Richard Foster reminded the delegates at the Renovare conference in Wincheser last weekend that there is a real difference between trying and being in training, in relation to spiritual formation and discipleship. This is about intentionality and Grace as 
opposed to just will power. There is a goal in mind and we are empowered to embrace the small spiritual disciplines that will enable us to be progressively formed, conformed and transformed into the image of Christ.
We are encouraged to train like an athlete in the spiritual disciplines that we need and we have Christ as our ever-present Teacher to guide us into what we need for our own growth.
Spiritual Growth happens best in small groups, such as in the Spiritual Formation Groups recommended by Renovare that enable us to explore the six streams or movements in history of the Church and that reflect or flow out of the life of Jesus. This gives us a balanced vision of Christian faith and practice that we are to emulate. From the life of Jesus there emerges six distinct areas: devotion to God, virtue in thought. word and action, empowerment by the Spirit, compassion toward all people, prclmation of the good news of the gospel , harmony between faith and work. These are the contemplative movement, the holiness movement, the charismatic movement, the social justice movement, the evangelical movement, and the incarnational movement. We can learn how to pracitce the disciplines connected to these streams through the various examples throughout the history of the Church. We can learn from the likes of St Benedict, St Francis, St Ignatious of Loyola to name but a few. The priority is just to begin with the little discipline, with the encouragement and acccoutability we draw from the members of our Spiritual Formation group.
Recent Comments