Comment

Comment by Stanley N. Helton on January 14, 2009 at 6:39pm

Hey, Bob, good to "see" you again. I think you are pushing the right buttons here. So a full definition of Christian spiritual formation would have to include "sent-ness," as well as "communal." I would also like to pack in "incarnational" but that is connected with being sent and "trinitarian," which connects with God as a community and thus, the church as a community.

But you raised the real challenge in church life: to convert "breathing" into "moving."

Comment by Bob Young on January 14, 2009 at 6:11pm

I would like to see someone explore in depth the way in which missional attitudes are fostered--perhaps growing out of our initial calling into the community of believers, through our individual giftedness for the benefit of the community, so that the body in its connected can function missionally (think the progression in Eph. 4:1-16).

The spiritual body of Christ (in my observation) spends a lot of time in basic bodily functions (parallel breathing, eating, sleeping, drinking, etc.) and in this misdirection fails to fulfill what is the real purpose of the body. If spiritual formation does not enable to body (yes, the individual members, but in a missional context, the corporate body) toward the purposes of God, we may have misidentified the components, purposes, or results of spiritual formation.
Some recent literature suggests that spiritual formation occurs best (only?--by) in the context of the community. Such may provide a connection between the sentness of the body (exhibited in the sentness of individual members) and spiritual formation.

Comment by Stanley N. Helton on January 14, 2009 at 2:38pm

I want to welcome all of you who have recently joined this discussion. So far I have place a couple of reference for spiritual formation. I would love to hear from you.

Comment by Stanley N. Helton on January 10, 2009 at 7:34pm

James, Forget last comment; I changed art.

Comment by Stanley N. Helton on January 10, 2009 at 7:30pm

James, Is there way to adjust the art?

Comment by James Nored on January 10, 2009 at 7:25pm

Hey Stanley. I'm thrilled you are starting this group. It would be good if you shared some of your background in this in the "Text Box" above, maybe with some relevant links to books and/or websites.

Also, once you add this and your first discussion, invite your friends and people you know using the "Invite more" function in this group. Looking forward to these discussions!

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