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Dear
Friends,
A year ago (Heart-to-Heart, May 2005) I wrote,
“I long to see the gathering together of multiplied
numbers of ‘spiritual formation based congregations’
throughout the US and beyond.” In this pastoral
letter I want to think with you about what it
might take to see the emergence of spiritual
formation based congregations. This is no
small issue for the pitfalls and challenges are
many.
First, however, it is essential that we all have
in mind the characteristics of a spiritual formation
based congregation, as best as we can ascertain.
In these fellowships:
•
the process of Christian spiritual formation and
life-long discipleship is the foundation of individual
and congregational life;
•
everyone is encouraged to be involved in an intentional
process for formation in Christlikeness;
• the natural outcome of events for individual
participation in the fellowship is ever-increasing
formation and transformation into the ways and
heart of Jesus;
• spiritual formation in Christlikeness is
a process not a program;
• pastors and lay leadership are fully committed
to and participating in the spiritual formation
process;
•
there is a great diversity of sources to draw
from for Christian faith and practice;
• the classical Spiritual Disciplines—such
as prayer, fasting, service, and guidance—are
highly valued, taught on, and practiced; and
•
all are encouraged to explore the writings of
the great devotional authors of the Church, such
as Saint Augustine, Julian of Norwich, and Dietrich
Bonhoeffer.
While
certainly not an all-inclusive listing of characteristics
for a spiritual formation based congregation,
churches that shape their common life in relation
with the above are well on their way.
Now, I want to work with you on several key “principles”
for spiritual formation based congregations. Then
let’s think together about “plans” for moving
forward. Finally, let’s consider “practices” for
this glorious life in the kingdom of God. (Contrary
to my own fierce opposition to acronyms and alliterations
I have actually come up with three P’s: principles,
plans, and practices!)
SHARPENING
THE PRINCIPLES
I
have three things to say in the “principles” category.
The first thing you already know, but it bears
reemphasizing and repeating and reiterating over
and over again. It is this: God alone is the
One who creates and grows spiritual formation
based congregations. Christian community of
this nature is not a human attainment but a gift
of God. We don’t create it nor make it happen.
In Life Together Dietrich Bonhoeffer wisely
notes that Christian community “is not an ideal
which we must realize; it is rather a reality
created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”
This
means that all of our efforts toward spiritual
formation based communities must be subservient
to a greater Reality. If our plans and schemes
and programs are not firmly rooted in the great
Reality—God and life in his kingdom—then they
will blow away like dust. Even in our evangelistic
efforts God is the great Initiator and Creator.
Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the
increase (1 Cor. 3:6). The stress of Scripture
is always on God’s inscrutable sovereignty in
all things.
Right
here, though, we have some great, good news: God
is deeply committed to the formation of Christian
community. “The aim of God in history,” we write
in The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible,
“is the creation of an all-inclusive community
of loving persons with God himself at the very
center of this community as its prime Sustainer
and most glorious Inhabitant.” Christ will grow
his Church; we can be assured of that. And we
are welcomed to be his co-laborers in this process
of the birth and growth of spiritual formation
based congregations.
My second point is simple enough to say though
exceedingly difficult to practice: Spiritual
problems demand spiritual answers. We simply
can never solve a spiritual problem with a programmatic
answer. It is vital in any congregational setting
to be working with God on the spiritual nature
of the community. Is pride pervasive throughout?
Then spiritual disciplines of Service are called
for. Is nervous, anxious over commitment evident
everywhere? Then disciplines of Solitude and Silence
can help. Is there a lack of trust in God? Then
experiences of Prayer and Fasting are needed.
Are we taking ourselves too seriously? Then multiplied
opportunities for Celebration need to break forth!
Times
come in the life of any congregation that in order
for us to be attentive to God we have to become
firmly anti-programmatic; that is, we learn to
stop doing things. At such times we are to discover
ways, as a people together, to follow the counsel
of François Fénelon, “Be silent, and listen to
God. Let your heart be in such a state of preparation
that his Spirit may impress upon you such virtues
as will please him. Let all within you listen
to him. This silence of all outward and earthly
affection and of human thoughts within us is essential
if we are to hear his voice.”
My third principle is really a warning: We
must never use spiritual formation efforts to
shore up a dying institutional structure.
This problem can be quickly identified whenever
the spiritual disciplines are being used to increase
attendance at worship services or to enhance the
offerings or to get people to serve on committees
or to boost evangelistic efforts. Christopher
Dawson has written, “The spirit of the Gospel
. . . . is essentially hostile to the spirit of
calculation, the spirit of worldly prudence and
above all to the spirit of religious self-seeking
and self-satisfaction.”
Our focus can never be institutional survival.
Rather, it is precious people. Some structures
help us in this focus upon people and when this
is the case, we can thank God for the structure.
Other structures hinder, and when this is the
case, too bad for the structure. Frankly, friends,
structures come and go. The great glory of human
beings is that they are created in the image of
God and are unceasing beings with an eternal destiny
in God’s great universe. Hence, they are the heart
and center of our spiritual formation efforts.
Always.
CONSIDERING
THE PLANS
It is time for us to consider the plans necessary
for the emerging of spiritual formation based
congregations. While it may be true that we can
devise plans without God, it is most certainly
true that if we do not make plans it will be without
God. Planning is a vital part of our God-given
task in co-operating with God in this work. As
with the principles so with the plans I have three
things I want to say.
First: All one-size-fits-all plans are doomed
to failure. Just as every person is unique
so every congregation has its own DNA, if you
will. A congregation needs deep reflection and
hands-on training and experiential learning that
is unique to her alone. Thinking through what
this should look like has historically been the
role of the pastor in the cure of souls. This
involves intimate knowledge of a congregation;
her history and social dynamics and family life
and spiritual heritage and so much more. Knowing
the people of a congregation by name and by fears
and by hopes and by dreams and by failures and
by successes is central to the work of spiritual
direction. This is the shepherd role of the pastor.
This
is why RENOVARÉ
has been reticent over the years to develop curriculum
ad nauseum. Such things really shouldn’t
be developed in a vacuum. No, if congregations
are seeking renewal they are best encouraged to
enter an intentional process of self-understanding
and self-assessment and Spirit-led planning to
discern its own unique character and needs.
Second: We help best by providing a large menu
of resources that are able to cast a vision for
Life in the kingdom of God. And so we teach
and illustrate and live out this wonderful zoë
Life that flows through nearly every page of our
Bibles. We connect congregations with the great
march of the people of God throughout history.
We allow the ancients to tell their story in their
history and context, and then we do what we can
to provide a bridge from then to now for contemporary
congregations.
Third:
Under God we work out the plans that speak
to the condition of our people, of our congregation.
One pastor wrote (no doubt frustrated with the
many “one-size-fits-all” plans out there for spiritual
renewal) saying, “I am wondering if the time has
come to design my own program for my own local
church.” Yes. Exactly. This is precisely what
we all need to do. This is an essential part of
the work of the cure of souls. There simply is
no other way.
So I encourage you, dear pastor. (And I certainly
do not want to leave out Elders and other leaders
responsible for the spiritual life of the congregation.)
This is the work that you have been given. This
is what it means to shepherd the people of God.
Spiritual formation always has a local address.
God is asking you to discern the experiences necessary
for your congregation’s one-of-a-kind social environment.
There is no program out there that will bring
to pass the kind of renewal that Jesus has in
mind for your people. Perhaps groups like RENOVARÉ
can provide certain resources for your efforts,
but, by their very nature, they are only rough
sketches and illustrations. The plans are yours
to make.
ENTERING
VARIOUS PRACTICES
As
for practices, even though rough sketches and
illustrations are the best we can do, these can
sometimes be enormously helpful. So I here share
with you a couple stories that just may spark
ideas in your own heart and mind.
The first story is of a congregation healthy in
many ways and with innumerable strengths. One
glaring need, however, was our growing inability
to see God active and working in our midst. We
had grown cold and perfunctory, and we needed
the active life of God, real and immediate among
us. In speaking to this need we arranged for some
special meetings led by a pastor with a special
gifting in healing prayer. This pastor was from
a relatively high liturgical background and we
felt that teaching on healing prayer from this
direction could be better received by our Quaker
congregation than from, say, a pentecostal direction.
In preparation for this experience we decided
to use the spiritual discipline of fasting, and
to use it in three ways. First, we had a one day
congregation-wide fast. We gathered the next Sunday
night to share what we had learned. As far as
I could discern this experience was an overwhelming
failure. The most frequent comment had to do with
the headaches brought on by caffeine withdrawal!
Second, I invited our Elders to join me for an
experience of fasting each Monday for six weeks.
We then gathered at the Sanctuary altar Monday
evening to share our experiences. This was more
satisfying as different ones shared significant
growth and insight. We then would close the evening
with extended prayer for our people and their
heart growth in grace.
The
third experience was a seven day fast I undertook
myself in preparation for these meetings. A good
friend, a bus driver, joined me in the experience.
On the last day of the fast I walked around our
church property seven times. No, I didn’t blow
any trumpets, but as I walked I did experience
a great release of prayer for our people, feeling
like I had been enabled just a little to enter
into the spirit of the people, to use the language
of John Woolman. That evening I met with my bus
driver friend to break our little fast. He had
maintained a detailed journal record of the seven
days and we were both moved greatly by the insights
contained in those notations.
Can I say to you that those meetings were a dramatic
turning point for many of us, and for us as a
congregation. Those days were surrounded by the
depths of tender love. I know I shall never be
the same.
Briefly, a second story. This concerns a young
congregation, small but vibrant. Our problem,
however, involved numerous young Christians from
seriously dysfunctional backgrounds and desperately
needing a moral anchor in their lives. Again,
a spiritual problem demands a spiritual answer.
We responded to this need by providing extensive
teaching on many ethical passages in the Bible,
most intensively from the Sermon on the Mount.
Our friend Dallas Willard was with us in that
small congregation. I canceled all adult classes
so that we could all attend to Dallas’s teaching
on the Sermon on the Mount. He taught for weeks
on end—much of that teaching is now in The Divine
Conspiracy. Many in that small fellowship studied
for ten, sometimes fifteen hours just to prepare
for the next teaching session.
It is not too much to say that those teachings
formed us in ways that still impact us to this
day, some thirty years later.
You get the idea I am sure. Informed by the principles
we begin to think through the plans that are unique
to our setting and then enter into the practices
that will form us and our people into the likeness
of Christ.
Peace
and joy,
Richard J. Foster
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