Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Review of Spiritual Formation As If The Church Mattered by James Wilhoit

Synopsis


James Wilhoit presents a systematic model for spiritual formation in the church today. He describes spiritual formation as having “an emphasis on prevention and equipping.”(16) His definition establishes the framework for what spiritual formation should look like in the church:

1. intentional

2. communal

3. requires our engagement

4. accomplished by the Holy Spirit

5. for the glory of God and the service of others

6. its means and end is the imitation of Christ (23)

The foundation for all of this is a proper understanding of the role of the Gospel. Often times the church has treated the Gospel simply as a tool for salvation, after which one personally pursues holiness.(26) However, a proper understanding of spiritual formation maintains the centrality of the Gospel all the way until death.(27)

Wilhoit’s model for spiritual formation in the church consists of receiving, remembering, responding, and relating.(50) Receiving focuses on the reality of brokenness in all of our lives creating openness for the work of the Holy Spirit. Remembering focuses on what God has done and is doing, seeking more and more of His grace in our lives. Responding focuses on taking the grace we are receiving and pouring it into people around us in love and service. Relating focuses on our need for relationships to sustain and enrich our spiritual formation.

Personal Reflection

A foundational concept that really took shape for me in the reading of Wilhoit’s book was in respect to the view of sin. I have had a tendency to look at my sins instead of my inherent brokenness. I have learned that when we focus on individual sins we limit the transformative impact of God’s grace. This is not to say that we should not battle against individual sins, but we must seek healing for the sickness of sin instead of the symptoms of our sins.(58-61)

Feeding off of this understanding of sin is the understanding of increased need for grace, properly depicted in Figure 11.(109) This shows why the Gospel is for so much more than simply the initial step of salvation. I have always struggled with fleshing out the role of the Gospel beyond salvation, so Wilhoit’s treatment of this topic was of great value to me. Dallas Willard sums up this concept by saying:

To “grow in grace” means to utilize more and more grace to live by, until everything we do is assisted by grace. Then, whatever we do in word or deed will all be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. The greatest saints are not those who need less grace, but those who consume the most grace, who indeed are most in need of grace – those who are saturated by grace in every dimension of their being. Grace to them is like breath.(107-108)

Ministry Application

The concepts that Wilhoit discusses lead to several very important applications regarding ministry in the local church. Perhaps the most important point is creating an environment that fosters a reality of our brokenness, as discussed by Wilhoit regarding receiving. I believe it is crucial that our community have an authentic teaching and understanding of our sinful nature, thereby establishing our utter dependence on the grace of God and a sincere love for the Gospel. It is this dependence on grace that will fuel the process of spiritual formation and allow the Holy Spirit to work real spiritual transformation. I also believe that this sincere love of the Gospel will in turn fuel true evangelism, as I believe our lack of excitement regarding the Gospel has been the result of a lack of understanding in its continuing role in our lives. This means stepping beyond the “intellectual assent” that Bill Hull spoke of in “Choose the Life” to a vital and living understanding of God’s grace that we find in the Gospel message.

I also found Wilhoit’s writing on his fourth pillar of spiritual formation, relating, to have important applications for the American church today. These applications are both for within the church as well as reaching outside the church. As Wilhoit states, “other people are one of the most important sources of God’s grace in our lives.”(177) God created us as intensely relational beings, and we are called to impart God’s grace into the lives of those around us through real relationships. It is by healthy and intentional relationships within the church that we find a crucial support structure for spiritual formation. However, we must recognize the importance of pursuing relationships out of which we find the support we need, and not the other way around. As Wilhoit says, “we generally find healing and support in community when that is not our primary aim.”(184) It naturally follows that through genuine relationships of love and service to those outside of the church that we can best convey God’s grace to others, seeking to share the Gospel message.

Ultimately our goal for spiritual formation in the church is summed up well as Dallas Willard states it:

This process of “conformation to Christ,” as we might more appropriately call it, is constantly supported by grace and otherwise would be impossible. But it is not therefore passive. Grace is opposed to earning, not to effort. In fact, nothing inspires and enhances effort like the experience of grace. Yet it is today necessary to assert boldly and often that becoming Christlike never occurs without intense and well- informed action on our part. This in turn cannot be reliably sustained outside of a like-minded fellowship. Our churches will be centers of spiritual formation only as they understand Christlikeness and communicate it to individuals, through teaching and example, in a convincing and supportive fashion.(205)

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