Tag: growth

Spiritual Formation vs. Discipleship (homage to Dallas Willard)

dallasChristianity just lost a wonderful teacher. Today, Dallas Willard has died of cancer at the age of 77.

As a person who has spent countless hours learning about spiritual formation and endeavoring to be formed well, I am saddened that we’ve lost such an insightful man. A number of his books were part of my required texts and his keen wisdom helped to shape me.

In homage to him today, I will refer you to this article that is very helpful for understanding the difference between discipleship and spiritual formation and why the formation of our characters into Christ-likeness gets sidelined in churches and Christian institutions. It’s quite good.

Remember to say a prayer today for all those who grieve his loss.

article excerpt:

Interview:

What do you mean when you use the phrase spiritual formation?

Willard: In our country, on the theological right, discipleship came to mean training people to win souls. And on the left, it came to mean social action—protesting, serving soup lines, doing social deeds. Both of them left out character formation.

Isn’t character formation very much a part of many Christian schools and institutions?

Willard: What sometimes goes on in all sorts of Christian institutions is not formation of people in the character of Christ; it’s teaching of outward conformity. You don’t get in trouble for not having the character of Christ, but you do if you don’t obey the laws.

Read the rest here.

This is the video collection of the last conference Dallas Willard did in February on Knowing Christ, and the Dallas Willard Institute at Westmont College. (It’s excellent) 

To visit the Dallas Willard Center at Westmont click here.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

Empowerment through decoding Shame : Brené Brown

bBrwn

 

Dr Brené Brown’s insights have the power to be life changing because she articulates and deciphers some of our most damaging obstacles with clarity that we can understand. This is how we start positive transformation.

After you watch the video, tell me what had the biggest impression on you.

Find more at Brené Brown’s website.

My recommendations of Books by Brené

Transcendence is moving from noun to verb?

GOOGLE is the number you get if you write the numeral 1 and then add 100 zeros. this is a largely lost mathematical factoid that’s been replaced by other meanings.

Google is the most popular internet search engine. (yeah, Duh.)

But something happened in contemporary culture when it was influenced by this culture of the information age. Google made the leap worldwide from a noun (think: person, place, thing, or idea) to a VERB. The noun form of Google standing for a company name sprouted into other parts of speech too.

Adjective: “If you want to know about me, do a Google search.”

Adverb: “He Google searched and found my article.”

Verb: “If you don’t know something, don’t ask me, just Google it!”

A lot of big things happen when this shift happens.

A noun gets this categorically right.

A adjective hones down a noun. Specifics.

An adverb specifies what a verb is doing or what an adjective is describing.

but, a Verb not only shows action (as the definition will tell you), but also taps into the ontological core of the thing itself.

This is helpful to know when we say, for instance, “God is Love.” Love is a noun, verb, adjective (loving) and maybe other things.

I wonder if that’s where we locate transcendence. Language captures crucial shifts in their broad strokes. It works to define parameters we can’t see. The layers ones.

So–Will you be marginalized to just a noun? Or will you flourish into as an adjective and or verb?

Tomorrow will be a PART II to this. The “how” bit.

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The boon of a “spiritual autobiography”

The challenge is to grow, right? For leaders and creators this can be a genuine existential issue.

That’s because once you “get stuck” your work suffers. When that happens, you suffer.

Plus, the double whammy. Lots of us bolt when we hit the first BIG obstacle on our journey of personal growth….pain. (obviously because it hurts, duh, right?)

Can you be brave enough to look inside your heart/mind and see things you don’t want to, or feel long-buried pain? Can I?

That’s the challenge that this next exercise can dredge up.

You may not think you have the time for it. But, since your baggage goes with you, like it or not, there comes a time to choose life and growth. Now is that time. I’m doing this right along with you.

The pain of being stuck and stymied will at some point outweigh the pains inherent in growth. (Pay now or pay more later.) But, with that growth is new-found relief and a greater understanding of one’s self. A bona fide Victory. And it also means you have more to give in your work and in your relationships. You will have a greater ability to triumph in adversity and accept love more fully. And you will even become less reactionary to perceived or actual threats (This is also commonly referred to as maturity, but who’s counting, right?) This is all a boon, my friends. Just you wait and see!

An angry person is a hurt person and unhealed person. Take a look around, if that doesn’t describe you, it describes someone nearby.
(I try to remember this information when I read so much rubbish on the interwebs….or when I find myself far too frustrated–that is to say, in need of healing and growth.)

So, come with me in the next few days, and weeks, and let’s do this together.

Oh, please, do the 90 second exercise in the previous post, and set it aside, if you haven’t done it yet. If you have, this is the time to pull it out and slowly read over your answers for a bit. Mull them, note your insights. Then, onward!

Start thinking about creating this very useful tool you will fashion: Your Spiritual Autobiography.

Guidelines for Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography
Your story is your own; no one else can tell it. Below are some more ideas/exercises to help you consider your spiritual life, and how you may wish to write about it. It’s not a story of your life, or a timeline of people, places, and events, but rather a crafted personal account of what and who have made you who you are now.

To start creating your “Spiritual Map”….Identify and list the places in which important things have happened to you.

Spiritual Encounters with Others

Who are the three or four people who have had the greatest impact on your life? Why?

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Experiences which Shaped You

What are two or three important experiences in your life? Why are they important to you? As you look back, do you see traces of God’s presence with you at those times?
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Impactful Communities
Which communities, religious or not, have had a lasting influence on your development?

Significant Choices

Think of the important decisions in your life. Discuss what they meant to you, how they were made, and the results.

Highlights and Low Points
List a few of the happiest and saddest experiences of your life.

Happiest
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Saddest
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A Master Story

Each of us has a “master story,” a theme that summarizes our life endeavor so far. See if you can recognize your master story. What might be a theme for your life thus far? If your life were a book, what might the title be? How about the title of the chapters you have lived so far, and are living right now?

Don’t worry about what this means for the future, just yet. Stay with your thoughts about your life up until now.

Did anything surface that surprised you?

Is there anything you need to grieve about?

In a week or two, we’ll revisit this. Thanks for taking this on! I’m lucky to have you along for this wild ride.

90 Seconds to a genuine inner gaze

Two things that don’t really go together are SPEED and Introspection.

But in 90 seconds, I think you can get off the blocks and make that crucial first step to the kind of growth that can only happen by linking up with the transcendent through your unique humanity. An inner gaze has to start somewhere. If not, we get stuck.

Be warned, once you look inward it can be painful. This is one reason why it happens too infrequently. The point though is to get started. Sometime during the holiday weekend I’ll post something of a followup. Creating a useful tool for yourself…the spiritual autobiography (which is something I too will be doing for my Masters class work. I hope you’ll join me).

For now, follow these simple steps: 

  • 1. Get paper and a pen
  • 2. Jot down the first things that come to you mind as you read the list below. (Don’t linger on this list. Be speedy.)
  • 3. Put away your paper for 1-3 days.
  • 4. Revisit your notes in 1-3 days when you have 20 minutes or more. (I’ll remind you, here at the blog.)

Consider these questions:

  1. Look at your failed or troubled relationships and list similarities, and note what makes you angry about them, or things you fear.

  2. Examine past patterns and recurring themes in your thoughts and behavior. Note any patterns that you see.

  3. Uncover the commonalities in your interpersonal difficulties. Do the same troubles with others come back again and again? Note them.

  4. Label areas of stagnation in your life, (i.e. work, relationships, poor habits, etc.).

  5. Consult with trusted friends and objective sources to ferret out problem areas. Okay, this takes some time, so for now jot down a few names.

  6. Include a list of your good qualities/strengths, and places or ways you find encouragement. [This should be easy, because it’s the feel good part. Briefly, look for all the good you can and mark it down.]

(So, what did you think about these questions? Was it hard to do?)

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