The Wilderness Way #52

“Thomas Hoving was in the 1960s the Commissioner of Parks for the City of New York. He had a PhD from Princeton in Art History. He was really not well placed being in the administration of Mayor John Lindsey as the Commissioner of Parks; but he did that job for a while. Then he was approached by the board of the very prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art, which for a person with a PhD in art history would be the Mecca. They invited him to apply to be the director of the museum. He was most eager. In fact, they offered him the job. He’d just been working for the mayor for a short time. He went to Mayor John Lindsey, and he said, ‘I’ve been offered the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’d like to take it.’ Lindsey said, ‘Well it’s kind of dead over there; but you should go there. Because you could make the mummies dance.’” (Richard Allen Farmer, “Making the Mummies Dance: Bringing Life to Words & People”)

Jesus can “make mummies dance.” In truth, that is what we are to be about both for ourselves and for others in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In The Wilderness Way #51 I wrote about the importance of scriptural study and reflection (what John Wesley would call searching the Scriptures). The critical distinction is that biblical study must be transformational and not merely informational. A vital Wesleyan imperative is to understand Scripture as a “means of grace. Bible study as training in righteous (which must be connected with concrete service of love towards God and the neighbor in need; more about that in an upcoming Wilderness Way) is a foundational element of faith development.

Study after study points to the fact that people come to church because they both need and want spiritual guidance (which is a way of talking about growth in discipleship). What we seek is to live the prayer of Aelred of Rievaulx – “To know Him [Christ] more clearly; to love Him more dearly; to follow Him more nearly.”

In Focus, the third booklet of the 3 booklet series Reveal: A Spiritual Growth Conversation, the authors state: “If a church must choose to do only one thing incredibly well, spiritual guidance is the runaway first church” (Reveal: Focus, Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, p. 43). Hopefully every church will choose to do more than one thing incredibly well, but the importance of spiritual growth in making disciples is difficult to underemphasize. Spiritual formation includes worship but it is more than worship. Searching the Scriptures (i.e. transformational Bible study) is critical. There are an abundance of excellent Bible study resources which, if properly used, are transformational. My favorite is Disciple Bible Study by Abingdon Press.

Try this as a spiritual formation/disciple-making check list:

1. Help people develop a personal relationship with Christ

2. Challenge people to grow and take next steps (which includes Bible study and serving the last, the least, and the lost)

3. Provide a clear pathway that helps guide spiritual growth

4. Have church leaders (both lay and clergy) model and consistently reinforce how to grow spiritually

5. Help people understand the Bible in greater depth

6. Help people “feel” like they really belong to the church, the Body of Christ (Recognize the importance of fellowship and support. Methodism grew both evangelistically and in service to others when class meetings prospered.)

7. Encourage people to take responsibility for their own spiritual growth (in partnership with the church).

(The above is paraphrased with adaptation from Reveal: Focus, Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, p. 44.)

A prayer from my daily devotional guides stays with me to enhance my spiritual formation:

“By your tender mercies, O God,

by the unceasing ministry of your Spirit,

open the meaning of the ancient documents

handed on by communities of believers,

so that in this time and place

I may better understand how I may best work

to heal your fractured world;

in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

(This Day: A Wesleyan Way of Prayer, Laurence Hall Stookey, p. 75)

“Open the meaning of the ancient documents handed on by communities of believers.” What priceless advice. In transformational Bible study and reflection on the meaning and application of Holy Scripture, disciples are made. Where disciples are made, the world is transformed … “on earth as it is in heaven.”

By: Bishop Mike Lowry On 3/3/2011