Community of Discipleshipfor

Spiritual Formation

Drew DixonIntro to MinistryHouston Heflin

April 6, 2011

1

Introduction

In A Biblical Model of Stages of Spiritual Development, Don Willett asserts that 1 John 2:12-

14 presents a “map” of spiritual growth. In his article, he delineates the precise stages of

development and milestone markers along the journey. Aside from poor exegesis throughout,

Willett's assertions in this article are unrealistically systemic. He has outlined these stages with

detail, yet disregarded the roughness of life.

Winfield Bevins would drastically disagree with such a systematic description of spiritual

growth. In his book, “Grow,” Bevins describes the organic nature of the church; meaning that it

is not an organized structural, but rather a living organism. He writes about biblical descriptions

of the church such as family, body, or a field which is sowed in and a harvest which is reaped. In

the introduction he writes:

Organic Discipleship is an organic understanding of the spiritual formation that begins and ends with the gospel. Organic means growing or developing in a manner of living organisms. An organic understanding of the discipleship will require church leaders to rethink current church systems and structures in Biblical terms.1

This paper does not seek to criticize the article by Willett, but rather to build on it.

Though Willett's outline of spiritual formation is a bit systemic, it is good in that it depicts many

people in community, some of whom are spiritually receiving and some of whom are spiritually

pouring out. This is a picture of discipleship. This paper seeks not to create a different set of

spiritual stages, but rather, if spiritual growth is organic, to discover the best ecological setting

for spiritual growth. Spiritual formation happens best in a community of discipleship. But

before we can explore this we must lay some theological and spiritual groundwork.

1 Winfield Bevins, Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship (2009), 10-11

2

Theology

Theology is a word that often carries a great bit of negative weight with it. It seems to

have gotten a pretty bad wrap. Non-religious people view theology as a way that the Church

hammers and destroys them while trumpeting doctrine. Participating evangelicals often see

theology as some kind of straight-jacket meant to harm them or keep them from being “free” in

their relationship with God. Neither of these is an informed response to or understanding of

theology.

Theology is simply a person's understanding of God. Even someone who does not

believe in God is operating out of a basic theology (one that understands God as nonexistent).

Theology can be taught systematically in religious institutions or from a book. This kind of

theology is what Johnson calls orthodoxis, or right-believing.2 It is an intellectual understanding of

God from an academic level.

This approach to understanding God can be enriching and enlightening, but ultimately

falls short. According to Vanden Berg, “theology is intended to be formative.”3 In other words,

theology ought not stop at the brain-level, but rather a person's understanding of God ought to

radically affect their interactions with and pursuit of God. “Genuine theological knowledge

ought to transform as it informs.”4

2 Susanne Johnson, "Christian spiritual formation in an age of "whatever"," Review & Expositor 98, no. 3 (2001): 311.3 Mary Vanden Berg, "Bonhoeffer's discipleship: theology for the purpose of Christian formation," Calvin Theological Journal 44, no. 2 (2009): 334.4 Vanden Berg, Bonhoeffer's discipleship, 348

3

Spirituality

Spirituality is “how an individual lives and practices transcendent beliefs.”5 Like theology,

it is a part of every person's life whether atheistic, agnostic, or devoutly religious. While theology

centers around the actual “transcendent beliefs” of a person, spirituality is “how” those beliefs

work themselves out in that person's life. This further proves that theology impacts life.

Spirituality is the application of theology.

While Johnson would describe theology as orthodoxis (right-believing), she would describe

spirituality as orthopraxis (right-doing). It is the outworking of one's understanding of God.

There are many ways this may work itself out. Johnson suggests two primary ways: “works of

piety” and “works of mercy.”6 The same two ideas are referred to by Frederick as the

“contemplative tradition” and the “social justice stream.”7 Or another way of thinking about

these two ideas could be “loving God” and “loving others.” Regardless of how one refers to

these, they are the two primary ways spirituality is expressed.

The former is made up of spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, meditation, and

scripture reading. These are all acts which draw the participant nearer to the heart of God. The

latter involves acts of service such as good deeds, practices to benefit others, and bringing peace

into the world. These are all ways for the participant to express the heart of God. Both

expressions of spirituality are important and necessary for the participant. Though, these

expressions lead to growth they are not effective in a vacuum. As asserted in the introduction,

spiritual formation and growth occur best in community.

5 Thomas V. Frederick, "Discipleship and spirituality from a Christian perspective," Pastoral Psychology 56, no. 6 (2008): 553.6 Johnson, Christian Spiritual Formation, 319-320.7 Frederick, Discipleship and Spirituality, 557.

4

The Role of the Church

The Church is the community in which these spiritual expressions play out. As

mentioned in Shirley's article, “Spiritual formation is the task of the church” [emphasis his].8 The

Church's responsibility is to be a community who seeks after these things together. Ultimately,

the role of the church is theological instruction and spiritual formation.

Theology and spirituality are often pitted against one another. The theological crowd

boasts in “right-believing” (commenting on the spiritual people's lack of knowledge), while the

spiritual folk boast in their spiritual practices (commenting on the theologian's lack of

authenticity). As discussed earlier, these two are correlated and must be held together in order

for spiritual growth to result. That is why it is important for the church to lead in both

theological instruction and spiritual formation.

Johnson discussed orthodoxis and orthopraxis, but ultimately settles for a third approach to

spirituality called orthokardis: a right state of the heart or “right-being.”9 While orthodoxis results

from theological understanding and orthopraxis results from spiritual expression, orthokardis

results from a change in the heart brought about by healthy theological instruction leading to

spiritual formation. The goal of the gospel is not “right-thinkers” or “right-doers,” but rather

people who have been transformed by the proclamation of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, holding all of these tensions together is necessary for healthy spiritual growth.

Israel Galindo expresses the importance of spiritual unity in both of these areas:

The teacher who uses only rational, cognitive methods does not reach the student as well as the educator who uses affect and images. Paradoxically, however, the necessity for a rational dimension to faith must also be addressed in Christian education

8 Chris Shirley, "It takes a church to make a disciple: an integrative model of discipleship for the local church" Southwestern Journal of theology 50, no. 2 (2008): 212.9 Johnson, Christian Spiritual Formation, 312.

5

Without reason, spirituality erodes into mere sentimentality–there is the need for a rational testing of subjective knowledge and religious experiences.10

The Christian faith is not merely theological or spiritual. It is both. After all, people are

not merely intellectual beings, emotional beings, spiritual beings, or physical beings. People are

all of these. That is why scripture declares that we are to “love the Lord your God with all your

heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

Spiritual formation takes place in all areas of being, but how can the church best engage all of

these areas? There seems to be a resounding conclusion.

Community of Discipleship

Johnson, Galindo, Brock, Frederick, and Shirley are all agreed at how spiritual formation

occurs. They each use different language and terminology, some refer to community and

mentoring, others to church and discipleship, but they all agree that relationship in community

brings growth. For the purposes of this paper we will use the terms “community” and

“discipleship.”

First, Brock describes the community as needing to be warm and nurturing. This means

that they are warm in welcoming newcomers and nurturing in raising up those among them.11

This is necessary to create unity among the members of the community and also growth in the

community at large. Warmth will enable width and nurture will enable depth.

Second, both Johnson and Galindo highlight the importance of story in the process of

spiritual formation. Each shares a different side of the importance of story. Johnson writes

10 Israel Galindo, "Methods of Christian education toward Christian spiritual formation," Review & Expositor 98, no. 3 (2001): 416.11 Timothy W. Brock, "The role of the congregation on Christian education as Christian spiritual formation," Review & Expositor 98, no. 3 (2001): 373.

6

about becoming part of the story saying that “we must first give ourselves over to the Christian

Story...and begin to participate in and practice the Story, and only then do we really begin to

understand!”12 Galindo, rather, writes about sharing our stories. “Personal life stories help

learners get in touch with meaning in their lives.”13 Considering both of these uses of story,

those who wish to grow in spiritual formation must first become a part of the Story and then

begin to share their own story with their community (which seems to correlate to being warmly

welcomed and then nurtured).

Galindo continues on to suggest other necessities for spiritual growth. Community and

mentoring (or discipleship) is another necessary piece of the puzzle. Discipleship, according to

Shirley, is “the process of following Jesus.”14 Frederick adds on to that by describing it as the

process of imatio Christi, which means looking more like Christ every day.15 Discipleship is

practically carried out in a fashion that we, or Galindo, would call mentoring. It is the process by

which someone pours into a small group of others to equip them with values of the Kingdom

of God. Think about Jesus and his well known “twelve disciples.” These twelve guys went

everywhere with Jesus. They heard all of his stories, parables, and teachings. He poured himself

out and they learned from him. But they did not only learn from him, they actually began to

look more and more like him every day. This is discipleship.

But discipleship doesn't stop there. It goes on to raise up the disciples so that they will

pour out themselves and produce more disciples. This is what Galindo calls “spiritual

generativity.”16 For the purposes of this paper it will be called “reproduction.” Jesus did not only

12 Johnson, Christian Spiritual Formation, 316.13 Galindo, Methods, 422.14 Shirley, It takes a church, 210.15 Frederick, Discipleship and Spirituality, 556.16 Galindo, Methods, 417.

7

pour into his disciples, but he commissioned them to “go make disciples of all nations”

(Matthew 28:19). The spiritual formation did not stop with them, but rather went forth so that

they reproduced what Jesus had produced in them. Therefore, discipleship is the process of

making disciples who love Jesus that make more disciples who love Jesus.

Discipleship is effective because it is personal. Discipleship is life on life. It is not limited

to orthodoxis like teaching is, nor is it limited to orthopraxis like serving would be. It is all

encompassing. It is orthokardis. It is relational. Discipleship is the reason why the church has

persisted for thousands of years and not only persisted, but continued to grow both in width

and in depth.

Conclusion

It can be seen that spiritual formation is an all encompassing and organic process. It is

not structural, but relational. It is not systemic, but personal. Spiritual formation takes place best

in an ecological setting of community and discipleship where participants are welcomed,

nurtured, and written into the story of the larger community. Ultimately, spiritual formation

takes place best when surrounded by this and when rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, to

begin, one must first follow Jesus just like his disciples so that he may begin to look more like

Jesus every day.

Bibliography

Bevins, Winfield. Grow: Reproducing Through Organic Discipleship. 2009.

Brock, Timothy W.. "The role of the congregation on Christian education as Christian spiritual formation." Review & Expositor 98, no. 3 (2001): 369-393.

Frederick, Thomas V.. "Discipleship and spirituality from a Christian perspective." Pastoral Psychology 56, no. 6 (2008): 553-560.

Galindo, Israel. "Methods of Christian education toward Christian spiritual formation." Review & Expositor 98, no. 3 (2001): 411-429.

Johnson, Susanne. "Christian spiritual formation in an age of "whatever"." Review & Expositor 98, no. 3 (2001): 309-331.

Lunn, Julie. "Paying attention: the task of attending in spiritual direction and practical theology." Practical Theology 2, no. 2 (2009): 219-229.

O'Brien, Maureen R. . "Reconciling identity: emerging convictions in religious education and practical theology." Religious Education 104, no. 3 (2009): 233-238.

Robinson, Anthony B.. "'Follow me': the renewed focus on discipleship ." Christian Century, September 4, 2007, 23-25.

Shirley, Chris. "It takes a church to make a disciple: an integrative model of discipleship for the local church." Southwestern Journal of theology 50, no. 2 (2008): 207-224.

VandenBerg, Mary. "Bonhoeffer's discipleship: theology for the purpose of Christian formation." Calvin Theological Journal 44, no. 2 (2009): 333-349.

Willett, Don. "A Biblical Model of Stages of Spiritual Development: The Journey According to John." Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 3, no. 1 (2010): 88-102.