The What and the How of Spiritual Formation

Far too many of us have witnessed a ministry implode because of the moral and spiritual failure of one of its leaders. Sadly  the most vulnerable among us, such as children and young people, are often caught up in the fallout. Each fallen leader is a sobering reminder of the need to ‘invest in spiritual and emotionally healthy ministry workers’ (#7 on the list of the 7 Principles of Effective Ministry to Children and Youth).

This is something we do each year at Youthworks College with our first-year students in a unit called ‘Personal and Spiritual Formation’. This unit is taught by intensive at the beautiful Scott’s Head on the mid-north NSW coast. In addition to being an incredible experience of Christian community, the unit does what it says on the tin—it teaches personal and spiritual formation.

Good resources on personal formation are easy to find. Many Christian and secular books have been written on self-care, burnout, boundaries, time management, conflict resolution, personality profiles, mental health, and working in teams. Our task here is to identify what is most useful, interpret it through a theological lens, and apply it to the ministry context.

The same cannot be said for the literature on spiritual formation. Several popular level books provide something of a manual on spiritual disciplines, but these texts usually contain frustratingly opaque definitions. For example, Calhoun (2005) speaks of ‘intentional practices, relationships and experiences that [give] people space in their lives to “keep company” with Jesus’ (p. 17). Similarly, Comer (2019) talks about adopting ‘the lifestyle of Jesus’ (p. 82).  When spiritual formation is so poorly defined, it seems that everything can be classified as a spiritual discipline! This includes self-care (the digital detox or regular exercise), monastic or Eastern religious practices (like silence, walking the labyrinth, or yoga), and Christian works (like almsgiving or hospitality).

The New Testament suffers from no such confusion, with the apostle Paul again and again laying out the goal of the Christian life to be ‘fully mature in Christ’ (Colossians 1:28), to be ‘transformed into his image’ (2 Corinthians 3:18), and to have ‘Christ formed in you’ (Galatians 4:19). Romans 8 firmly anchors this goal within the salvation plan that God began before the creation of the world and will be finally complete in the age to come:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-29)

Spiritual formation is far bigger than finding a life of ‘balance’. Importantly, it is also something that God does in us through Christ, rather than something we achieve by discovering the right practices.

Every year we debate the helpfulness (or otherwise) of the term, ‘spiritual disciplines’ itself. This language stresses the role that we play in the process of spiritual transformation. In support of this kind of language, we could point to New Testament exhortations like, ‘train yourself to be godly’ (1 Timothy 4:7). Reflecting on this verse, Whitney (2014) says that, ‘the only road to Christian maturity and godliness…passes through the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines’ (p. 4).

On the other hand, others prefer the theological category of, ‘means of grace’ , to emphasise that, ‘the transformative element is not the discipline itself, but the worthiness of the task undertaken’ (Carson, 2011). Mathis (2016) provides an extremely helpful metaphor to understand the tension within this debate:

I can flip a switch, but I don’t provide the electricity. I can turn on a faucet, but I don’t make the water flow. There will be no light and no liquid refreshment without someone else providing it. And so it is for the Christian with the ongoing grace of God. His grace is essential for our spiritual lives, but we don’t control the supply. We can’t make the favor of God flow, but he has given us circuits to connect and pipes to open expectantly. There are paths along which he has promised his favor…. our God is lavish in his grace; he is free to liberally dispense his goodness without even the least bit of cooperation and preparation on our part, and often he does. But he also has his regular channels. And we can routinely avail ourselves of these revealed paths of blessing—or neglect them to our detriment. (p. 25)

With this understanding, we ought to limit our list of spiritual disciplines to only those ‘channels’ that God has promised to be his ‘revealed paths of blessing’. In short, this includes the word of God, prayer, and the fellowship of God’s people. There are many other valuable activities for the Christian leader to perform that we could classify as ‘self-care’ or ‘Christian obedience’, but these should not be confused with the means by which God has promised to do his work of transformation.

Most controversially, I suggest that the day off—which some might describe as a Sabbath—is not a spiritual discipline. There is nothing intrinsic to the cessation of work that means it will grow a person into the likeness of the Lord Jesus. Its purpose is for our well-being as finite creatures, which is why the Old Testament Sabbath was extended to believers, non-believers, and animals alike (Exodus 20:8-11).

Does that mean that a Christian leader should get rid of their day off? Not at all! A quiet day spent bushwalking in the mountains or visiting a favourite café is an excellent way to recover from a busy weekend of ministry. This kind of self-care is essential for maintaining productivity and ensuring longevity in ministry. But we cannot expect the day off, in and of itself, to bring about spiritual growth. For that, the Christian leader must also make time for prayer, Bible reading, or fellowship, through which the Spirit does his work of spiritual formation.

References:

Calhoun, A. A. (2005). Spiritual disciplines handbook: Practices that transform us. Downers Grove: IVP.

Carson, D. A. (2011). ‘Spiritual Disciplines’. Themelios 36.3. Available: http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/spiritual_disciplines

Comer, J. M. (2019). The ruthless elimination of hurry. Colorado Springs: WaterBrook.

Mathis, D. (2016). Habits of grace: Enjoying Jesus through the spiritual disciplines. Wheaton: Crossway.

Whitney, D.S. (2014). Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Colorado Springs: Navpress.