Spiritual Disciplines

As an FSM staff, our chief desire is to see God transform students into world changing followers of Christ.  Out of their personal walks with Christ, we want our students to experience radical life change, to root in authentic biblical community, and to develop a clear sense of mission.

Jesus makes it clear in John 15 that it is impossible to bear spiritual fruit of any kind without abiding in him.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (John 15:4-6, ESV)

It’s evident that if we want FSM students to truly be transformed, we need to teach them how to abide.  Below we have highlighted several spiritual disciplines that we want to challenge ourselves and our students to partake in regularly.  These have been taken from Richard Foster’s 1978 book Celebration of Discipline, a wonderful resource on the subject.  This is not a comprehensive list, but rather a few ideas to get us and our students thinking:

  • Meditation – Foster defines Christian meditation simply as “the ability to hear God’s voice and obey his word.”  In practice, it looks like simply dwelling on the revealed word of God in the Bible, thinking about it, and asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate it and help you put it into practice.  If studying Scripture is focused on distilling the original meaning of the text, then meditating on Scripture is focused on relating the text to your own life.  We typically associate this discipline with our quiet times.
  • Prayer – Disciples of Christ should look to spend significant time in prayer, which is possibly the most central discipline of the faith.  Prayer is simply talking to God.  Setting aside times to pray through scripture, to pray for yourself, and to intercede for others is key.  Additionally, we are told in Scripture to “pray without ceasing,” throughout our days (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
  • Study – Romans 12:2-3 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  According to Foster, “The mind is renewed by applying it to those things that will transform it.”  Spending time studying primarily the Bible (and secondarily other books), working diligently to understanding it’s original meaning, is extremely important.  It’s here that you’ll build your doctrine.
  • Solitude – The discipline of solitude is the act of getting away from all people and distraction and sitting in genuine silence before God, listening to him, in need of nothing but him.  Take these times early in the mornings when you wake up, during the commute to school or work, on a free Saturday afternoon, etc.
  • Service – “Genuine service causes us to experience the many little deaths of going beyond ourselves. Service banishes us to the mundane, the ordinary, the trivial… nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness.” says Foster.  Service builds humility into us.  When it is done in secret, without praise, it puts the sinful flesh in it’s place.  Look for opportunities to serve those around you frequently.
  • Confession – James 5:16 urges us as believers to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  While Christ is the only mediator between man and God now (1 Timothy 2:5), the discipline of confessing sin to other believers brings humility and an end to pretense.  This kind of authenticity will bring about healing and will make much of the cross of Jesus in your life.

Let us as leaders implement these disciplines into our lives, that we might be able to lead out as examples to our students.

discipleship, from the library, personal growth
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Triple ‘H’

I don’t think that I quite realized what I was gleaning from my professors in school at JBU. The years of collective wisdom had been packaged and simplified to three simple words that even a freshman could understand. It would not be an overstatement to say that I heard it in every single class that I took at least once. In several of the ministry classes that I was a part of, it was often the application for the day or the framework that the professor was trying to give to us for our future as pastors. An easy to remember mantra that said so little, yet covered so much ground when seeking to spiritually grow and develop a person.

HEAD – HEART – HAND

The Triple ‘H’ concept is wonderful and masterful summary of spiritual life. Extremely comprehensive and holistic, approaching spiritual development and discipleship with these ideas in mind ensures that the follower of Christ is well equipped for the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-12). I believe that it takes a balance of all three in a persons life in order to produce spiritual fruit. It is natural for different believers to gravitate and desire to implement one of the three areas more than others. It takes purposeful pursuit to strengthen the weakest muscles in a body. The same is true for our spiritual bodies as well.

HEAD

A persons knowledge of God and their understanding of the cognitive aspects of following Christ are what I mean by “Head.” We can obviously never know all that there is know about God (Rom 11:33-36). What kind of relationship is it really, though, without knowledge and understanding of the other person involved. To grow in our theology and biblical understanding is a obvious piece to our spiritual growth (Col 1:10).

HEART

Jesus reminded us all what was spoken years before about loving God. We are to do it with all of our heart! (Deut 6:4-6) Growing in heart is one of those great difficulties to judge or grade. A bit like packaging fog, it isn’t a standard system or set of steps. One simply needs to look at the relationship that Jesus had with his Father in Scripture and get a good idea of what a heart for God looks like. To love the things that he loves: holiness, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, grace, the gospel, righteousness.

HAND

As James reminds us, faith without works in dead. (Jas 2:17-18). Building up the body of Christ, serving those in need, and sharing the gospel are all out workings of a believers life of faith. It is through the time and energy put forth that that body is built up. It is here that the believer is shown that God’s grace is perfected in his/her weakness (2 Cor 12:9). Using our ‘hands’ are often what makes us grow in exponential fashion.

CELL LEADER CHALLENGES

  • | Head | Heart | Hand | is a great grid to help students look through when assessing their spiritual lives. Do some evaluation with your co-leaders on where you see different students weak and strong in these areas.
  • Help students to ‘see’ their spiritual lives this way. Draw it on a napkin. Have them rank themselves 1-3 on which they find themselves passionate and growing.
  • It is your responsibility to challenge them in all three areas. Bible study, serving, prayer, discipleship, worship, reading, and sharing the gospel are all parts of a growing believer.
  • Look at yourself…where do you find your strike zone and are you working to make sure that you are aiming for the center with a good balance of Head, Heart, and Hand.

discipleship, mission-vision, personal growth
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