Spiritual Formation in the Emerging Church
19 Dec 2004
I just finished a paper this semester/term on spiritual formation in the emerging church. The file is quite large so to save bandwidth on my blog, if you want a copy can you e-mail me at jason.clark@vineyardchurch.org
Summary
In trying to define what healthy spiritual growth might look like I used the ‘Faith Stage’ model of Fowler, and using Webb-Mitchell explored how much of the modern church is structured in such a way as to directly inhibit growth beyond Fowlers Stage 3.(he has 6 stages for growth)
To move beyond Stage 3, people need to face a deconstruction of their faith, with doubts and questions, as opposed to many churches that focus on building faith upon the notions of certainty. Our move into a post-modern context means that doubts and questioning are becoming more of the fabric of everyday life. People are continuing into further education and are less willing than ever to form beliefs that are unquestioned. While our cultural context would seem to be providing a wonderful opportunity to nurture the process of growth our churches are resisting this consistently.
I look at how if our churches incorporate learning processes other than the cognitive and become spaces that assist people to question and doubt, in multiple spaces and styles, that wonderful opportunity for growth exists in the church.
I then try to identify several of the factors a holistic growth process might include, and how these would help people ‘breakthrough’ to further the stages of growth in Fowler’s model. LastlyI detail from my church how it has experienced the fruit of this process with the growth in numbers and depth of faith by church members by exploring this process.
I also suggest that much of the emerging church is a location of people stuck at stage 4, with the problems fowler locates for that stage
8 comments
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Comment by Thomas Willer
10.02 am on 19 Dec 2004
Sounds really interesting JAson.
Comment by DLE
6.33 pm on 19 Dec 2004
Fowler’s stages are interesting, but since they are not uniquely Christian, they ultimately fail to describe Christian spiritual growth adequately. Using them as a guide for Christian growth is a bit like using a model of the solar system to find London.
Is Christian growth THAT distinctive? I believe it is is. I also believe that the overemphasis on doubt within pomo/Emerging churches is a terrible mistake that will only lead to a lot of damaged people. God does not reward doubt. The double-minded man of James gets nothing because he doubts. This denigration of certainty only kneecaps the Church and makes for a people who are always stumbling and never standing. At one point we must all come to the conclusion of Job: “I know that my Redeemer lives.” To place so much emphasis on doubt prevents people from getting to the place of Job. And that only hurts the Church in the long run.
Comment by Jason Clark
7.47 pm on 19 Dec 2004
It sounds like you’ve not read Fowler, and he is uniquely christian, and you’ve formulated your own version of spiritual growth based on certainty, many are able to form faith without the pain of the straight jacket of certainty. Also you likening him to a map of the solar system to get find London is misplaced for me. There is a pyschology to spiritual growth, which is what my paper is about, and I don’t think you have read that before making these comments :-)
Comment by DLE
3.56 am on 20 Dec 2004
Jason,
I studied Fowler at Wheaton College while securing my Christian Education degree. I found it curious that Fowler’s examples of his stages rarely kept within what most people would consider orthodox (small “o”) Christianity. In fact, he tried to equate Jesus and Gandhi. That seems rather odd coming from a Christian.
Comment by Dan
1.59 pm on 20 Dec 2004
Jase,
Thanks for the paper. Some friends who have read and discussed Jamieson’s “A Chruchless Faith” are discussing spiritual formation, and your paper comes at a very good time. Thanks again.
Dan
Comment by Paul
2.06 am on 21 Dec 2004
Jason, I have not read Webb-Mitchell but it is now on my wish list. I could not agree more with the premise of your paper. One of the shifts that Fowler recognizes but does not build on as much as I would like is the role of shame in spiritual formation. Our Western theological paradigm has been so exclusively built on “guilt” as a forensic the problem that the only solution grace offers or is needed is forgiveness. Discipleship then is either “get busy doing something” to build the organization or “learn something.” Few models ask the individual “Where were you wounded by the sins of others and how can we be part of your healing journey?” Evangelism is still built primarily on a guilt model and does not recognize that people don’t carry it around consciousness of guilt and “going to hell” but the wounds of toxic-shame from experiencing hell on earth.
Paul
Trackback by GraceConnexion
3.54 am on 21 Dec 2004
jason clark: Spiritual Formation in the Emerging Church
Interesting thesis consistent with the need to move from a model based primarily on guilt and ignoring the impact of disgrace shame – the impact of which Fowler clearly recognizes. Link: jason clark: Spiritual Formation in the Emerging Church.Spiritual…
Comment by Jason Clark
9.03 pm on 27 Dec 2004
Hi folks, so far over 50 of you have asked for copies of the paper. It’s been mailed to you. Let me know if it doesn’t arrive, and with so many of you reading it, it would be great to get some feedback :-)
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