Entries Tagged 'Spiritual Formation' ↓

Recently, I was reflecting on my journey, specifically as it relates to formal (ministry/leadership) education. A long time ago, I came to believe that the highest goal of education (for me, at least) was formation, not knowledge acquisition, or the diploma at the end of the program.

Formation is a goal of all personal growth (reading, seminars, etc.), of course, but a formal education setting offers an extra intensive personal growth environment.

This may not apply as well to more technical kinds of education, but the focus in ministry education isn’t just the content (Bible, ministry, and leadership); it’s also about being shaped/formed into the kind of person God can use for a lifetime in ministry. It’s more about character development and formation as a person than it is about attaining all the knowledge you’ll ever need (which isn’t really possible, anyway).

In my Master of Divinity program in the 1990s, the goal could not have been to learn everything about the Bible. In fact, I had only three specific Bible courses (Psalms, Ezekiel, and the Johannine Epistles) in addition to broader courses on the Old Testament and the New Testament.

While part of the goal was to learn as much as possible about the particular topics I got to focus on, the more important goal was to learn how to learn/study, so that after graduation, I can make the most of lifelong study of the Bible.

Now, it’s also possible that I came to this realization as a way to make me feel better about how little I actually remember from all those years of studying! Seriously, I know I remember some things, but I also know there’s simply no way to remember everything I learned. There *has* to be a higher goal!

I have had a sense (or at least a hope) that Lent 2010 will be an especially transformational time in my life, in my home, and in my church. Knowing that we have to be intentional about our own spiritual growth, I’ve been thinking specifically about my growth plan for Lent (this continues the thinking from my recent posts: Personal Growth Plan and Daily Must-Dos).

I didn’t do so well with last year’s attempt at Reading Eugene Peterson for Lent, but that was because we hit a major crunch time in finishing up some work for our commissioning/ordination process. I’m hoping to do better this year!

Here’s the list of books I plan to read this Lenten season (in order) …

Off-Road Disciplines (Earl Creps)

Eat This Book (Eugene Peterson)

Raising an Emotionally-Intelligent Child (John Gottman)

Secrets from the Treadmill (Pete Briscoe and Patricia Hickman)

Hearing God (Dallas Willard)

Emotionally-Healthy Spirituality (Pete Scazzarro)

Cadences of Home (Walter Brueggemann)

Leadership Gold (John Maxwell)

A Resilient Life (Gordan MacDonald)

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box (John Ortberg)

Some of these books have been on our list for a long time, including the Reading Pile 2.5 years ago. I’m just now recovering from the doctor of ministry program we completed in 2008!

Observations …
In this list, I’ve tried to include mostly spiritual formation/development types of books along with one leadership book, one preaching book, and one parenting book. Normally, I read mostly leadership books, with a few of the others thrown in occasionally.

Two of the books, including the parenting book, deal with emotional health. I also wanted to include something by Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, and Walter Brueggemann, and I settled on these particular ones.

I wanted to include at least one preaching book. I’ve been thinking recently that, while I really don’t usually read a lot of books on preaching, that I should occasionally. Since it’s something that I do virtually every week, it’s an axe I need to continually sharpen. I just finished reviewing Communicating for a Change (Andy Stanley and Lanes Jones) in the last few days, after having read it twice (and I almost never read books more than once!) a few years ago (see my One Point Preaching post for more on that). I’m planning a couple posts on preaching next week.

I always enjoy reading John Ortberg, whose books have great titles (e.g., If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat and Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them). I’ve also been greatly influenced by John Maxwell over the last two decades through his books, monthly audio clubs, and conferences.

Well, I will probably blog some learnings along the way. I’m looking forward to it!

If you’ve followed our journey, you probably know that we are Provisional Elders in The United Methodist Church working toward ordination. As part of the process, we attended a retreat Sunday evening through Monday afternoon. On Monday, Revs. Greg Myers (Wilkes-Barre District Superintendent) and Mark Webb (York District Superintendent) each led us in a discussion about transformational leadership.

Being → Doing
The event amplified some things that I have been feeling challenged about recently, specifically the importance of being, not just doing. A few weeks ago, I wrote the following in my leadership paper (presented to the Board of Ordained Ministry in preparation for next week’s interview) …

Maintaining the connection between being and doing … is vital for me as a Christ-following leader. I want my doing to naturally flow out of my being. As my spiritual gifts develop and strengthen, it becomes easier for me to rely on myself and less on God. In other words, sadly, it’s possible to go through the motions of performing the work of ministry without being vitally connected to God.

In light of this challenge, I am committed to following Christ faithfully, to maintaining a vital connection with God, and to growing in my relationship with God. I seek to maintain a vital connection with God through the practice of spiritual disciplines.

Monday afternoon, Mark Webb specifically talked about being and doing in a session that was especially meaningful/challenging for me, personally. Here are some statements from the day (direct quotes and/or personal reflections on what I heard) …

The old model of ministry leadership emphasizes doing while the new model (i.e., transformational leadership) emphasizes being. Truth is, only leaders who are personally being transformed themselves can help others experience transformation.

God has called you to be a leader!

Churches often expect leaders to be a …

• Leader
• Manager
• Chaplain
• Hospice Worker

While pastors will perform each role at times, leader is the primary call! However, many times, leaders are simply not willing to lead (fear, lack of confidence, unwillingness to change, etc.).

On the call to lead, I love the statement at the beginning of the article, “The Work of Leadership” (Harvard Business Review), which we were asked to read in preparation for the retreat …

Followers want comfort, stability, and solutions from their leaders. But that’s babysitting. Real leaders ask hard questions and knock people out of their comfort zones. Then they manage the resulting stress.

On the importance of the spiritual formation of a leader, Mark said, if you are spending all of your time visiting, preparing Bible studies, writing sermons, attending meetings, you will not be the leader God called you to be.

The role of the leader is to REPRODUCE (see the Easum quote below).

Finding the big YES: What has God called us to do and be about, primarily? Say no to other things. (You control your calendar!)

God ➞ Family ➞ Church
The order matters. Too many clergy who have made the church first, then God, then family, which has negative consequences. Getting the order right helps to put being before doing (so that doing can flow out of being), which leads to one of my favorite statements from the day. Mark said …

Being must lead to doing. Doing must be based on being.

Mark also discussed a “plan for personal growth,” which was adapted from John Maxwell’s plan in Your Road Map for Success (formerly, The Success Journey). But I need to write another post on that.

During the afternoon break, I took a brief walk and reflected on what I sensed God was saying to me, then wrote …

I am committed to my own spiritual formation. When I leave my current appointment (and/or any other place I serve), what will my legacy be? What will I be remembered for? While I certainly want to be productive/fruitful (doing), I want my legacy to be something like, I really grew more like Christ (i.e., experienced ongoing spiritual transformation) in this part of my journey (being) and I helped a lot of other people experience spiritual transformation as well (being → doing).

Throughout the day, there was a statement running through my mind, a statement I heard Bill Easum make on the early-September event, The Nines (which I wrote about here and here). Easum, who was making the point that leaders must set their own agenda, based on their call and their vision, said …

I can’t tell you how many pastors reach age 55 and look back over their ministry and they never have done what God called them to do, they did what the church wanted them to do.

That’s a regret I want to avoid!

Incidentally, The Nines videos were just posted today. For more on being, David Foster’s video on preparation is a must-see!

Well, as I said, God must be trying to get my attention about this being/doing stuff!

In my last post, I blogged reflections from Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Bishop Robert Schnase. In this post, I’ll share some practical ideas that are coming out of Centre Grove church council’s discussion of the reading.

Earlier this week, we talked about what we’re currently doing in the area of faith development (including Sunday school, occasional short-term studies, etc.), but we spent most of our time dreaming about what intentional faith development might look like for us. Specifically, we responded to the group activity that Bishop Schnase suggests in the book to …

outline a year’s worth of learning opportunities that you would like to attend if they were offered (78).

At first, several specific studies were named (e.g., the case for creation, etc.) but we also spent a good bit of time talking about various kinds of small groups and how we might get people involved in them.

The next day, three of us met together and we came up with a plan to help us be more intentional about faith development. In September, we are going to invite people to participate in The Essential 100 Challenge, which is a Bible reading program built around 100 selected passages of Scripture divided equally between the Old and New Testaments.

Along with the Bible reading program, we’re going to encourage people to participate in small groups (at church or in individual homes) beginning with ten weeks in the fall, which will take us through the Old Testament readings. In January, people will have the opportunity to continue in groups for the New Testament readings.

We have a few goals with this program: (1) to help people read the Bible consistently, (2) to give people a good overview of the Bible, and (3) to get people involved in small groups.

It’s a start. In our next discussion, we’ll talk about ways we can effectively cast the vision for this new ministry, as well as other ways we might practice intentional faith development beyond the next few months.

I grew up in a denomination that was pretty much King James Only (KJO). I don’t think we were as militant about it as some groups, the King James Version (KJV) was simply the preferred/accepted Bible translation. (Of course, many of the modern translations started being published around the time I left the denomination, although there were certainly some newer translations available.)

But as a seminary student in the early 1990s, I started reading other Bible translations. Today, my favorite translations are the New Living Translation (NLT) and Contemporary English Version (CEV). They’re particularly good for readability, which is vitally important in teaching/communication! There are many other good translations as well and I usually read several when doing sermon prep. I also do most of my daily Bible reading online at Bible Gateway where I can read a number of different translations (see my recent post, Online Bible Study Tools for more).

Interestingly, though, even today, around 17 years after immersing myself in the KJV of the Scriptures for 3+ years, I still often remember wording from the KJV and have to go to Bible Gateway to look it up in a another translation.

When I stopped reading the KJV in the early 1990s, I felt a bit like a rebel (which didn’t really bother me too much). In fact, I felt that way for years, even after becoming a United Methodist pastor of small, rural congregations (who seemed to prefer the KJV), even though United Methodists generally prefer the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), another good translation, particularly for its use of inclusive language.

I am grateful for the translations that have come before us, including the KJV. It served the world well, especially when its language was the language people spoke (that’s no longer true). I don’t think that the people who gave their lives so that Bible translations like the KJV could be printed hundreds of years ago gave their lives for us to be dedicated to any one translation; I believe they gave their lives so that people could read God’s Word in their own language!

I express my appreciation and gratitude for the Scriptures and for those who labored to translate God’s Word — its Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic words — into languages people can read, understand, and, ultimately, be transformed by!

For more on Bible translations, check out the Better Bibles Blog.

On Sunday, I challenged the people at Centre Grove to give up something (e.g., sweets, TV, etc.) or take up something (e.g., a spiritual discipline, etc.) for Lent.

I’ve decided to go with a taking up practice this year, namely, reading Eugene Peterson, perhaps best known for his monumental work, The Message. I discovered Peterson when I was in seminary in the early 1990s and I remember reading The Contemplative Pastor, which had a huge impact on me. I subsequently read other books including, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction and Working the Angles (all non-required reading in seminary, I believe).

Unfortunately, I haven’t read much of Peterson since I graduated from seminary, except that Joleen and I read Living the Resurrection a couple years ago. He didn’t write much while working on The Message, but now that he’s back to writing and working on a series on spiritual theology, I want to get back to reading Peterson.

This Lenten season, I want to read two books that have been on our reading pile for a while: Eat This Book and Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. I also plan to read the Psalms from The Message as well.

I started in Eat This Book, which is “a conversation in the art of spiritual reading.” Peterson contends that how we read the Scriptures is as important reading them. The key is reading the Scriptures “on their own terms” (xi). Peterson goes on to say …

What is neglected is reading the Scriptures formatively, reading in order to live (xi).

I’m looking forward to immersing myself in the inspirational, challenging, and thought/heart-provoking writings Eugene Peterson!

I have always been a researcher. Back in college and seminary (just before the Internet became widely available), I commonly had tons of sources for my research papers and I often spent many hours/days researching and then write my paper at the last minute. Even in seminary in the early 1990s (not so much in my doctor of ministry program!), I remember times of getting up at 3:00 am and writing a 12-15 paper due that day around 10:00 am or later!

Well, the Internet brings a lot of power to research, including many Bible study tools. Every once in a while, for several years now, I do a search to see if there are any new, powerful online Bible study tools to add to my list.

Here are some of my favorite online Bible study tools that I use for sermon prep …

BibleGateway.com
I use this site the most, mainly for looking up passages in different translations and for keyword searches. I also do my daily Bible reading here.

NeXtBible
This site is based on the the older Classic NET Bible. I like the NET Bible for its extensive translation notes.

StudyLight.org

eBible.com

And here are some other resources that I’ve either only recently discovered or haven’t used them enough yet but they look promising …

E-Sword.net

BibleStudyTools.net

Christianity.com (especially Bibles, References)

Blue Letter Bible

Heartlight’s Search God’s Word

Biblos.com

BibleMap.org

YouVersion
YouVersion is interesting in that it integrates Bible study with a social networking environment. That doesn’t really appeal to me, personally, but I like the Bible reading application.

Not all sites include all (or many) translations, so you might have to use more than one site if you like certain translations.

What online Bible study tools do you use? Do you have any good resources to add to this list? Please post a comment!

Note: If your comment includes two or more links, it’ll be queued for moderation, which means it won’t show up until approved. This is an anti-spam measure. So if you don’t see your comment immediately, don’t worry (unless you’re a spammer).

Experience is a good thing. We need experience in order to grow. But there is a downside of experience.

The more experience we get in using our God-given gifts/abilities, the more confidence we get in our abilities. (BTW, I believe I got this idea from a book by Bruce Wilkinson that I read several years ago, possibly in A Life God Rewards, but I couldn’t find the reference.)

Experience gives us confidence (in God and in God’s ability to use us), but at the same time, experience can cause us to trust ourselves (and our skills) rather than trust God. If we’re not careful and intentional, we can learn to rely on our abilities rather than God.

In the early days of my walk with God, especially as that walk led me to prepare for ministry leadership, it was easy to be dependent on God. I clearly knew that I desperately needed God to do what he was leading me to do.

The reality is that today, because I’ve done it long enough and have gained enough experience, that I could prepare a sermon, stand up in front of a group of people, deliver that sermon, and do it all without relying and depending on God.

Now that doesn’t mean it would be meaningful or that it would feed people’s souls or that it would lead to life transformation. I’m just saying that it would be doable!

That’s a sobering reminder to never lose sight of the fact that I desperately need God, not just when my gifts are untested and undeveloped, but even more so when have been under development for a while!

Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15.5). Well, we can do stuff without God, but we can do nothing of eternal value without God. Christ-followers must always be dependent on God. We must always see ourselves as the child with a few fish and loaves of bread that Christ used to feed thousands!

I love the song by Casting Crowns called “In Me,” which includes these lyrics (with emphasis added) …

If you ask me to leap
Out of my boat on the crashing waves
If You ask me to go
Preach to the lost world that Jesus saves

I’ll go, but I cannot go alone
Cause I know I’m nothing on my own
But the power of Christ in me makes me strong
Makes me strong

Are you still desperate for God? Or have you learned to rely on your own abilities apart from God?

Following up on my Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry post, I’ve been mulling over the difference between urgency and impatience for a while now. On the one hand, impatience is obviously a bad thing. But I believe that having a sense of urgency is a good thing. What’s the difference?

Impatience is defined as …

a dislike of anything that causes delay.

Urgency is defined as a …

pressing importance requiring speedy action.

I grew up in a Christian tradition where urgency was a core value, a character quality. It was part of the mix of who we were. Because there was a strong belief that Christ’s return was imminent, there was an urgency about evangelism.

The denomination was less than a century old at the time so it was still a passionate movement, for the most part. Over time, movements tend to institutionalize and lose their passion — their fire — in the process. IOW, they lose their sense of urgency.

Of course, urgency can turn into impatience, and when it does, it becomes a bad thing. Proverbs 19.2 (NCV) says …

Enthusiasm without knowledge is not good. If you act too quickly, you might make a mistake.

Similarly, Proverbs 21.5 (CEV) says …

If you plan and work hard, you will have plenty; if you get in a hurry, you will end up poor.

There have been times in my life that I’ve gotten an idea that I have wanted to implement right then and there. I’m growing, though, and I’m learning to not act as quickly, to let the idea simmer a while in my heart and mind, giving me time to process it before moving toward implementation.

I think a key difference between impatience and urgency is a sense of trust in God’s timing in the whole process. If I trust God’s timing and leadership, I will be less likely to rush the process. But when I lose sight of God’s leadership and timing, I get out of sync with God’s timing and may move too quickly.

We need to have a sense of urgency, but we also need to understand that urgent doesn’t always mean acting on an idea right now. The time of waiting between the inspiration and implementation is a time of preparation. Preparation is an important part of the process!

Listening to a sermon podcast by Ed Young recently, I heard him say …

God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you!

He talked about how God led the Israelites through the wilderness. At one point in the story, we’re told that God led them “around” a particular town/area. Ed noted that the Hebrew word indicates that God actually led the Israelites in circles, apparently because they were not prepared for the battle that was sure to occur. Sometimes we may know where we’re headed, but we’re not yet ready to be there. We need time to prepare!

We need to live with a sense of urgency, yes, but we also need to live with a sense of patient trust in God’s timing and leadership. Do you have a sense of urgency or are you driven by impatience? Do you sense how God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you?

At the Bishop’s Retreat this week, Tex Sample talked about how we are formed by our practices (see other learnings here). Because of that, we need to choose good practices.

I think this is one reason why habits, disciplines, systems and routines are important to me. It’s not just about finding an easier, faster way to do stuff, it’s that the things I do literally shape/form me, so I want to use the best practices I can.

This also makes me think about the Five Practices journey we’re beginning at Centre Grove (see the “getting started” post here), based on Bishop Schnase’s book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. This discussion will focus on our practices as a community, with a heart for developing practices that will honor God and bear fruit for God’s kingdom. The practices we do consistently, will shape us and our ministry in the world.

I think this could also be one reason why John Wesley was so big on practicing the “means of grace” (i.e., the sacraments and spiritual disciplines). He knew that we are formed by our practices. And what better way to be formed than by those practices through which God chooses to work in our lives.

Wesley also highlighted the importance of “works of piety” (spiritual disciplines) and “works of mercy” (acts of ministry and service) knowing that we need to be formed by both kinds of practices.

I blogged recently along these lines (before I was reminded of Tex’s language of being formed by our practices). See What Stirs Your Passion? for some of the practices that have tended to form me (as well as stirring my passion).

What practices have formed (and/or, are forming) you? What changes (old practices to get rid of or new practices to begin) do you need to make?