dissertation

211
8.5 Spiritual Formation
An equally indispensable and related, but distinct, aspect is that of spiritual formation. 71
Spiritual formation can be defined as “our continuing response to the reality of God’s
grace shaping us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit,
in the community of faith, for the sake of the world.” 72 The idea is that, in a missional
community, all participants – including young people, 73 and formal leaders 74 – are learning
what it means to be disciples of Jesus 75 and to attend to the Holy Spirit’s presence
and activity in conversational processes in the congregation. 76 Furthermore, the Bible
has a continuing, converting, formative role in the life of the community. 77 Policy and
practice are informed by prayer. Preaching, teaching, contributing to communal worship
activities, and pastoral counseling or spiritual direction, all contribute to spiritual
formation and they may all be said to be works of leadership. 78 These activities can be
71
The topic of ‘Spiritual Formation’ in connection with missional thinking has lately gained much attention.
For example, The Ecclesia Network held their 2011 National Gathering on “Spiritual Formation in
Missional Congregations.” Ecclesia Network, http://www.ecclesianet.org/ (accessed December 4, 2011).
Furthermore, the sixth annual Missional Church Consultation, which was held at Luther Seminary in
November 2010, was called “Cultivating Sent Communities: Missional Spiritual Formation.” The papers of
this conference have been published in Dwight J. Zscheile, ed., Cultivating Sent Communities: Missional Spiritual
Formation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012).
72
Jeffrey P. Greenman, “Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective: Classic Issues, Contemporary
Challenges,” in Jeffrey P. Greenman and George Kalantzis, eds., Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in
Theological Perspective (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010), 24, as quoted in Roger Helland and Leonard
Hjalmarson, Missional Spirituality: Embodying God’s Love from the Inside Out (Downers Grove, IL: IVP,
2011), 26.
73
Brian Kirk and Jacob Thorne, Missional Youth Ministry: Moving From Gathering Teenagers to Scattering Disciples
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/YS, 2011); Tim Sudworth, with Graham Cray and Chris Russell, Mission-Shaped
Youth: Rethinking Young People and Church (London: Church House Publishing, 2007).
74
Scholars Birch and Parks remind us that “church leaders can choose to ignore the loss of robust intimacy
with God” and that the “drifting that follows from that loss is dangerous territory.” Lewis A. Parks and
Bruce C. Birch, Ducking Spears, Dancing Madly: A Biblical Model of Church Leadership (Nashville, TN: Abingdon
Press, 2004), 128. The authors recognize the importance for leaders of being self-differentiated, selfaware,
and reflective, but they value their spiritual life as being the most important. Ibid., 113-114. This
vision accords with EMC views.
75
Cf. Alan Hirsch, “The quality of the church’s leadership is directly proportional to the quality of discipleship.
If we fail in the area of making disciples, we should not be surprised if we fail in the area of leadership
development....Discipleship is primary; leadership is always secondary.” Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways:
Reactivating the Missional Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), 119. The idea of discipleship is
elaborated in Alan and Debra Hirsch, Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker, 2010).
76
Hahn, “Congregational Discerning as Divine Action in Conversation,” 163.
77
Darrell Guder, “Biblical Formation and Discipleship,” in Lois Y. Barrett, ed., Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns
in Missional Faithfulness (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 59.
78
Cf. Jackson W. Carroll, God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 2006), 127. Spiritual direction is especially emphasized in the EMC. Cf. Gibbs and Bolger,
“Emerging church participants receive spiritual direction from their mentors as they seek to live a balanced
rhythm of life in all spheres of reality, balancing prayer, community, and outreach.” Gibbs and Bolger,
Emerging Churches, 232.