One of the most piercing criticisms Christians can face is summed up by what one woman I met chatting outside the supermarket on a cold Autumn day was summed by her observation: “I don’t mind Jesus. He seems like a really good man, but my experience of church is that they’re all just hypocrites! they’re nothing like him.” She then went on to give me some tragic examples of her experiences.
To be an authentic follower of Jesus means a commitment to the ways and character of Jesus. Richard Foster, from a Quaker perspective urges the church to rediscover the formation of Christ-like character. For Foster the responsibility to grow in grace (2 Pet 3:18) is a God-given imperative. All believers are to take up their cross and follow in the steps of Christ. The great challenge, for Foster, is that this primary task has been all but lost in the frenetic activity of modern church life.
“Thirty years ago, when Celebration of Discipline was first penned, we were faced with two huge tasks: First, we needed to revive the great conversation about the formation of the soul; and second, we needed to incarnate this reality into the daily experience of individual, congregational, and cultural life. Frankly, we have had much greater success with the first task. Christians of all sorts now know about the need for spiritual formation, and look to saints Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant for guidance. It's the second task that needs to consume the bulk of our energies for the next 30 years. If we do not make real progress on these fronts, all our efforts will dry up and blow away.”
For Foster, the authentic work of formation is accomplished in the quiet of the human heart. “This work is solitary and interior. It cannot be seen by anyone, not even ourselves. It is a work known only to God. It is the work of heart purity, of soul conversion, of inward transformation, of life formation. It begins first by our turning to the light of Jesus.”
The motive for spiritual formation must not be allowed to become a remedial therapy for the malaise of the modern church or society. Writes Forster: “So we stoutly refuse to engage in formation work to ‘save America [or the Western church in general] ] from its moral decline’ or to restore churches to their days of past glory or even to rescue folk from their destructive behaviours. No! We do spiritual formation work because it is kingdom work. Spiritual formation work is smack in the centre of the map of the kingdom of God. Therefore, all other matters we gladly leave in the good hands of God.”
Foster advocates internal, external, and corporate disciplines. These include the following internal disciplines:
- Meditation
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Study.
The external disciplines include:
- Simplicity
- Solitude
- Submission
- Service
Finally, there are corporate disciplines, for the community of faith. These include:
- Confession
- Worship
- Guidance
- Celebration
You can watch Richard Foster teach on these disciplines here.
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Richard Foster, “Spiritual Formation Agenda: Three Priorities for the next 30 years.” Christianity Today, Feb 2009.
Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: A Path to Spiritual Growth. (San Francisco: Harper, 1998), 8
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