Formación Espiritual - USA / Canada Region

Introduction
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include Bible study, prayer, the disciplines of
abstinence, and spiritual journaling.
Unit 4 (Lessons 15-18) moves the “pilgrim soul” to
embrace the community disciplines of worship, the
sacraments, face-to-face groups, family religion,
spiritual friends, and faith mentors.
In Unit 5 (Lessons 19-20) students are challenged to
see service as a spiritual discipline. True to the
Wesleyan heritage, service is as much a spiritual
discipline as prayer or Bible study. In fact, a
spirituality that does not lead to service is a noxious
preoccupation with self that manicures the soul while
ignoring the agonies of the world and our
responsibility to the community of faith.
The in-class time for the course is about 30 hours;
20 90-minute sessions are planned. A teacher and
class may add extra sessions, but are not to
eliminate any class period. The course time-design
does not include time for translation. If translation is
necessary, more class hours must be added.
In settings where the entire course is taught in an
intensive week or two weeks, the homework
assignments must be adjusted. Nevertheless,
standards must be kept. You may wish to design
assignments that include actual ministry and writing
up a formal report after the end of the class. But do
not let the time for completion go beyond 30 days.
The Teaching-Learning Strategy
Collaborative and cooperative learning form the
heart of our educational strategy for this course. We
believe culture-clad, experience-laden adults have
plenty to teach and learn from each other. The
teacher’s role is facilitator and not the “sage on the
stage.” Each student is a valuable teaching-learning
resource and not an empty head to be stuffed with
information. Studies show that when students
participate in their education collaboratively and
cooperatively they learn faster and retain it longer
than in traditional education.
Base Group Philosophy. Divide your class into
permanent Base Groups of three to four persons. If
students have preenrolled, do this before the first
session. Otherwise do it during the first meeting of
the class. The members of the Base Group form a
learning team that will work together during each
session. They may also be encouraged to meet
beyond the classroom to study and enjoy Christian
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