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The importance of spiritual growth
The importance of spiritual growth
Developing spiritual formation
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When people hear the words ‘spiritual maturity’ many different connotations of what the meaning of those words are and how to achieve them can come to mind. How is one supposed to attain spiritual maturity? Are you supposed to strive toward spiritual maturity on your own or is this a task for the church to help people mature in their faith? What do prayer and meditation have to do with spiritual maturity? All of these questions are needed to understand what spiritual maturity looks like and how to strive toward this ultimate goal. In the Bible, Ephesians 4:13-15 explains why spiritual maturity should be important to us by stating “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of …show more content…
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (New International Version). Werdel, Dy-liacco, Ciarrochi, Wicks, & Breslford (2014) state that “religiosity and spirituality are multidimensional variables that incorporate cognitions, sentiments, and behaviors including both positive and negative aspects of an individual’s relationship with the Divine”. One’s spiritual journey is not likened to a one dimensional flat line, but a line that has peaks and valleys along the way. Majerus and Sandage (2010) believe that “maturity is a developmental and teleological theme in Christian spirituality and is described throughout Scripture”. To understand spiritual maturity one needs to look toward Scripture and to investigate what God has planned for His children. Spiritual maturity is a process with the end goal of becoming likened to the
Equally important, the author describes the Christian life as a “dynamic faith journey” (p.224) which remind us that is not just a linear process but a never-ending lifestyle that is constantly changing. It is like the worldview, described in Why College Matters to God, “continuously subject to growth and revision as we encounter new people, ideas, and experiences” (Ostrander, 2012, p. 28). That is why she claims that even during the adulthood people can keep building their knowledge in a different but excellent way. Adults have built their personal perspectives of situations in life, so she emphasizes that during this process, there are going to exist changes and that is how people acquire new information. That is why Marmon reaffirms: “Adult learning is tricky; grown men and women often must unlearn
For all teens, the transition into adulthood is generally seen as a challenging and scary process. For teens diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as well as their caregivers, this transition is often more complicated. The period of transition for individuals with ASD into adulthood is intensely more challenging due to their “unique characteristics, the lack of services that address the special needs of such individuals in adulthood, and the expectations of society for a typical path to adulthood in the face of atypical problems” (Geller and Greenberg, 2009, pg. 93). Without the necessary resources to transition, teens with ASD find themselves unprepared for life at work, in college, or community living. Through this paper, the reader will obtain knowledge in regards to what ASD is, the barriers it yields concerning the transition into adulthood, and the effects it has on the individual as well
In most Baptist Churches, the pastor serves until he passes away, voluntarily resigns or terminated by church for some ethical or moral indiscretions. Therefore, many Baptist churches have enjoyed their pastors for longer intervals than some other denominations. In my ministry context at Oak Grove Baptist Church (OGBC) the former pastor served for forty-six years and died unexpectedly. Unfortunately, OGBC did not have any procedures in place for pastoral transition and was unprepared for the change. Pastoral transition can be difficult for any church that does not have procedures in place. Once the church has selected a candidate the work of welcoming the new pastor and his family begins. In addition, the work of strengthening the relationships
Snodgrass, J., & Sorajjakool, S. (2011). Spirituality in older adulthood: Existential meaning,productivity, and life events. Pastoral Psychology, 60, 85-94. doi: 10.1007/s11089-010-0282-y
Secondly, the Church can insist on its identity as an inter-generational community. It can do this structurally, by refusing to segment congregations by age, and temperamentally, by recovering a biblical respect for maturity and rejecting popular culture’s infantilism, thereby offering to children a goal of growing up. Popular culture exalts perpetual adolescence.
Spiritual direction is defined as “help that is given to another to enable him to become himself in his faith” (Davis, 266). It is an adolescent religious education model that encourages an ongoing relationship between the mentor and adolescent; involving one-on-one meetings where discussion centers on issues which are affecting the adolescent’s life in hopes to see how God may be present and working in them. Spiritual direction addresses the major concerns in each individual adolescent's life. Through this educational model, adolescents wrestle with relevant spiritual questions which may lead him or her to discern presence of God in his or her life (Davis, 268). Because adolescence is a time in which one desires to find a deeper meaning to one’s life, spiritual direction from the Church and parents is both beneficial and necessary. Adolescents develop the capability to reason and question, thus understanding the Truth in a new spiritual way. It is important for spiritual leaders to walk alongside adolescents to direct them towards the Truth. This development stage opens individuals to new capabilities for addressing a spiritual hunger, making it the prime time for conversion (Davis, 270). With spiritual direction from parents and mentors in the Church, adolescents can discover and create individual identities before God.
In this paper two topic from the Psychology and Spirituality course will be discussed in regards to spirituality and their influence on my personal life. I will examine how I have grown and what I have learned from the week on Spring Lake ranch and how I wish to continue moving forward in my attempt to be spiritual and build a closer relationship to God.
The author explore Horton’s (2009) article on spiritual discernment and what influences decision making amongst believers in Christ. The author believes praying for guidance, waiting for signs from God, praying for wisdom to make Godly decision, considering strengths, abilities, talents, and gifts, and using common sense influence daily decision-making. The author goes on to explore past family and experience factors, such as, guidance from pastors, a conflicting family systems, and a Christian college, that influenced the present approach to spiritual discernment. The author concludes with a practical application of the adopted approach to spiritual discernment. The author emphasizes checking in with the client, allowing the client to explore
The shepherd and sheep relationship is the best illustration for the relationship between pastor and parishioners. When Jesus asked Simon Peter does he love him three times and said to him “Feed my sheep”, the shepherd and flock relationship has been set. Since Jesus is our good shepherd (Jn. 10:11a), he laid out a good example for us to follow - to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11b) Thus, the wellness of both in and out of the parishioners should always be the concern in the pastors’ hearts. Soul care for the people is essential. Christian friendship is the foundation of Christian soul care. Pastoral ministry including preaching, teaching, and worship forms the broad context of pastoral counseling. Pastoral care is within pastoral ministry but broader than pastoral counseling. God’s love is the source and motivation. Within the pastoral care, there are spiritual direction and pastoral
Although the field of spiritual leadership is still in its infancy, it is attracting a lot of attention in the last decade and many authors and scholars link spirituality to organizational leadership (Dent, Higgins and Wharf, 2005). A very popular definition of workplace spirituality is: “ a framework of organizational values evidenced in the culture that promote employees’ experience of transcendence through the work process, facilitating their since of being connected to others in a way that provides feelings of completeness and joy” (Krishnakumar et al., 2014). Since leadership is not simply about power and authority, but it also includes emotional connections, authenticity,
Being sick and in the hospital is not something any of us plan. However, it is something that we welcome when we are too sick to be at home with our loved ones. While in the hospital we would like the staff to have our best interest in mind by caring for our physical, mental and spiritual needs. (I use spiritual in this paper to include those that are religious. I do this because most religious people I know claim to be spiritual but not all spiritual people claim to be religious.) Hospital are good about treating our physical ailments but not so much with the spiritual. I believe our spiritual beliefs have an effect on our mental and physical wellbeing and should be addressed by providers. I am not the only one with this belief according
“Age is just a number, maturiy is a choice.” (Harry Styles) Some people see this quote as true, while others view it as nonsense. Maturity is the state of being mature, but what does “being mature” really mean? In actuality, the definition of mature is defined by the person themselves. Some believe it is being “Fully physically developed; full grown” as stated in the Oxford English Dictionary. Others argue that one must attain a certain level of mental or emotional growth. Search engines and dictionaries also say that being mature is having reached an advanced stage of mental or emotional development characteristic of an adult. The definition of a word may seem like a small thing because, on the surface, it appears very matter of fact. But, for anyone who is actually striving to achieve maturity, or for one who is being judged or is judging the attained level of maturity of
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” According to Buddha, everyone needs some form of spirituality to define his or her life and existence. Webster Dictionary defines spiritualism as “a system of beliefs or religious practices based on supposed communication with the spirits of the dead, often times through mediums.” Though this is one general definition of spiritualism, this concept is one that does not hold a conclusive meaning. Each and every single person has the ability and right to create and practice their own idea of spiritualism. From ancient times to present day, the term and practice of spirituality has transformed, particularly from region to region. Despite the discrepancies in practices and overall understanding of this idea, spirituality has had an effect and impact upon all of humanity since the creation of time. This religion that is believed to have been established in the early eighteen hundreds, after two little girls claimed to have the ability to talk to spirits, sparked interest in this spiritual movement, allowing it to spread rather rapidly over many geographical locations. Aside from being recognized as a religion, spiritualism is also believed to be a form of philosophy and a science in which spiritualists believe that there is life after death and try to demonstrate this through the ability of attempting to communicate with those that have passed on. Spiritualism was socially different from other religions in existence at the time because it presented followers with a more tolerant belief system that assimilated the principles and facts from a selection the world's religions. Spiritualism also made it acceptable for women to play a disti...
The biggest determinate for an individual to ether go to a university or community college should be, maturity. Maturity has many facets to it, performance level which is what most schools look for, but as well, discipline and accountability are some additional important traits.
Children between the ages of five and ten are most likely to develop in a slow manor and