Articles for tag: Spiritual Disciplines

June 10, 2016

Christian Standard

Racism Is a Spiritual Issue: An Interview with Jerry Taylor

By Gincy Hartin My first encounters with Dr. Jerry Taylor took place back in the 1970s and “80s, when I was a child growing up in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area. My family”s spiritual roots are in the historically black a cappella churches of Christ, and throughout my childhood, we frequently attended gospel meetings, singing fellowships, and other activities at numerous church of Christ congregations throughout that area. It was at these gatherings we would often hear the deep, rich baritone voice of Jerry Taylor””sometimes leading songs, sometimes preaching the gospel, and on numerous occasions, doing both.  In every case,

April 24, 2016

Christian Standard

Johnson, Lilly Investing in Teens

By Jennifer Johnson Johnson University (Knoxville, TN) is just starting its Future of Hope Institute, but has already been encouraged””and funded””by a $600,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment. The institute is the latest initiative in Johnson”s ongoing work to invest in the Knoxville community. Each summer for the next three years, 30 local high school students will participate in the program, which includes emphasis on spiritual, personal, and professional development. “After a weekend retreat in the mountains, there will be a week of classroom work,” says Dr. Gary David Stratton, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. “We”ll focus

December 31, 2015

Christian Standard

The Spiritual Discipline of Play?

By Joe Boyd Last week I sat across from a good friend and trusted adviser at a LaRosa”s Pizzeria in Cincinnati. (He”s also a clinical psychologist, so I can sometimes get therapy for the price of a pizza.) I was telling him all the good things that were causing anxiety in my life: my growing kids, growing business, and growing church responsibilities. He looked at me and asked, “What are you doing for fun?” Almost without thinking, I replied, “I don”t have time for fun at this time in my life.” His look said it all. I knew the glaring

July 13, 2015

Christian Standard

Glen Elliott’s Thought Leaders

We asked 35 Christian leaders, “Who is the influencer with the biggest impact on your life and ministry?” Most of these leaders listed several influential thinkers, writers, innovators, and leaders more of us should get to know. This response is from Glen Elliott, lead pastor with Pantano Christian Church, Tucson, Arizona. ________ God has used a long list of people to influence me in different seasons of my life, but Henri J.M. Nouwen“”a man I never met””may have had the greatest impact. Nouwen was a Catholic priest, but a reader might rarely sense that; perhaps it”s why he was read by non-Catholics

May 7, 2015

Christian Standard

Growing Deeper

By Jennifer Johnson A look at how some growing churches are growing in ways difficult to measure but vital to achieve. ____ Jason Yeatts Executive minister, adults The Creek, Indianapolis, Indiana In our movement, I think the habits of the early 19th century are ingrained””that discipleship means giving people the right material or sermon. At The Creek, we have made an intentional shift from “informational discipleship” to a relational model. Four years ago we started a series of four classes called “Life on Life.” The idea was you”d move through them””from Belong to Grow to Serve to Engage””and be ready

September 14, 2014

Christian Standard

The Brave New World of Church Ministry

By Dick Alexander When I graduated from seminary in the late 1960s, I had answers. Today I have questions. Back then, I thought I knew what a church should look like. There were some variations on a theme, but there was essentially one “model.” But today? Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Everything else is up for grabs. Back in the day, the world was different. When the neighborhood ruffians on our block were playing in the yard and wanted a drink of water, we drank out of a garden hose””none of this sissified bottled water. And there

May 6, 2014

Mark A. Taylor

Four Ways to Enrich Your Prayer Times

By Mark A. Taylor Most Christians, especially mature Christians, tend to pray the way they”ve always prayed, worship the way they”ve worshipped for years, “do devotions” the same way week after week, pursue the spiritual disciplines””or ignore them””according to their longtime habits. Maybe that”s OK, but if you have a hunch that your prayer times could be richer, that your relationship with God could be closer, that your own spiritual growth could continue, then here are some tips from David Butts and Ken Read. “¢ Pray the Psalms. Butts tells what happened when he first decided to spend more prayer

March 24, 2014

Christian Standard

The Spirituality of Shutting Up

By Casey Tygrett We may hear those who speak to us from different theological platforms. But have we really learned to listen to them? If not, we may be missing the most spiritual thing we can do when confronted by those with whom we disagree. The conductor steps to the platform. His back is firm and straight, posture perfect, and he lifts the baton gently into the air. The musicians with their instruments wait for the moment and the motion to begin the performance. The musician”s score contains different parts, but all the performers are pointed toward one pinnacle””the sweeping moment

March 3, 2014

Christian Standard

Seeking Discipline and Considering the Captives

By LeRoy Lawson   Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor Jana Riess Brewster: Paraclete Press, 2011 Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives Thomas French New York: Hyperion, 2010 The title gives it away: Jana Riess”s Flunking Sainthood isn”t going to be your most serious read this year. It may be, though, the most fun. Actually, Riess is serious about the exercise of spiritual disciplines. Her tone is lighthearted, even flippant at times, but her soul thirsts, yea even longs, for the living God. So she goes to work. Her

September 26, 2013

Christian Standard

Five “˜Must-Read” Books for Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth Richard J. Foster New York: HarperOne, originally published in 1978 In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership Henri J. M. Nouwen New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989 Communicating for a Change Andy Stanley and Lane Jones Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006 Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend Andy Stanley Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012 Simple Church: Returning to God”s Process for Making Disciples Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006   Recently Milligan College and Christian Standard asked

February 12, 2013

Christian Standard

What We’re Learning on Our Walk (Part 1)

By Jim Probst At Eastview Christian Church (Bloomington, IL), we were searching for a way to convey spiritual formation to our congregation. For many, this would be a new idea. Others would see it as the next step in their journey. For all of us the right metaphor could frame a common experience with a common language. In our church, which has grown well beyond 5,000 on a typical Sunday, this would be a major effort requiring coordination between church leaders and many departments. After months of praying, planning, and writing, we determined to develop a churchwide study through our

February 10, 2013

Christian Standard

Spiritual, Like Jesus

By Les Hardin When it comes to spirituality, I find myself caught between two conflicting truths. The first truth is I was born and raised in the church. My parents took me to church when I was only two weeks old, and there”s never been a time in my life when I didn”t know Jesus on some level. I am descended from elders and deacons, trained at the seminary by serious men: a discipler, a teacher of Israel, and a ministry veteran. But here”s the second truth: in spite of my upbringing and training, I have no idea what it

February 9, 2013

Christian Standard

Living in Rhythm with Jesus

By Casey Tygrett Let”s face it. We can”t dance. Most of us, anyway. Perhaps you are one of the chosen few who can actually dance, but that takes rhythm. And the kind of rhythm involved in dancing is a gift I was not blessed with. There is no rhythm in this overcommitted and under-paused culture, either. But Jesus offers a solution for that. The rhythm we create for ourselves is fragile and broken and built on selfish foundations that turn and fade with the seasons of our lives. It”s not that our seasons aren”t important, but when we travel the

February 5, 2013

Christian Standard

Spiritual Formation””Defining the Terms

By Casey Tygrett   Abide Abide is the central word in Jesus” teaching on the vine and the branches in John 15. It is a key teaching because it emphasizes our need to remain in the life, teachings, and transforming presence of Jesus throughout our lives. A life of abiding is key to Christian spiritual formation. Abiding can be a form of prayer in which a person concentrates on just being with God without needing to make requests or even use words. Abiding is a key concept to spiritual formation because it essentially is the “base camp” out of which

February 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Re: Formation — Studying Spiritual Formation in Our Colleges and Universities

By Jennifer Johnson In the last few years, several Christian church and church of Christ colleges and universities have created new degree programs in spiritual formation. It”s representative of a wider movement in the academic world; as Richard Foster wrote in a recent article on TheOoze.com, “Seminary courses in spiritual formation proliferate like baby rabbits.” However, these new programs are purposeful as well as popular””each one is designed to develop mature leaders who are growing in the image of Christ and taking him into the world. Here are several of the degrees and programs we”ve discovered among these schools. Lincoln

September 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Interview with Bridget Schnautz

By Paul Boatman   Bridget Schnautz of Clay City, Illinois, is a Bible college graduate who has invested a two-decade career in management of a Sherwin-Williams paint factory, while pursuing a call to ministry.   Can you tell us about God”s calling in your life? There have been many benchmarks I can identify in looking back. My first church exposure came around age 8 when I was invited to VBS. Having no sense of “church protocol,” I started pounding the piano. A woman I thought was going to scold me, sat beside me and said, “Bridget, do you know that

August 22, 2012

Christian Standard

Mining for Diamonds

By Greg Swinney A few months ago, I found myself sitting at a roadside taco stand in Mexico. I could hardly believe where I was and what I was doing. A three and one-half hour church service had just ended and those who helped lead the service were hungry. They invited me to go “out to eat” with them. It was 10 p.m. and I was ready for some food, but I had no idea it meant sitting on white plastic stack chairs along the side of the dusty road and eating out of the back end of a brightly

December 16, 2011

Christian Standard

The Impact of God”s Word on My Heart

By Dean Trune I desperately need daily input from the Bible. Because it is “alive and active,” according to Hebrews 4:12, I can examine the same verse or passage from time to time, and the Holy Spirit will “speak” truth in applicable ways for what is happening in my life at that particular time. God”s Word is so powerful! Since I need a steady flow of God”s Word into my life, God has orchestrated four ways for me to receive its input.   I read God”s Word from cover to cover each calendar year. It is not simply a goal,

October 25, 2011

Christian Standard

You Must Read This . . . A Spiritual Retreat

By Becky Ahlberg Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense By N.T. Wright New York: HarperCollins, 2006 I found this gem during my search for help in writing the spiritual formation curriculum for an intensive yearlong program for low-income single mothers. As is often the case, when you teach, you learn the most. For this teacher, this book was like fresh water to a parched soul. In its simplicity and clarity it brought into bold relief how truly dry I was! Page after page the author brings to life the theology we often “know” and yet don”t understand in a personal way.

December 6, 2010

Christian Standard

Leading Beyond Your Ability

By Rick Grover I recently told our staff, “We are now at a place where I have never been. I have no experience in leading beyond where we currently are. We have surpassed where I believe my education, skills, abilities, and experience can take us. So where do we go from here? How are we going to get to the next level in our ministry and go where God wants us to go?” I paused, not for dramatic effect, but because I wasn”t sure what to say next! So much for leaders having all the right words to say at

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