Spiritual Formation – What is it Really, and is it Happening?

            One area of church life that is of importance to staff and volunteers in the church is spiritual formation; aka.. how to grow to be more like Christ. Yet, this is not always at the top of the list for most churchgoers.  The demands of modern life, whether real or fabricated leave little time beyond the normal Sunday morning time allotted for the worship of God, or the gathering of the networked.

            The development of a deep and relevant spiritual inner life is of great importance, and we have not really done a great job in helping to develop this spiritual inner side of the human being.   Dallas Willard writes;  “The reason for the recent abrupt emergence of the terminology into religious life is, I believe, a growing suspicion or realization that we have not done well with the reality and the need. We have counted on preaching, teaching, and knowledge or information to form faith in the hearer, and have counted on faith to form the inner life and outward behavior of the Christian.” [1]

            Have we just counted on the preaching and Sunday school model to get the job done like Willard says? Rick Warren would seem to agree: “ The biggest mistake that churches make is we think that sermons will produce spiritual maturity. If people don’t take notes, they forget 95% of what they hear within 72 hours. That is not going to produce spiritual maturity.” [2]

We live in a time when community is shallow in all areas of life.  We are part of a church community until something is said that offends, or another church has a larger and seemingly a better children’s program, or the church down the street is the happening high profile church.  This is a reality that we in ministry face each day.  In this climate of programming and resource shopping, how do make disciples that are rich in spirit and fruitful, disciples that look like Christ?

Andy Stanley offers this perspective:

A spiritually mature person is one who lives as if God is who He says He is and will do all He has promised to do.
A. A spiritually mature person is one who has big faith. Matt 8/Mark 7/Luke 6
B. Spiritual development is faith development.
Question: What fuels the development of faith? What are the ingredients that when stirred together, result in greater confidence in the person and promises of God? [3]

Practical Teaching
Providential Relationships
Private Disciplines
Personal Ministry
Pivotal Circumstances

In the next installment, we will tackle Stanley’s 5 points one or two at a time.  For now take a look at your ministry and see if you are counting on preaching to make disciples..  Take a real gut check to see if you are spending any time sowing into the lives of others, and if someone is sowing into your life.

Peter Mueller is a pastor and church planter currently resides in the Cincinnati Ohio area with his wife Linda and children, he is a graduate of Liberty University and has studied at Wilmington College and Valparaiso University

 [1] Spiritual Formation in Christ: A Perspective on What it is and How it Might be Done; Published in the Great Omission, San Francisco: Harper Collins, 2006

[2] Rick Warren on Effective Discipleship; http://churchrelevance.com/rick-warren-on-effective-discipleship/

[3] Andy Stanley presentation; Drive-In Conference Session 4

Electric Guitars in Worship- Turn them up already..

I have had the opportunity over the last few months to visit churches as well as in the past, and I feel the need to write regarding the use of electric guitars and the volume positioning given to these instruments in many a church settings.  Only one church that I visited had what I would call proper volume and positioning of the electric guitar / guitars in the mix.  

Modern praise music is very electric guitar driven.. so, why does it seem that church ministries seem to be afraid of them? Now, you may be reading this and thinking not us.. I get it really; but just step back and reflect on it for a moment.

Professionals use real amplifiers and acoustic drums, versus Pods and electric drums.  There is a reason, they produce the wanted and pleasing sounds that modern folk have become accustom to hearing.  Using amplifiers in a church as well as acoustic drums is very manageable and possible with some fore thought and technical savvy.

Capturing and isolating speaker cabinets is a new art, enclosing and placing mics around a drum set is not new either. That being said, if a praise song is electric guitar driven and the electric is held back sonically, sounding more like a transistor radio sound; it takes away from the power of the song to open hearts. A bad mix is a bad mix! Hillsong does this well; many of their songs are electric guitar driven and have pronounceable rhythm hooks that ID the song.  When you see them live, the acoustic guitars seem to disappear, and when the song goes soft they are right there carrying the song. 

I also know that some of you are saying, well it’s not a concert! Sure it is, it is a concert of praise for the Lord; the voices should loud and lifted toward heaven as well as we should be playing with skill and the power of the Holy Spirit. I am not saying it is to be crazy like a secular concert, but powerful like a spiritual concert. Do you think that music in and of heaven is going to be subdued? Read again..

Stop trying to go halfway with the modern worship team, let your worship time be produced well, allowing for Spirit inspired music to be inspiring.

Peter Mueller is a graduate of Liberty University, a pastor and church planter residing in Cincinnati Ohio with his wife Linda and their children.