Spiritual Formation –
“Striving to grow into Jesus' likeness.”
One of God’s clearest
objectives for all his adopted children is to transform
them into the likeness of his perfect Son (Rom. 8:29; Gal.
4:19; Eph. 4:11-16). That fact has been revealed to us so
we will cooperate with him by setting aside our lesser
goals and focusing on His as committed disciples of Jesus
(Lk. 9:23; Phil. 3:12-14; 1 Tim. 4:15-16).
Seeing to each person’s steady growth is a responsibility
that belongs on every church’s short list of top
priorities. It should include:
•
regularly
highlighting and re-targeting Christlikeness (a.k.a. being
godly, mature, complete, "perfect", holy, sanctified) as
God’s will,
•
casting a vivid
vision of what it “looks like”,
•
urging people to
persevere in their pursuit of it,
•
encouraging them
when they’re doing well and gently re-directing them when
they’re falling short,
•
providing
instruction to establish them in the fundamentals of
Christian beliefs and lifestyle,
•
reminding them to
conscientiously consider how to “edify” each other (Rom.
14:19; Eph. 4:29; Heb. 10:24),
•
using our shared
commitment to spiritual formation as a filter for deciding
how best to use our times together,
•
developing
partnerships for mutual support and accountability. An
excellent tool has been developed as a tri-fold "booklet"
to help these relationships become truly life-changing. To
view it, click on this link: Greenhouse Growth
Groups
To read more
about these and other ideas for establishing spiritual
formation as a living priority in your church, including a
list of basic Christian beliefs and lifestyle for every
believer to work on, a master copy of "Greenhouse Growth
Groups" and much more, order the book:
Gold, Silver and Precious Stones.
Go to the
Products and
Resources page.