Spiritual Formation and Discipleship

Overview
This 8-week course (meeting 4 times) introduces the biblical and theological principles of spiritual formation. Particular attention will be devoted to how individuals grow in deeper communion and intimacy with their triune God by cultivating a biblically balanced and healthy practice of spiritual rhythms. Learners will also focus on ways their own continual process of growth can contribute to Spirit-empowered transformation in others’ lives. 

Learners engage with the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us (2015), Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines (2016), and Discipleship That Fits: The Five Kinds of Relationships God Uses to Help Us Grow.(2016). – available at Amazon.com

Intended Competencies
Our learning together in community aims to enable us to gain:

• • • the value of knowing church history for the Christian life, theology, and ministry
    • an appreciation for the benefits we have today because of the struggles of Christians from other time periods and cultures
    • a framework for historically locating major persons, movements, events, and ideas that have shaped the Christian Church from the first century to the present
    • a working knowledge of the major people, ideas, and values of church councils, the Protestant Reformation, and one’s own connection to them
    • ability to apply insights from various historical eras to contemporary church life and challenges faced today