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LEARNING NEW HABITS. Copyright © 2005 Discipleship Resources.All rights reserved. For information regarding rights and

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GR O W I N G S P I R I T UA L LY

You are on a journey

Spiritual growth can be compared to a journey. The goal of this journey is tobecome more Christ-like. It is a strange journey because we always move toward our destination and yet, we never fully arrivethere. John Wesley, an 18th century Christiandisciple, is known for his teaching about this paradox. He taught that while no humanbeing ever becomes perfect, Christians livewith the conviction that we should becomemore like Jesus. Your spiritual growth beginswith your earnest heart-felt desire to be more like Jesus. Then, for the rest of yourearthly life, you continue at your own pace,as you and God work on making you a

Participate in Holy Communion as often asyou can. Before you go to worship, prepare your-self with prayer. Focus on your understanding ofthe meaning of this sacrament and invite God’srevelation as you receive the elements of bread and wine. At the end of the service, you will sense the spiritual nurture and sustaining powerthat you need.

Moving OnWe have explored a few of the many ways

that people grow spiritually. Spiritual growththrough prayer begins with understanding thatprayer is communication with God, and that thereare many ways to pray. Bible study is grounded in the assumption that God has a message for ustoday. Small group participation acknowledgesChristian community as a vehicle for spiritualgrowth. Frequent communion connects us with thewhole church. May you grow in grace and in theknowledge of God (2 Peter 3:18).

Safiyah Fosua follows Jesus wherever she is led, including Zaire, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nashville, Tennessee.

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death, and we believe that we have also beenredeemed from death to live a new life – a life thatshall continue even after physical death. In thepresent, we are sustained by our relationship withGod through Christ. Our future is also secure, bothnow and in the afterlife because of the work ofJesus Christ. In life, in death, in afterlife, God iswith us. The simple act of observing communion isa celebration of our past, present and future hope.

Remember that when you participate in aservice of Holy Communion, you stand in a linewith Christian brothers and sisters who are scat-tered today around the world in places that are verydifferent from your home and your church. But itis the same Jesus Christ who shares the sacramentacross the geographical boundaries.

When you participate in the service, you alsostand in a line with Christian sisters and brotherswho have acknowledged God’s love across the cen-turies. Some of these are models of faith such asAugustine of Hippo, Sojourner Truth, DorothyD ay, and Francis of Assisi. Others remainu n k n own beyond a generation or two of fa m i lyand yet, we stand with them in a line that spansacross the ages.

better person. The path to spiritual growthbegins with the attitude that we are not yet what we could be and not content to remain as we were.

A Plan of A c t i o nThough spirituality

begins with attitude, it takesfurther shape through our

actions. The first-century evan-gelist Paul of Tarsus compared

the discipline required for spiritualgrowth, which is often called spiritu-

al formation, to that required whentraining for a great athletic event (1

Corinthians 9:24-25). Olympic traineeskeep in mind their goal. They do not lose

sight of the vision of victory! In similarways, the Christian engages in the never-end-

ing process of spiritual formation. From thetime that we become aware of our relationshipwith God through Jesus Christ until the day

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that we enter into God’s eternal presence, we striveto be recreated in the image of God.

Like athletes in training, we enter into the disciplines of the inner life. In Methodism, thesespiritual disciplines and the sacraments are oftencalled means of grace. Another way to understandthis term is to think about the different paths thatGod has made available for our spiritual growth. John Wesley’s list of the means of grace included public worship, the ministry of the word – eitherread or preached, family and private prayer, Biblestudy, fasting or abstinence, and communion.

Spiritual Growth through PrayerWhen most people think of spiritual

disciplines, that majority thinks about praye r. While it is a common assumption thatChristians pray, so many Christiansare hesitant to pray becauset h ey have never learned howto do so—and they didn’twant anyone else to know !P r ayer need not be frighten-ing or complicated; in basic

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Do this in remembrance of me (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

Jesus Christ issued the invitation; and Christ is present at the table.

When we receive Holy Communion, we arecalled to remember and give thanks for God’smighty acts throughout human history. God is ourc r e a t o r. God sustains us. God entered into cove n a n twith us. God redeemed us. God continues to wo r kin our lives. At the table, the prayers and actionsremind us of the life of Christ. The prayers praye dduring the Communion service remind us of Jesus’healing and teaching. T h ey remind us of the ways inwhich Jesus proclaimed justice. As we receive thebasic elements of bread and wine, we are remindedthat eart h ly things like power and influence, know l-edge and intellect do not sustain our lives; we aresustained by our relationship to God. We do notcome to the table for the memorial of a dead saint;we come to the Feast of the Living Lord.

Communion invites us to look to the past, thepresent, and the future. Christians have a sharedpast. We believe that Christ has been raised from

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t e rms, prayer is communication with God. For eachperson, that communication may take a slightly d i fferent form. Over the ages, a number of peopleh ave approached prayer as a conversation with God. Some people are comfort a ble using their ow nwords for this conversation. Others appreciate usingwritten prayers, verses from the Bible, or the tradi-tional version of the Lord’s Praye r. Some peoplekeep a prayer journal, preferring to write theirthoughts, almost as letters to God. Some peoplefind that yielding to God their thoughts in the stillness of early morning and in the solitude of a

quiet walk are more eff e c t ive way sto pray, and other people

gr ow closest to Godin the company ofothers who are

p r aying aloud. Stillothers prefer to approach

God by painting or sketching picturesor through the medium of their favorite

a rt form. Some people find great meaningin breath prayers —quietly repeating a basic

p r ayer (such as “Give us peace” or “Lord, havem e r cy”) with each breath. Others may pray wh i l e

More important is the movement from isolation to community in your quest for spiritual gr ow t h .

Frequent CommunionOne place where disciples have traditionally

experienced spiritual gr owth is at the Lord’s Ta bl ein the sacrament of Holy Communion. Considerthat it is a holy meal, a time to remember manyaspects of Jesus’ m i n i s t ry, a time to remember thegifts of God. John We s l ey received this sacramentan average of four times a week. You may part i c i-pate in the sacrament on a we e k ly basis. T h i n kabout the many prayers of the liturg y. In the ritualwe can imagine being with Jesus and the disciplesin the upper room prior to Jesus’ a rrest, and we canalso imagine times when Jesus fed 5,000 peoplewith minimal resources. We can remember thatmeal with the fear- filled disciples and we can antic-ipate the great banquet that Jesus talked about inthe gospels. The prayers of the liturgy often retellthe story of our own spiritual journ ey. We remem-ber that once upon a time we did not know aboutG o d ’s love and we confess that, but then we affi rmthe love and acceptance of God for all people.

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using a religious icon. These are all prayers. T h e s eare ways to become open to God and to root ourl ives in God’s great being.

How you pray is up to you. Experiment. Asksisters and brothers in Christ about their approach-es to prayer. No matter how you pray, engage inregular and honest communication with God.

Spiritual Growth through Bible StudyAnother way to grow spiritually is by studying

the Bible. We study the Bible to learn about God.God’s self-revelation begins in Genesis and continues through the Book of the Revelation.Who could doubt God’s love after reading the gospel of Jesus Christ? Who could question God’s power after reading about the Resurrection? When we study the faith stories and historical accounts of the Bible, we learn that God never abandons humanity.

How is it with YOUR soul?Not many of the teachings of Christ can

be practiced in isolation. We were meant to live in community and express our faith in community.This points to our need to pray and study with others as we struggle to gr ow spiritually. Cove n a n tDiscipleship groups and Faith Incubator groups f o l l ow the principles used in the early Methodistc ovenant groups and may be ava i l a ble in your com-m u n i t y. Companions in Christ, Witness, DiscipleB i ble Study, and other Bible study experiences off e ro p p o rtunities to pray and study and be honest withother Christians. As you consider opportunities top a rticipate in a small group, be honest with yo u r-self about the kind of commitment you are able tokeep. Some find it helpful to begin with a commit-ment to short - t e rm (4-6 week) study. Others fi n de a r ly - m o rning groups on Saturdays or groups thatmeet over lunch help them enter the life of smallgroup participation. Initially, the length of timeyou meet with the group is not as crucial as is

the commitment to meet with others reg u l a r ly.

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Spiritual Growth through Small GroupsThe Methodist movement began in England

with a group of people who were aware of theirpersonal shortcomings and really wanted to bemore Christ-like. They began with weekly smallgroup meetings, often in homes where they prayedtogether, studied the Bible together, and receivedthe sacrament of Holy Communion together. Therethey would also discuss their spiritual progress.

How is it with your soul?Spiritual growth is not always easy. Those who

attended the early Methodist small-group meetingslearned to be honest with each other about thestruggles that everyday Christians experience asthey grow spiritually. Each week they would meetand honestly assess their spiritual progress. Theyconfessed their successes and failures, and thenthey prayed for each other. Then, they made plansto be better Christians in the coming week. Theydid not allow their shortcomings to become permanent stumbling blocks.

Not only do we learn about God when westudy the Bible; we also learn about ourselves. When we read the Old and New Testaments, welearn that human beings make certain mistakesagain and again. Throughout history human beingshave demonstrated a need for God. God, who isfaithful and loving, continues to meet our needs –in spite of our shortcomings.

We find ourselves drawn to the faith dimen-sions of people in the Bible. You may learn aboutyourself because of an affinity with Esther or Ruthor David. You may learn positive traits from Jamesand John. You may learn about character flaws ormoral flaws through a person such as Ahab orAnanias and Sapphira (see Acts 5 to learn aboutthem). The Bible contains a wealthy treasuryof people who tried to live faithfully.

We also study the Bible to learn what humankind could be. Human beings havean awesome potential. We have power to transform the world and to live transformed lives. We have been given an awesome opportunity to share God’s love and forgiveness with the entire world.

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Here are some suggestions for studying theBible either alone or in a small group:Just read the words! Read and reread a passage,

either silently or aloud. Hear the words asthough they had been written to you, or to yourfamily, or to your congregation, or even to yourcountry. So many portions of the Bible werewritten to someone for their spiritual growth.

Understand the text. Using a Bible handbook and a Bible dictionary, look up anything that isunfamiliar. Even in more modern translationsof the Bible, there are unfamiliar objects andlandmarks, customs, and idioms that are criticalto our understanding of the text. For example,when Elisha asked Elijah for a double share (2 Kings 2) he was not just asking for more; hewas asking for the portion normally reservedfor the oldest son in Jewish culture. Ask questions about what you read:

• Who was speaking and who was being spoken to?

• What was the historical context? Can you tell

if the times were peaceful or were the peopleinvolved at war? Were the people living athome or in exile?

• Did something trigger the writing of the text?• How did the people who originally heard the

text respond to it? For example, when Davidheard Nathan’s parable and realized that it was about him, he repented (2 Samuel 12). Or, when Mary heard that she would bear theMessiah, she responded with joy and gratitude(Luke 1:46-55).

Contemplate. Far too often, Bible students stopafter these first two directions without applyingthe text to their own lives. In order to move thewords of the Bible from the page to the heart,we need to pause and think about them. If youhad been the person or part of the group hear-ing one of the letters of Paul, how might you or your group respond? Would you rejoice,would you become angry and recoil; would you change something about the way you livedwith your neighbors? What would you do?What will you do?

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