Measuring spirituality

How can we measure our own spirituality? The question seems almost absurd, like judging how humble you are--as soon as you start measuring your humility, you lose it!

There are many ways people try to measure spirituality. Some count the number of people they convert. Effectiveness at tasks may be related to spirituality, but we all know people who convert many without ever really being transformed into the image of Christ themselves.

Others judge their spirituality by their spiritual disciplines. "If I pray/memorize Scripture/fast more, I'll be more spiritual!" That's putting the cart before the horse, since spiritual disciplines are tool and products of spirituality, not spirituality itself.

I want to suggest that we cannot measure spirituality, but we can "review our course" on our spiritual journey. Reviewing our course would mean identifying challenges in ministry that God's can help us meet. By asking "what don't I do well that I should be doing better" we identify our shortcoming, those areas where God can work in us. Robert Mulholland says: "The process of being conformed to the image of Christ takes place primarily at the points of our unlikeness to Christ's image. . . . God meets us in those places of our lives that are most alienated from God. " Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation, 37.

By asking "what don't I do well that I should be doing better" we identify our shortcoming, those areas where God can work in us. This is not a way for us to beat up on our selves, nor is it an opportunity to improve ourselves. It is understanding reality—I’m not perfect but God is; I want to grow closer to him, and he can bring me to himself.

Increased effectiveness can be a part of this since defining "effectiveness" would itself become part of reviewing the course. We tend to measure effectiveness based on what we do well. (Those gifted at evangelism tend to use conversions as a positive measure. Those gifted and shepherding use leadership as a measure.) By understanding where we are more effective and less effective, we develop a richer definition of what our goals are.

Spiritual disciplines also become a part of reviewing the course. My prayers, Bible reading, etc., are ways to discover where I am most alienated from God. They are also ways God can use to diminish the alienation.

Reviewing our course is not about quantifying anything and more about understanding the reality of who I am as a person and a minister. It also means allowing God to form me in those areas I least want re-formation.

Defining "Spirituality"

We cannot get any sort of handle on the spiritual formation of ministers if we don't have a handle on the term "spiritual." This has always been tricky, but today's particular difficulty is that we can now conceive of secular spirituality.

Eugene Peterson in his book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places demonstrates the problem: "As an abstraction 'spirituality' frequently obscures the very thing it is intended to convey--God alive and active and present. The difficulty is that the term has become widely secularized in our present culture and consequently reduced to mean simply 'vitality' or 'centered energy' or 'hidden springs of exuberance' or 'an aliveness that comes from within.' For most people it conveys no sense of the life of God, Spirit of Christ, Holy Spirit" (29).

Any definition of "spiritual" for Christians must begin with Genesis 1:1-2--the spirit of God moving over the face of the deep, then speaking and therefore creating.

Spirituality, then, does not ultimately refer to us, as in "aliveness that comes from within," but somehow, in some way has its source in God and who he is. Any sense of spirituality that has its source in the person is, in Peterson's words, "Idolatry, reducing God to a concept or object that we can use for our benefit" (29-30).

Welcome!

I've started this blog because of my personal interest in how ministers are formed spiritually, and because in the past week several others have mentioned to me their same interest.

I hope this can be a forum for discussing how we are personally shaped into the image of Christ and how we help others in their formation.

Blessings!

Mark