Teach/Lead/Guide/Encourage Spiritual Growth
Let me just say it was GREAT to have a group of people show up to this group last night. I was so encouraged! Lots of information to share and I hope it is stated in a way that gives background and makes sense….
The mission statement of Journey Growth Academy (JGA) states that is committed to helping people develop into fully devoted followers of Christ. The goal of this ministry is to assist people to better understand their faith, learn more about the bible and discover their areas of service through compelling and relevant Bible study.
That is taken directly from the JGA brochure. I have struggled with how to do this in the best way possible, trying to meet the needs of the different “levels” (for lack of a better word) of believers at the Journey, trying to do so using different teaching/learning styles and doing this with the available resources (volunteers). Currently JGA’s are held quarterly (Saturday mornings) with 3-4 different classes taught by Journey volunteer instructors. We have also had periodical 6-8 week classes held during the Sunday morning services.
Spiritual growth and JGA have been on my mind a lot lately. Then at the Summit this past weekend, (I know this is going to sound really bad but…) I was encouraged and very relieved to hear that Billy Hybels and the Willow Creek church also struggle with how to “feed” people throughout their faith journey. (Whew! It’s not just us (or maybe me)!) And then I was excited about REVEAL (not going to explain now) and the possibilities that could hold for the Journey working with Willow Creek. Let’s teach people to be “self-feeders” and not solely depend on Sunday morning messages and JGA classes to “teach” people.
In this group were Phil Osuna, Kirk Herbert, Dave Hasker, Karen Isaacson, Debi Richardson and myself. Jane Vassar, Jaclyn Horan, Jen Herbert, Carl Isaacson used their “Two Feet” to join us later. Group, I tried to include everything we discussed. I hope I got it all.
The questions that have continued to come to mind are below and input would be greatly appreciated. All these questions are grounded around the basic question of:
How do we teach/guide/lead/encourage all believers (whatever their “level”) in their faith walk/spiritual growth?
1. How do we reach the different age groups, learning styles (not just lecture), different “levels” (Help! need new word) in their faith?
2. How do we get people to become “self-feeders” early in their faith journey?
3. How can this be done using the current JGA format? How can we “stretch” JGA beyond just Saturday mornings?
Ideas/Thoughts discussed:
1) BOOKS (a Library of some sort)
--We have so many people that read a lot about spiritual growth at the Journey—can we have a place to share recommendations?
--Share discussion questions?
--Short term book clubs?
--Blog discussions on the book?
-- Share books?
2) SUNDAY MESSAGES:
--Home Groups (LTG’s too) that meet during the week to process and develop more deeply the Sunday messages.
--Develop study notes/questions for these groups to use.
--Have people who would facilitate groups right after the morning services –right on site--that want to discuss (very relational)
--Blog discussion about the Sunday services
3) SUNDAY CLASSES (Similar to an Adult Sunday School Class) to create an environment of study and connect. Something that is on-going not just a 6 week class
4) LEADERS/TEACHERS—Using curriculums/books/studies that need a facilitator rather than an “instructor”. More people may be willing to lead.
5) USE OF CURRENT JGA CLASSES
--Send JGA classes (such as Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Disciplines, etc.) to current weekly groups (couples, college) for a 3-4 week series.
--Create groups for “Dinner and JGA” series.
6) Poll people to find out what the real needs are for SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
Additional Input on any of these questions or ideas?
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Self-feeding
I loved how Bill said that the church needs to teach people how to be responsible to "self-feed"! I think that we often get into the mindset that the church needs to be our primary feeding ground and we often then take a more passive role. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say that their church (which may be the Journey or some other church) isn't feeding the Christ followers enough and I bristle at that. Especially as the mission and vision of the Journey is to reach the unchurched.
Now, I am in no way saying that it is not the responsibility of the church to feed the Christians nor am I saying that the Journey shouldn't do more to help people along that path. I think there is definately more that the Journey can and should do. But I love the empowerment of reminding us that we are also responsible for our journey. It turns us from passive to active in our own growth.
The ideas that the group came up with are great ways that the Journey, or any church, can support people in their growth- from newbies to committed Christ followers. Great session!
Cultural Emphasis on Learning
As another thread on the site is dealing with, spiritual growth is a tricky thing. This thread is about creating a context for spiritual growth and the other one is about measuring/evaluating spiritual growth. Both are supremely important.
The ideas that were discussed in this Unconference group all lean toward what I call modern Christianity’s emphasis on Intellect-Will. We use a modern, Greek-based mode of instruction where an authoritative/knowledgeable leader instructs us either directly or through books, seminars/classes, etc. It is a one to many model and its primary emphasis is on building up people cognitively. The underlying idea is that cognitive strength leads to spiritual growth.
Yet, as we all know, there is still this nagging sense that people still seem to struggle to grow. I see it in other people and I definitely see it in myself. This thread and the thread on evaluating growth reveal the struggle and as leaders, we continually ask: How can we help people grow?
This has been a decades-long problem for the church as American culture has gradually shifted from being an authority/expert driven culture to one where more people expect collaboration and team development. This expectation has surfaced more powerfully within the last 5 - 10 years and I believe that this expectation is what has driven the explosion of web technology since 2000. Had web technology appeared in the 1950’s, a decade where authority was still revered, it would have had nowhere near the cultural penetration that it does today. What does this imply about people’s expectations about being led?
And yet, I feel the church is lagging behind. We still present discipleship as something that is conveyed in a one to many format where one person disperses knowledge to many people taking notes or reading or listening to the one person. I think this model of leadership is quickly losing traction. Our ongoing struggles as leaders with building and evaluating growth, in my opinion, points to the inadequacy of the Intellect-Will model.
Larry Crabb discusses what it means to be made in the image of God. He believes there are four components to it:
I like Crabb’s idea here and it’s instructive as we think about how to build people spiritually. The Intellect-Will model addresses two components of being made in God’s image but largely ignores that we are emotional people driven by powerful longings. We seem to believe that if we can get more facts into our minds, then we will grow as disciples. I’ve read hundreds of books, probably millions of words and sat in on countless seminars and after all that, I still feel inadequate as a disciple. A fair argument could be made that part of the problem is with me as a disciple yet after 20 years as a Christian, I have to wonder: is the model part of the problem too.
Making matters worse, we are a people who expects rapid expediency. In three minutes, we can get a passable meal that will fill the void. I find myself getting angry and fidgety when some old lady writes a friggin’ check in Longs Drugs. We are impatient. We hate waiting.
And I think impatience feeds our expectations for what spiritual growth looks like. We want to believe things can change quickly after reading Max Lucado’s latest inspirational book. We look at people healed and we think, I can have that kind of immediate touch from God and my life will be better. I’ll be a better disciple. But maybe we could wonder about something:
How long does it take to become a mature disciple?
Americans answer, “Months, unless you really suck, in which case Jesus needs intensive work on you and that will take a few years.”
But I strongly, rabidly, fervently believe that we are people so messed up, so damaged, so seflish, so horrifically ruined by sin, that the McDonald’s school of discipleship is an utter illusion. We are really, really, really good at playing the pretend game of, “I’m only a little bit screwed up and I’m definitely better than him over there.”
But truly, we are messed up people. With emotions and deep longings that drive us in incomprehensible ways. We make stupid decisions in spite of having heads bulging with information. We screw up relationships. We do selfish things at work. It’s staggering when you stop to think about it.
And it is for this reason, this intractable problem with sin, that discipleship is a decades-long thing. Tens of years. Not 3 years but 40 years. Wandering around in the desolation of the wilderness, trying to find God and ourselves and one another. And it is also for this reason that Intellect-Will isn’t enough.
So, I’ve deconstructed why Intellect-Will doesn’t work. What do we do to enhance Intellect-Will?
Well, it’s not very efficient. It’s not very comfortable. It’s quite messy. It’s slow. It doesn’t allow us to pretend as well as we do now. It kind of gets rid of the rock star leader and the glow we get from following a rock star leader.
We do what the Jews did: we mentor and we build open, transparent, honest communities together that seek to deal with not only the brain stuff but also the hear stuff (emotions) and the soul stuff (deep longings). We decide as people that we are going to be open with each other.
We decide to be vulnerable. Gradually, for sure. Selectively, for the stuff we think is truly dark about ourselves can only be entrusted with those we think will treat our darkness with holiness.
We decide to be messy, with the freedom to have lives that don’t always have to be in control and orderly and nice looking. We bring out into the open, like James and John did, that there is darkenss warring inside us and against each other. We won’t necessarily be able to fix that darkness by doing so, but I wonder if feeling the freedom and release of not having to pretend anymore will have more transformative power than a hundred expert seminars could ever bring about.
We decide to guide and learn from each other and figure out much of it as we go along.
I’m groping here because I am not entirely sure what the answer is. I have a few somewhat clear ideas but the rest of it is murky.
I know that I have a deep hunger for something different than what we, i.e. the American church, have done for the past 20 years. And I don’t think I am alone in this hunger. And I deeply believe that there are many, many people who feel the same way but who have, in their integrity, left the church because the church cannot credibly touch their needs.
So this question of how to build discipleship is incredibly important. This thread may well be the most important one on this website. Can I ask that we try to answer the question by innovating different ways of touching the deeper needs of people? Do we understand WHY people don’t grow? Do we know what people need? I have a deep nagging sense that what I need are people like you all and that we need to be honest and real.
I haven’t been able to shake the thought that I will grow as a disciple when I let you see me as I really am. And I wonder what will happen with you when you let me see you as you really are.
I believe in God because every once in a while, I hear a voice that says, “You’re my favorite.”
It's like getting in shape
This analogy is old but it works for me....
If someone desires to get into good, physical, healthy shape they can wish for it all they want and talk about it all they want. Reality---you have to get your butt in the gym or on the trail or eat healthy. Getting in shape takes TIME and HARD WORK. This life style change isn't going to happen if you only do all this ONCE a week. It is a discipline. It is a process. There are highs and lows.
Just like your faith...you can hope you grow and desire to grow in your relationship with Christ but you have to put the effort into it...get into the Bible, get into prayer, get into mediation, etc. Your faith takes TIME and HARD WORK. This isn't going to happen by just going to church ONCE a week and "getting feed". It's a discipline and it's a process.
But just like with getting into shape there are different ways to do it...I love going to the gym...some people hate the gym...some people are vegetarians....I like my meat. Some people like doing group exerices...some prefer to work out alone. One size doesn't fit all and I think we often try to do that with faith.
Plus--if you really want to get into shape you will get trainers to help you get started--to show you the options--to motivate you--to keep you accountable. SAME thing goes with your faith journey.
What happens when the gym is closed for the day or I'm on vacation? Do I let my healthy habits slide? Hopefully not, because I no longer need the trainer right beside me everytime. I am able to do it on my own and can just go in for "adjustments".
Where I think we (I) fall short is not "training" people on to do this independently and using "workouts" that meet someone's individual needs and goals.
This is what I hope to change....somehow.