Still more on stage four: it may seem like you're losing faith

In these last few posts I'm describing the fourth stage of spiritual growth. It's a stage of profound growth that requires competent spiritual guidance. The loosening of old certainties is not a loss of your faith, but an invitation toward deeper, though different conviction. Your search for direction and meaning in life doesn't need to lead you away from the church but can lead you into a deeper life of faith. Your disillusionment with God or religion isn't a sign of their insufficiency or failure; rather, it signals the necessary break from static attachments and religiosity so that you can open up to a new experience of spiritual abundance through faith. This, in turn, leads you to new expressions of service that flow from inextinguishable inner resources rather than from the shoulds and oughts of duty or obligation, or the zeal of newfound enthusiasm.

Along this path, you'll need the guidance of a soul friend to help you keep your bearings.

To be continued . . .

More on stage four: discovering God all over again

In my last post, I wrote that most churches place stage three, "Service and Leadership" at the pinnacle of the Christian life. But if you've followed this series of posts, you'll know that stage three is not even half way along the path of what historic Christianity has understood to be the path to spiritual maturity. That journey leads from First Awakening, through Believing and Belonging, and into Service and Leadership. But it doesn't end there. There comes a point when the Holy Spirit invites a disciple to turn inward again in order to awaken to the depths of interior intimacy with the Holy Trinity.

It's a stage of discovering God all over again.

Sadly, without direction and insight, many who experience this invitation to the deeper life believe instead that they're losing their faith; they become disillusioned with God or they blame the church for not meeting their needs.

To be continued . . .

The Fourth Stage of Spiritual Growth: "Second Awakening"

Continued from previous posts: A mature and involved Christian once came to me privately and asked, "Isn't there more to the Christian life than this?" Here was an elder, active in ministry, highly competent at work, well-established and respected, but who came to a point where all these things tasted like straw, felt empty, no longer life giving.

Too often those who begin to experience this arid, desert like experience in their spiritual lives ignore it and keep doing what they're doing until they just run out of steam. Sometimes they find another cause that energizes them, or they become angry and frustrated about things at church or the denomination, and this too energizes them. But this new energy dissipates after a while and unless they find something new to excite them for awhile, that nagging sense of emptiness returns. Others figure they're facing some kind of burnout, and they drop out of commitments that no longer nourish or satisfy and they find themselves drifting spiritually.

Too few explore their experience with a pastor or spiritual friend or director. If they did, and that friend was seasoned enough to discern the work of the Holy Spirit in the person's life, they'd learn that rather than a problem to get through by working harder, or burnout that requires them to drop out, what they're experiencing is a genuine sign of an invitation from God to move into a new stage of spiritual growth: stage four, or what I call "Second Awakening."

To be continued . . .

Moving beyond stage three: "Service and Leadership"

Continued from previous posts: In many churches this stage is the pinnacle of the Christian life. In fact, popular books like "The Purpose Driven Life" make it sound like this stage is the goal of the Christian life. Unfamiliar with the history of Christian spirituality and growth, popular movements mistakenly bring Christians to stage three and leave them there. But there are four more stages, and unless disciples are aware of them, what can be a new awakening to faith becomes a debilitating crisis.

The next stage, stage four in Christian growth, is what I call "The Second Awakening." It is a stage of profound growth, but is often misunderstood. Those who've served long and faithfully come to the point where they ask, "Isn't there something more?" And if they don't know that this new search is a sign of the Holy Spirit's nudging them to a deepening of their faith experience, they may grow frustrated with their faith and drop out of church; sometimes they abandon their faith entirely. But this is just the beginning of a holy new movement of grace in their lives.

To be continued . . .

The Third Stage of Spiritual Growth: "Service and Leadership"

Continued from previous posts: I call the third stage of spiritual growth "Service and Leadership." The first stage is "First Awakening," and the second, "Believing and Belonging." I've written about the first two in previous posts.

When you first awaken to God it's as if you've risen from a long night's sleep. Something has stirred you and you begin to seek God. If you move beyond this stage, you enter a community where you learn what it means to believe and belong.

You can get stuck in both stages--stuck and unable to move beyond awakening because your awareness of God can make you feel so terribly guilty and unworthy that you can't imagine God can love you. You can get stuck in the second stage if you become infatuated with doctrinal debates or worry that you can never know enough. But if you grow in a healthy way and move from awakening and into believing and belonging, you will eventually grow into a new season of service and leadership. During this season, you become highly involved in ministries of compassion or administration, evangelism or justice. You might serve on a committee, volunteer for the choir or as a Sunday School teacher, engage in a service or mission project, train as a minister, respond to a call for missionary service, or become an elder or deacon. You are, of course, still learning about the Christian faith, and may sense a real vibrancy to your growth.

To be continued . . .