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Church sprouting

What Do Spir­i­tu­al For­ma­tion Based Con­gre­ga­tions Look Like?

In this May 2006 pas­toral let­ter to the Ren­o­varé com­mu­ni­ty, Richard Fos­ter lays out the char­ac­ter­is­tics and prin­ci­ples of spir­i­tu­al for­ma­tion based con­gre­ga­tions, and puts prac­ti­cal skin on them with per­son­al stories.
Richard J. Foster
Richard J. Foster
October 30, 2020
Roof hole

A Mag­nif­i­cent Act of Mercy

In Mark’s Gospel, four men dug a hole in a roof to help their friend. ​“Their child­like trust in Jesus’ pow­er to heal their par­a­lyzed friend rav­ished Jesus’ ten­der heart.” Ask­ing for mer­cy, Fil Ander­son points out, requires humility.
Fil Anderson
Fil Anderson
October 23, 2020
Snail

Learn­ing To Trust The Slow Work Of God

Car­olyn Arends reminds us that spir­i­tu­al for­ma­tion is a slow process by design. ​“Let’s not mis­take God’s patience for inactivity.”
Carolyn Arends
Carolyn Arends
October 22, 2020
Woman older looking up

Acknowl­edg­ing God in All We Do

“Dis­ci­ple­ship means learn­ing to acknowl­edge God in all we do,” writes Dal­las Willard, ​“and it takes a lot of learning.”
Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard
October 14, 2020
Bonhoeffer 3x2

Bon­ho­ef­fer­’s Road to Freedom

Read anew some well-con­sid­ered words from Diet­rich Bon­ho­ef­fer on the ​“four great dimen­sions of a spir­i­tu­al life that lead to free­dom in all its facets.” Richard Fos­ter intro­duces us to them in this excerpt from Streams of Liv­ing Water
Richard J. Foster Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Richard J. Foster & Dietrich Bonhoeffer
October 12, 2020
Black man looking at camera

Heal­ing from Race-Based Trauma

Author and coun­selor Sheila Wise Rowe knows first-hand the effects of racial trau­ma. She encour­ages us to ​“cre­ate spaces in per­son and across social media for one anoth­er to expe­ri­ence God’s heal­ing, love, com­pas­sion, and grace.”
Sheila Wise Rowe
Sheila Wise Rowe
October 9, 2020
Wheat held by hand

Giv­ing All to Christ

So, is Chris­tian­i­ty hard or easy? Is there a part of your­self that you nev­er want to lose in your Chris­t­ian walk? How do we rec­on­cile becom­ing ful­ly our­selves while los­ing our lives in the with-God life? Jon Bai­ley intro­duces this clas­sic C.S. Lewis piece about ​“embrac­ing utter aban­don­ment to God.”
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
September 25, 2020
Plant heart shadow

Catch­ing a Glimpse of God’s Heart

An excerpt from Prayer: Find­ing the Heart’s True Home that helps us ​“cap­ture a glimpse” of God’s heart as ​“an open wound of love.”
Richard J. Foster
Richard J. Foster
September 18, 2020
Gas gauge on empty

God’s Crash School

“Hit­ting my own bot­tom of depres­sion,” writes Juani­ta Ras­mus, ​“has enabled me to come to an amaz­ing aware­ness: I had been sourc­ing my life from an illu­sion.” That aware­ness led her to find the source of her being and life is not in self-made rules but in Christ.
Juanita Campbell Rasmus
Juanita Campbell Rasmus
September 9, 2020
Praying young woman

To Be Human Is To Pray

From his book How to Pray, Pete Greig helps us find ways and places to speak the soul’s native lan­guage of prayer.
Pete Greig
Pete Greig
September 4, 2020