In the course of the past two years, my own experiences of personal growth and formation have made it clear that I have quite a passion for healthy spiritual formation and growth in both individuals and communities. Though this passion has been present throughout much of my life, it has particularly flourished in recent years. I have been challenged to think deeply and theologically about spiritual formation. I have pursued personal spiritual formation within a number of communities: the GST, MRNA, and the St. Ann Community especially. I have experienced the ups and downs of communal spiritual formation, primarily within the St. Ann Community. I have even coached, counseled, and mentored family, friends and—as my later post on the MLI endeavor will detail further—undergraduate students in spiritually formative ways.
My experiences in Christian community thus far have continually reinforced for me the momentous importance of purposeful, attentive individual and communal spiritual formation. I have been a part of communities that have thrived and communities that have struggled greatly, with the health of the community consistently being a reflection of the presence or absence of deep, intentional spiritual formation. Issues of identity and purpose and relationship emerge as either exciting opportunities or intimidating, overwhelming threats. I have found that, at least within a Christian environment, an individual’s or a community’s attitude toward and interpretation of such issues rests largely on the kind of spiritual formation that is happening or not happening.
The artifacts that I have included below exhibit my developing thoughts on the importance of spiritual formation. First are three short monthly reflections on the beginnings of my time in MRNA. These reflections—meant to be descriptive and anecdotal rather than academic—demonstrate some of my own initial hesitations and frustrations with formation in the MRNA community as well as my growth in understanding of what spiritual formation looks like in my own life. For that reason, I believe these documents indicate maturation in outcomes 8abcdef and 9abcd.
MRNA Reflection — September
MRNA Reflection — October
MRNA Reflection — November
To give a little more substance to my own evolving perspectives on spiritual formation, I have also included below some assignments from Dr. Wray’s Christian Spiritual Formation class, which I was a part of in the fall of 2011, at which time I was also beginning MRNA and first entering the residential phase of life in the St. Ann Community. Given the parameters of the assignments, the “community in spiritual formation” document indicates something of my own context for and experience of community spiritual formation, and the “way of life” is a reflection of my own personal formational commitments, conveyed in poetic form. These documents articulate my beliefs about individual and communal spiritual formation in a more focused and more overtly theological way. For those reasons I believe that they too are good indicators of progress toward outcome 8abcdef. Furthermore, the passion for spiritual formation that they reflect—though admittedly only to a small degree in comparison with the ways my life in general reflects this passion—is an indicator of increased focus in ministerial identity, outcome 10abc. And finally, I believe my writing shows strength in the communicative goals of outcome 11abcd.
Theology of Christian Spiritual Formation
Community in Spiritual Formation
Way of Life
As I continue to move forward in life and in ministry, I plan to pursue further growth and refinement regarding spiritual formation, both on a personal level and as a way of being faithful to the calling it seems God has placed on me. Such growth will be nearly inevitable in the midst of the challenges of daily life, relationships, and Christian community. I also hope, however, to develop greater maturity in and a deeper understanding of spiritual formation through further academic study and through experience serving as a spiritually formative presence in the lives of God’s people. Mostly, though, I hope to learn how to more faithfully point people back to the Artist who is the most formative presence of all in their lives.
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