Spiritual Formation For The Global Church

The church is called to grow in Christ. Yet too often, it ignores the practical dimensions of the faith. The church is one in Christ. Yet too often, it is divided by national, denominational, theological, and racial or ethnic boundaries. The church is a global body of believers. Yet too often, it privileges a few voices and fails to recognize its own diversity. In response, this volume offers a multi-denominational, multi-ethnic vision in which biblical scholars, theologians, and practitioners from around the world join together to pursue a cohesive yet diverse theology and praxis of spiritual formation for the global church. Be fed in your faith by brothers and sisters from around the world.

Evan Howard, a noted authority on Christian spirituality, provides a holistic, accessible, and informed introduction to Christian spiritual formation written from a broadly evangelical perspective. Howard joins Scripture with themes of community, spirit, formation, and mission in a single integrative guide. The book includes helpful features such as figures, charts, chapter overviews, and formation-focused questions. Its evangelical-ecumenical and global perspectives will appeal to a wide audience. Resources for professors and students are available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.

Have you ever wondered, “Is this all there is to life and ministry with the Lord?” “Why am I so tired all the time?” “How can I grow in my intimacy with God in practical ways?” “Am I so busy doing that I have forgotten how to be with God?” As ministry workers, we too often face these questions because we too often expect a thriving personal relationship with God to be an outcome of our ministry. Journey With Me illustrates that ministry is the result of the overflow of our relationship with God, rather than vice versa. Exploring over fifteen ancient spiritual graces—such as Lectio Divina, rule of life, silence and solitude, and prayer of Examen—Herbert F. Lamp, Jr. invites us to prioritize soul care, rather than treating ministry as a replacement for intimacy. In the process of knowing and being known, God fills us up with his love, joy, peace, and wisdom. Only then can we minister to others, balancing a heart for God with hands for service. After almost four decades of missionary service, Lamp has experienced the joys and potential pitfalls of serving Christ cross-culturally. Sharing his experiences and offering practical, time-tested methods to grow spiritually, Lamp invites you to journey with Our Father intimately as you cross your cultural, linguistic, ethnic, and geographic borders, serving him wholeheartedly and passionately.

Most books on spiritual formation focus on the individual. But spiritual formation is at the heart of the church's whole purpose for existence. It must be a central task for the church to carry out Christ's mission in the world. This book offers an introduction to spiritual formation set squarely in the local church. The first edition has been well received and widely used as a textbook. The second edition has been updated throughout, incorporates findings from positive psychology, and reflects an Augustinian formation perspective. Foreword by Dallas Willard.

Many churches recognize the importance of the genuine spiritual hunger in our time and are attempting to bridge the gulf between traditional religious institutions and the contemporary spiritual quest by revitalizing and retooling ancient spiritual practices. This book suggests that it is possible to relish the spiritual quest while honoring tradition and theological inquiry through practices such as spiritual guidance. It presents a sociological analysis of contemporary spirituality, case studies of congregations with spiritual guidance ministries, and reflection on historical practices and Protestant theological roots to explore the strengths and pitfalls of nurturing the contemporary spiritual quest in the average congregation. The resulting vision for congregation-based spiritual guidance incorporates practices that attend to person, community, and mission.

Worship Formation provides a thoughtful perspective on Christian worship and addresses how each element within a worship service spiritually forms the worshiper. Brooks challenges the reader toward an understanding that worshiping through music, prayer, Scripture reading, Communion, sermon, stillness, giving, and baptism engages the worshiper in spiritual formation. Worship Formation encourages the worshiper to not just go through the motions when they gather for worship, but to realize that they are being formed through each element of worship, and challenges those in leadership to be thoughtful in their approach to planning and leading worship services.

This textbook for introductory spiritual formation courses presents the fundamentals and practices of the discipline. This collection includes presentations by several well-known evangelical scholars including Gordon Johnston, Darrell Bock, Richard Averbeck, Klaus Issler, and others.

While there are many books that tell the "stories" about churches and church life, this work takes the rarely traveled path of looking directly into the lives of church members, focusing on the process of spiritual formation in each.