.
I was prepared for reality, after having served in Uganda for a month in 2007 and after having two years worth of unmet expectations I knew to add 6-8 weeks to the best possible scenario and then only put a 50% chance on that being met. Kristi, on the other hand, is a positive thinker. She says things like, “It shouldn’t take too long to paint the bedroom.” Of course, for those of us who do the painting we know that when painting on a part time basis the painting will be completed in a matter of weeks not hours. It took me a year to finish the bonus room upstairs to prepare for our new additions. I’m pretty sure that was 11 months longer than Kristi thought it would take…ok maybe 10.
So, yesterday’s news came crashing in on her in a very unsuspecting way. Maybe I should have been clued into the fact that this news was going to have a very different impact than I suspected on Kristi as Jill broke down into tears with me on the phone, but somehow I just missed it. Kristi was crushed. I delivered the news in a very nonchalant almost apathetic manner, which I was confident would just enable her to move on quickly to flippantly respond, “Well, that’s no surprise.” Instead, she quietly disappeared. I went looking for her several minutes later with a child’s question about a school project. I found the master bathroom door locked. With this being typically a sign that I’m in big trouble I knocked hesitantly and listened closely. I closed the bedroom doors, picked the lock and found her losing control of her emotions on the floor of our closet. Unable to talk to me, I resisted the fix-it mode we men tend to dive into when our wives are upset. Instead I apologized for my clear mishandling of the news. I reassured her. I prayed over her, held her, and let her cry.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to try to tell our adoption story. So, tune in on Thursdays as I walk you through the epic that is our adoption story.