Growing in faith

One of the hot topics in Christian circles is 'discipleship' or 'spiritual formation' . There are also others terms used, but the basic point is how we grow in our faith, rather than stagnate. Books have been written, and no doubt more will come! A friend of mine, a fellow Baptist minister, is studying this during his sabbatical.

In a recent sermon I preached about "transformation", the word used in Romans 12:1, where St Paul says, Do not conform yourselves any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. As I was preparing this it seemed to me that there were three 'dimensions' to spiritual growth - an inward dimension, an upward dimension and an outward dimension.

The inward dimension is studying our faith in God. It's the renewing of the mind that Paul speaks of. It draws us closer to God as we study Him. St Paul also wrote, Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. So we fill our minds with God's Word, because our minds influence our behaviour!

Maybe you can think of a time when you have been studying God's Word and He has spoken to you and helped your faith - that is the inward dimension at work.

The upward dimension is releasing our worship to God - worship from the heart. Although the whole of our lives should be an act of worship pleasing to God, we need to spend time specifically in worship to Him. This can be on our own, it should also be with others, so corporate worship times are important.

Maybe you can think of a time when you have been worshipping God and something has lifted your faith - that is the upward dimension at work.

Then there is the outward dimension, which is using our energies for God. He gives us spiritual gifts which he intends us to use for the benefit of others! Whether it is helping, serving or witnessing to others. However you can, reach out and get involved.

If possible go and visit Christians in another country and another culture. Especially if that is in the Third World. We have had the privilege of helping to run two Bible camps for young people in Poland - the first when both the iron curtain and the Berlin wall were still firmly in place! We have also made trips to India to see the work of Oasis India over there. We also spent a long weekend with the pastor of a church in Belgium.

These have been times when our faith is stretched and we're (as they say) out of our comfort zones! But these have been times when our faith has also been strengthened - the outward dimension at work.

All these three dimensions together help us progress in our Christian faith - all are needed. To summarise:

The inward dimension - with our minds - studying our faith in God
The upward dimension - with our hearts - releasing our worship to God
The outward dimension - with our bodies - using our energies for God

All of these dimensions must, of course, be surrounded by prayer - that goes without saying, although I've said it now, anyway! And I must tell my Baptist minister colleague I've blogged this - just in case it's useful in his sabbatical!

Should you want to,listen to the sermon, you can go to: www.laindonbaptistchurch.org/html/service2.html and right click on "Transformation".

For Men!

Yesterday at our church we had a men's breakfast, the first of a series of occasions for men of the church. I had the task of bringing the "talk". I spoke on "Why men hate church". Some months ago a man from my previous church came up to me and said why can't we have songs with words that men can sing! David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church complains that church has been feminised and that the Christian message has been changed from "Follow me" to "Have a relationship with me".

In other words, the challenge of the Christian life to follow Christ wherever he may lead has been watered down. Of course, we do need to cultivate our relationship with Christ, but we must not forget the challenges to follow him. Remember when he challenged those fishermen to follow him and he would make them "fishers of men"? They rose to the challenge and left the security of home and a job to follow after Christ. We have demoted that song to a children's song sung in Sunday School, "I will make you fishers of men if you follow me". What's even worse, we've even changed the words! Jesus didn't say "If you follow me" as a kind of polite suggestion, he gave them a command, "Follow me!" And they did! Illustrating that men do respond to a challenge!