Spiritual Formation Precepts and Challenges
This is an excellent article in Christianity Today about spiritual foratio--a terms I've often wondered about.
Some excerpts:
Dallas taught that disciplines such as prayer, solitude, and Scripture memorization are only one part of the formation process. The second part is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the third is learning how to see life’s trials and events in light of God’s presence and power.
One of Dallas’s fears—something he essentially predicted—was that interest in the practice of the disciplines, while essential, would eclipse the other two parts. How did he know this? Because the practice of the disciplines, though challenging, naturally has an immediate sense of payoff. Measuring spiritual growth itself is difficult; knowing whether one has completed a devotional practice is not. If I spend five minutes in prayer or 15 minutes reading a devotional book, I will feel as if I have done something “spiritual.” And these actions may very well lead to a sense of connection with God.
Becky Willard Heatley spoke with me about her father’s concern that the disciplines would be “elevated and separated” from the rest of transformation. “He believed this would be dangerous,” she said, because the disciplines then become a form of idolatry—the means become the ends. We become more focused on the disciplines than we are on God, breaking the grip of sin, or the care of our embodied souls.
Despite the emphasis in many current books on spiritual disciplines, these practices are not meant for reducing stress, ordering one’s daily routine, understanding one’s personality better, having “spiritual experiences,” or gaining any number of other fringe benefits that do often result from the disciplines. All of these matters are secondary to the goal of becoming more like Christ. We must take care not to let the disciplines eclipse the actual reason for practicing them: to deepen our relationship to God and to create space for God’s grace to work in our lives.
Me: How is reducing conversion to a statement of faith, a declaration of belief any difference than Islam’s statement. Jesus didn’t put it at that level, nor did Paul or other apostles or church fathers.
But Dallas fervently believed church “success” (if you could call it that) should be measured not by the ABCs, but by the D—discipleship. Jesus, Dallas would point out, was not interested making bigger churches but in making “bigger Christians.” In this regard, a church of 75 who are growing in Christlikeness could be far more successful than a church of 5,000 that’s not engaged in making disciples of its members.
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