On Sunday we launched our new focus on spiritual growth.
Next Steps for Spiritual Growth
From Pastor Chris
On Sunday we launched our new focus on spiritual growth. This is something the Leadership Council has been planning for many months, as we believe growing spiritually is one of the greatest needs in our church family.
What is spiritual growth? While it could be defined in a number of ways, here’s a helpful shortcut: think of all the ways your life doesn’t look like Jesus. Spiritual growth is the process of transformation by which your life becomes more and more like Jesus’ life.
This, of course, is a lifelong process that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and grows out of our relationship with God and other believers. The Leadership Council has found it most helpful to describe spiritual growth with the metaphor of a tree—
The roots: communion with God
The trunk: community with other believers
The fruit: living like Jesus
In the packet we handed out on Sunday (you can download a PDF here), we define some of the terms of spiritual growth—the spiritual disciplines by which we commune with God; the nature of Christian relationships that cause us to grow; the character qualities that reflect the life of God in us. The aim of these definitions and the sermons I am preaching is to help us get on the same page about what spiritual growth looks like and how to experience it. (If you missed the first sermon, you can find it on our website.)
To assist your spiritual growth, we have created a Spiritual Growth Self-Assessment. This is for you to take stock of where you are regarding communion with God, community with other believers, and living like Jesus. This is between you and God, so be as honest as possible about where you need to grow.
After you have worked through the assessment, please fill out the green Feedback sheet that accompanies the packet. The goal in this whole focus is for the Leadership Council to have a better grasp on what needs to change at Groveton to better cultivate spiritual growth. You can hand the Feedback sheet to an Adult Bible Fellowship Leader, a Pastor, or place it in the offering plate over the next two Sundays. On October 28th, the Adult Bible Fellowships will dedicate some time to discuss your takeaways from the self-assessment.
As we wrap up our 75th Anniversary Capital Campaign, in a sense we are ramping up another type of capital campaign. I know one pastor who led his people through a Spiritual Capital Campaign—asking for commitments of time with God in prayer, time spent meditating on God’s word, and so on. We are not doing this in a formal way, but the parallel with giving financially highlights the commitment required for spiritual growth. Following Jesus in our world is like salmon swimming upstream. We must be intentional in our communion with God and community with other believers if our lives are to be transformed and look more like Jesus.
I hope you will join us in this glorious pursuit!