Honest2God

Honest to God

Living the Way Everlasting

Psalm 139: 23-24

Sermon statement

The Lord knows all about us, is always with us and has lovingly guided our lives. We need to be honest to him if we are to develop spiritual intimacy and spiritual growth.

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Maintaining an Authentic Spirituality

Francis Schaeffer described true or authentic spirituality as “ we are to love  God, we are to be alive to him, we are to be in communion with him, in this present moment of history. And we are to love men, to be alive to men as men, and to be in communication on a personal level with men, in this present moment of history”(italics his). Evelyn Underhill summarised it as communion with God and co-operation with God.
 

Hence authentic spirituality begins with God. It begins with a divine call, rebirth and conversion (John 3:3-8; Acts 2:38-39) and continues with sanctification. It requires divine grace and our willing co-operation. It involves our inner and outward lives. It involves the integration of ours lives as we are being restored by the Holy Spirit. The goal is to become more like Christ (Eph 4:13-16).

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Review of Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart

Blogpastor wrote an excellent review of this book over at his blog. He brought out many points which are my concerns too when I first read this book.

The approach of breaking down all the human elements that need transformation is also a very Western and scientific approach. It helps me to understand each particular part and how it functions together and deepens my understanding, but it also overwhelms the individual with too much applications, and it feels quite cumbersome. It may be better if he had taken a more Asian or holistic and biblical approach and viewed the human being as a whole and demonstrated how Christ’s death and resurrection has provided a basis for the renewal of my whole being and how the church needs to provide a conducive context where all its members can better predispose themselves to the ongoing grace of sanctification.

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Tides of the Spirit in the Christian Life

There has been an explosion of interest in classical Christian spirituality over the past 50 years. While a great deal of work has been done on the history of Christian spirituality, there has been no full-scale theological and pastoral treatment of Christian spiritual life since before the Second Vatican Council.

Beloved Dust takes a realistic, contemporary view of human being as entirely physical (dust) and shows it immersed in three great tides of the Holy Spirit, the traditional threefold rhythm of conversion, transfiguration, and glory. What is unique about Robert Hughes's approach is the effort to root spiritual theology in the doctrine of the Spirit, an outgrowth of the renewed interest in the Trinity among both Catholics (Karl Rahner) and Protestants (Robert Jenson). Also striking is Hughes's emphasis on "ordinary life". Here as a married Episcopal priest/theologian who brings a distinctly "Protestant" perspective to a traditionally "Catholic" enterprise for so long the preserve of celibate priests. What he achieves is a new presentation of the traditional teaching in the light of contemporary knowledge and practice.

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Review of The King Jesus Gospel

Prof Scot McKnight is a theologian, proliferate blogger and writer who has published several books such as The Jesus Creed (2004) and One.Life (2010) which are worth reading especially for those who are interested in spiritual formation. In this latest (2011) book, McKnight put forward the thesis that the contemporary North American Protestant churches are stuck in a 'salvation culture' mode when they should be in the 'gospel culture' mode. Being in the 'gospel culture' mode will ensure that these American Christians  become disciples of Jesus Christ.

The key to his argument is the definition of the gospel. McKnight defines the gospel as the good news of God's plan for a people of God worshiping Him in 'cosmic temple ' in Gen 2 to the 'new Jerusalem in Revelation. This includes fulfilment and completion of Israel in Jesus' coming, death and resurrection. The emphasis will then be also on Jesus as Lord and King in the kingdom of God in the post-resurrection era. He compares this to some understanding of the gospel as the good news for personal salvation. He attributes this 'salvation gospel' and its resultant 'salvation culture' to be the result of Augustine and the Reformation influences.

I find his distinction between the gospel announcement and personal salvation a little disturbing. And also the lower role of justification by faith he assigns in the gospel message. In his excellent exegesis of  1 Corinthians 15:1-5, 20-28, he tries to separate them but instead of either/or, I wonder if it should be and/plus. The gospel message aside from the  telling of the Israel and of Jesus should also include personal salvation and justification by faith. It will be useful if McKnight examines other Scriptures that explain the gospel message and share his thoughts on them.

I agree with McKnight in most parts but at times, I am left wondering at how did he arrive at his conclusions in others. It is a thought provoking book about our basic understanding of the gospel and salvation. Again as in many 'theological' discussion, I am left with a 'so what.' How does a gospel culture helps us to become committed disciples? Here, McKnight refers us back to his book One.Life. One.Life, like his Jesus Creed describes what we should do as disciples rather than how do we motivate people to intentionally become disciples. I believe that is the foundational question facing the church today. The debate about the gospel and salvation is a symptom rather than the issue. Christians know all about discipleship and following Jesus. The issue is how to get them to intentionally become one.

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The Christian Contemplative Path of Silence

Just finished reading these two powerful books about the Christian contemplative path of silence. In his first book (2006), Martin Laird, spiritual director and professor in the department of theology and religious studies at Villanova University shares on the contemplative path of silence and dealing with distractions. Five years later (2011), he publishes his second book which is meant as a companion to the first in which he explores further the distractions and how that help to bring awareness to God as the ground of our being.

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Corollaries of Christian Spiritual Formation

I have been thinking about Christian spiritual formation the last few days and suggests the following corollaries.

(1)   Growing into Christlikeness is the spiritual formation process of the restoration of the imago Dei.

(2)   Building relationships is the spiritual formation process of being in communion to the triune God and relating to others.

(3)   Becoming missional is the spiritual formation process of  embracing shalom and expanding the kingdom of God

(4)   Intentionality or the human response is a continuing partnership in spiritual formation.

(5)   Spiritual learning with the heart and mind guided by the framework of the Bible is the human role in spiritual formation.

(6)   Spiritual formation and transformation are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

(7)   Faith communities are the context and matrix (container) of spiritual formation.

(8)   Spiritual formation are enhanced by participating in faith communities.

Emotions and the Spiritual Life

I posted this on 11 October 2006 and is reposting here because it is so insightful.

Emotions and Spiritual Direction

Kathleen Fischer, Working with the Emotions in Spiritual Direction: Seven Guiding Principles, Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction. Vol.12. No.13. September 2006


Fisher, obviously a very experienced psychotherapist has given us seven guiding principles for working with emotions in spiritual direction.

1. Emotions belong at the center of spirituality, not at its edges.

It has taken us a long time but finally we have come to the realization that a holistic spirituality has emotions at the center of spirituality. I agree fully with Fisher in this. In many traditions, especially the Evangelical tradition, we value the intellectual, treating the emotions as unreliable guides. It has become a major stop for us to acknowledge that we are emotional beings. Donald Coggan, the 101st Archbishop of Canterbury once said that the longest journey in our spiritual life is from the head to the heart.

2. Emotions are not opposed to reason, in fact, they are a mode of knowing.
“The heart has its reasons that reasons does not know”. I agree with Fisher here that emotion is a way of knowing. If we learn to acknowledge and name our emotions and trace it back to the cause, it often gives us new insights into a lot of issues. That is because of the mechanism of denial that blocks our reasoning sequence. Fisher also formed a few questions to help us in our prayer reflection:
· What is the feeling in me like and how do I picture it?
· Does my anger issue in a sense of resolve and creative direction, or is it eating away at body and spirit, alienating me from others and interfering from prayer?
· Am I choosing to hold tight to feelings of hurt and sorrow in spite of the grace that keeps me from fully using my gifts in the ministry, or should I risk moving past it?
· Do feelings of guilt undermine my trust in God and myself, or can I make peace with my finitude and the limits of life?
· Can I celebrate the joy and peace I experience this day as God’s gift? (p.29)

3. Naming emotions accurately and exploring their relationship to the Spirit requires patient, attentive listening.

Fischer notes that emotions often come as “interwoven clusters”. Thus it is the role of a spiritual director to carefully untangle the whole clusters. Often anger may come together with the fear of death, shame or dearth.

4. Bringing hidden and unacknowledged emotions to awareness frequently leads to breakthroughs on the spiritual journey.
It has been noted that sometimes we have feelings about our feelings. “We are ashamed of our sexual desire, guilty about our jealousy, afraid of our anger-and sometimes the feeling about the feeling is worst than the initial feeling itself.” (Italics author’s). This is where careful listening and providing a safe space comes in. A safe space is where a directee can feel secure to explore his or her own emotions without the feeling or being judged by the director.

5. Tracing emotional memory, the history of how we came to feel the way we do, often liberates a person spiritually.
We have emotional memories. The smell of cherry blossoms may bring back memories of a holiday in Japan. Emotional memories offers the director many opportunities to strengthen or weaken the hold the past. I strongly support Fischer’s statement that we allow the memories to surface rather than to probe for them. When a memory, especially a negative memory surface by itself, the directee may be ready to deal with it. Prematurely bringing out negative memories may be harmful to the directee.

6. Praying with the imagination and incorporating the arts into spirituality leads to insight and conversion.
The arts have always had a highway into our heart. Hence the spiritual director must be familiar with ways of using the arts; creative paintings, music, icons, mandala to help their directees identify and deal with their emotions. Imaginative praying especially using bible stories is a powerful tool.

7. Spiritual directors need to pay prayerful attention to their own emotional experience, inside and outside the time of direction.
Spiritual directors must always be doing their own emotional work so that they will know where they stand with themselves. Aside from that, they must be listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Sometimes, issues may be hidden from the director by the skilful psychological defenses of the directee. In such cases, the Holy Spirit will uncover the deception and fgo to the heart of the matter.

This is an informative article contain the distilled wisdom from Kathleen Fischer who has been a psychotherapist and spiritual director for more than twenty years.

TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE

  So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

In this day of self-centered living and pleasure-oriented lifestyle, the total commitment to God of body, mind, and possessions portrayed in this text is difficult for many Christians to achieve. Even though we realize that we have nothing we have not received and that we are only stewards of the good gifts God has entrusted to us, we often fail to apply this basic truth to our daily lives:

The gold that came from Thee, Lord,
to Thee belongeth still;
Oh, may I always faithfully
my stewardship fulfill.
—Unknown

It was said of Frances Ridley Havergal, author of this text, that the beauty of a consecrated life was never more perfectly revealed than in her daily living. She has rightfully been called “The Consecration Poet.”
“These little couplets that chimed in my heart one after another” were for Frances Havergal the result of an evening in 1874 passed in pursuing a deeper consecration of herself to God. “Take my voice and let me sing always only for my King” was personally significant for Frances. She was naturally very musical and had been trained as a concert soloist with an unusually pleasant voice. Her musical talents could have brought her much worldly fame. However, she determined that her life’s mission was to sing and work only for Jesus. The line “Take my silver and my gold” was also sincerely phrased. At one time Frances gathered together her many fine pieces of jewelry and other family heirlooms and shipped them to the church missionary house to be used for evangelizing the lost. Nearly fifty articles were sent with “extreme delight.”

Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of Thy love;

Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for Thee;
take my voice and let me sing
always only, for my King.

Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages for Thee;
take my silver and my gold—
not a mite would I withhold.

Take my love—my God, I pour
at Thy feet its treasure store;
take myself—and I will be
ever, only, all for Thee,
ever, only, all for thee.


Osbeck, K. W. (1990). Amazing grace : 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions (256). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications.

Random Glimpses of My Desktop (20)

...and a random glimpse of my soul during my spiritual retreat

NEARER, MY GOD, TO THEE

  Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. (James 4:8 KJV)

This well-loved hymn was written by a talented and charming English woman, Sarah R. Adams (1805–1848) who lived only 43 years. In spite of her delicate health, Sarah Flower Adams had an active and productive life. After a successful career on the London stage as Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth, she began to write and became widely known for her literary accomplishments. The cross mentioned in the first stanza of her hymn text may have been the physical handicaps that limited her many ambitions.

Sarah’s sister Eliza was gifted musically and often composed melodies for her sister’s poems. Together they contributed 13 texts and 62 new tunes for a hymnal that was being compiled by their pastor. One day the Rev. William J. Fox asked for a new hymn to accompany his sermon on the story of Jacob and Esau. Sarah spent much time studying Genesis 28:10–22 and within a short time completed all of the stanzas of “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Since that day in 1840, this hymn has had an unusual history of ministering spiritual comfort to hurting people everywhere.

These lines picturing Jacob sleeping on a stone, dreaming of angels, and naming the place Bethel, meaning “the house of God,” seem to reflect the common yearning—especially in times of deep need—to experience God’s nearness and presence in a very real way.

Nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer to Thee!
E’en tho it be a cross
that raiseth me;
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer to Thee!

Tho like the wanderer,
the sun gone down,
darkness be over me,
my rest a stone,
yet in my dreams I’d be
nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer to Thee!

Then with my waking thoughts,
bright with Thy praise,
out of my stony griefs.
Bethel I raise;
so by my woes to be
nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer my God, to Thee,
nearer to Thee!

Or if on joyful wing,
cleaving the sky,
sun, moon, and stars forgot,
upward I fly,
till all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer to Thee!


Osbeck, K. W. (1990). Amazing grace : 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions (247). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications.

HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father, We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

This hymn, Have Thy Own Way, Lord was written by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1862–1934
 
An elderly woman at a prayer meeting one night pleaded, “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord, just have your way with our lives.” At this meeting was Adelaide Pollard, a rather well-known itinerant Bible teacher who was deeply discouraged because she had been unable to raise the necessary funds for a desired trip to Africa to do missionary service. She was moved by the older woman’s sincere and dedicated request of God.

At home that evening Miss Pollard meditated on Jeremiah 18:3, 4:

Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels, and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Before retiring that evening, Adelaide Pollard completed the writing of all four stanzas of this hymn as it is sung today. The hymn first appeared in published form in 1907.

Often into our lives come discouragements and heartaches that we cannot understand. As children of God, however, we must learn never to question the ways of our sovereign God—but simply to say:

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
while I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
as in Thy presence humbly I bow.

 Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!


Osbeck, K. W. (1990). Amazing grace : 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions (246). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications.

Debts and the Spiritual Life

Often when we read the Lord's Prayer, we take note of forgiveness rather than the debt. One question we need to consider is the role of debts in our spiritual life. This is an interesting article from Sojourners

What Does it Mean to ‘Forgive Us Our Debts as We Forgive Our Debtors?’

by Tim Kumfer 07-06-2011

photo © 2011 epSos .de | more info (via: Wylio)“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” – Matthew 6:12
Smack dab in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer, obscured by old translations and otherworldly assumptions, is a radical cry for Jubilee justice.  In this most stripped down form of Jesus’ teaching — the bare essentials of what a disciple should bring before God in prayer — freedom from economic debt for all of God’s children plays a central role.  Why is this? And what might it mean for the millions of Christians who weekly pray the Lord’s Prayer to live more deeply into this dimension of our faith?

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What do you think?

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Will You Ask to be Humiliated Daily?

I am amused and challenged by Richard Rohr’s comment that he has “prayed for years for one good humiliation a day, and then [he] must observe what [his]reaction to it” (128). He said this in the context that as he became more well known in his writings and in his ministry, there is an element of pride always hiding in the shadows. He adds that “spiritual leader” or “professional religious person” is “such a dangerous and ego-inflating self-image” (128). Spiritual growth, he emphases, takes place when we struggle with our shadow self.

I agree fully with the danger of the ‘ego-inflating self-image”. I am very lucky because the people I minister to and my patients and their parents are very affirming (I am a paediatrician). Asians in general gives a lot of respect to their elders especially if they are in leadership positions. These can be very ego-inflating and one of my constant struggles is with the sin of pride. It is so easy to give into your shadow self and believe your own hype. However, I will not go as far as Rohr to ask the Lord for a good humiliation a day. I guess I am not there yet and my ego-self-image is still very fragile. One day, I hope I will be able to do so.

How about you? Are you willing to ask God for a good humiliation a day? Can you take it if he answers?

Books on Spiritual Formation

Check out this list of spiritual formation books posted on the Hearts & Minds bookstore A rich summer array of brand new books on spiritual formation.

It is also an interesting website to visit.

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Reading Christian Formation

Presently am reading this interesting mix of theology and faith development theories. Does social science and psychology inform theology or theology informs social science and psychology.I am hoping this book will show me.
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The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry. Liturgy and Women's Work

I have come to believe that the true mystics of the quotidian are not those who contemplate holiness in isolation, reaching godlike illumination in serene silence, but those who manage to find God in a life filled with noise, the demands of other people and relentless daily duties that can consume the self. They may be young parents juggling child-rearing and making a living...[I]f they are wise, they treasure the rare moments of solitude and silence that come their way, and use them not to escape, to distract themselves with television and the like. Instead, they listen for a sign of God's presence and they open their hearts toward prayer.

Kathleen Norris (1998), The Quotidian Mysteries (New York, NY: Paulist, 1, 70)

Christian Spiritual Formation with some UTM students

Did a Spiritual Formation Seminar with some Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) students with some unexpected results

What is Christian Spiritual Formation? on Prezi

Spiritual Formation and Christian Education: Are We Talking about the Same Thing?

There has been some confusion regarding the term spiritual formation and Christian education. In this post I will attempt to (1) differentiate between the two and also (2) identify when the two terms may be considered synonymous.

a. Definition of Christian education

The meaning of the term “Christian education” or “religious education[1]” or “Christian religious education” has over the years become expansive and ambiguous. Christian education is commonly associated with classes, resources, time-limited courses, the need for more trained teachers and teaching materials; most of these activities are conducted on Sunday in the church grounds using church facilities. Many educators have tried to map Christian education over the years in attempts to appreciate the diversity of the term. American Catholic educator, Mary C. Boys, in her seminal study, Educating in Faith, tries to map it into four categories: (1) evangelism, (2) religious education, (3) Christian education, and (4) Catholic education (catechetics). She approaches the subject from a historical and conceptual framework (Boys, 1989).

Jack L. Seymour and Donald E. Miller in their 1982 book, Contemporary Approaches to Christian Education, describe five different approaches or key metaphors in understanding Christian education (Seymour et al., 1982). These approaches are (1) Religious instruction; (2) Faith Community; (3) Spiritual development; (4) Liberation; and (5) Interpretation. Commenting on this book, Johnson has this to say,

This book proposes formation as a decisive image through which to understand Christian education. One can detect in Seymour and Miller’s survey the nascent appearance of spiritual formation as a guiding image, though its distinctiveness disappears into developmentalism, on one hand, and the faith community model, on the other hand (1989, 103. author’s italics)

Johnson is correct in her assessment as the theme of spiritual formation become stronger when Seymour (1997) re-examines Christian education 15 years later in Mapping Christian Education: Approaches to Congregational Learning. Here he maps Christian education into four themes: (1) Transformation; (2) Faith community (3) Spiritual growth; and (4) Religious instruction. Compared to the 1982 survey, the approaches of liberation and interpretation appeared to have been integrated into transformation. Transformation which has the goal of “assisting people and communities to promote faithful citizenship and social transformation” is a better category that includes liberation and interpretation (1997, 21).

Other significant and representative definitions of Christian education include divine-human interactions, shared praxis and socialisation. Concerning divine-human interventions, educator Pazmiño, offers the following definition:

Christian education is the deliberate, systematic, and sustained divine and human efforts to share or appropriate the knowledge, values, attitudes, skills, sensibilities, and behaviours that comprise or are consistent with the Christian faith. It fosters the change, renewal, and reformation of persons, groups, and structures by the power of the Holy Spirit to conform to the revealed will of God as expressed in the Scriptures and pre-eminently in the person of Jesus Christ, as well as any outcomes of that effort (1997, 87).

Christian education according to Pazmiño is more than schooling but less than socialisation. It emphasises the intentionality of a cooperative activity between persons and God. This activity includes the efforts to share the context of the Christian faith through the power of the Holy Spirit with preaching Jesus Christ as a goal. There is no emphasis on spiritual growth of the inner person, role of the church, and building relationships with other persons though those may be implied.

Catholic educator Thomas Groome defines Christian religious education “as a political activity with pilgrims in time that deliberately and intentionally attends with them to the activity of God in our present, to the Story of the Christian faith community, and to the Vision of God’s Kingdom, the seeds of which are already among us” (1980, 25). His definition highlights the intentionality of religious education, being sensitive to God, the Christian story, and the goal of the kingdom of God. The methodology of his religious education is shared praxis. There is the emphasis on community, shared practices, and working towards a common goal – shared praxis.

b. Spiritual formation and socialisation

Socialisation or enculturation is the approach adopted by several Christian educators. One of them, Westerhoff III, defines religious education as “all those formal and informal influences through which persons acquired their understanding and ways of living…deliberate systematic, and sustained efforts within a community of faith which aim at enabling persons and groups to evolve particular ways of thinking, feeling, and acting” (2000b, 14, 579). This is based on his theory of enculturation where a community nurtures and helps its members to develop a particular pattern of being. He calls it “catechesis” or Christian formation. Westerhoff builds on C. Ellis Nelson’s ideas about socialisation. His approach is based on the community of faith. He subsequently influences Craig Dykstra (1978) in his works on Christian practices in congregations.

Conclusion

I find the Christian education model of socialisation/enculturation closest to my concept of Christian spiritual formation. I define Christian spiritual formation as the intentional ongoing process of the inner transformation of the character of a person to become like the character of Jesus Christ himself, of becoming with others a community of the people of God, and of becoming an agent for God’s redemptive purposes.

While the elements of spiritual formation are present in Christian education, Christian spiritual formation is only synonymous with the socialisation model of Christian education.

Bibliography

Boys, M. C. (1989). Educating in Faith: Maps and Visions. Lima, OH: Academic Renewal Press.

Dykstra, C. (1987). The Formative Power of the Congregation. Religious Education, 82(4 Fall), 530-546.

Groome, T. H. (1980). Christian Religious Education: Sharing Our Story and Vision. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Johnson, S. (1989). Christian Spiritual Formation in the Church and Classroom. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Pazmiño, R. W. (1997). Foundational Issues in Christian Education (2d ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

Seymour, J. L. (Ed.). (1997). Mapping Christian Education: Approaches to Congregational Learning. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Seymour, J. L., Miller, D. E., Little, S. P., Foster, C. R., Moore, A. J., & Wehrheim, C. A. (1982). Contemporary Approaches to Christian Education. Nashville, TN.: Abingdon Press.

Westerhoff, J. (1976, 2000). Will Our Children Have Faith? (rev. ed. enl.). Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing.

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[1] In some countries, religious education refers to education in schools. In Malaysia, there are only one or two “Christian” schools which offer the national education syllabus with one or two religious subjects and chapel services. In practice they are closer to the National Type schools than to schools offering “(Christian) religious education”.

Dallas Willard's Sense of Ministry

I find this comment by Dallas Willard on his homepage of his website very relevant.

My sense of ministry is to judge the lay of the land for your times and shoot where the enemy is. The enemy in our time is not human capacity, or over activism, but the enemy is passivity - the idea that God has done everything and you are essentially left to be a consumer of the grace of God, so the only thing you have to do is find out how to do that and do it regularly. I think this is a terrible mistake and accounts for the withdrawal of active Christians from so many areas of life where they should be present. It also accounts for the lack of spiritual growth, for you can be sure that if you do not act in an advised fashion consistently and resolutely you will not grow spiritually.

There is a great collection of his articles and recordings on Dallas Willard's website

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