I recently re-read the chapter about the Spiritual Formation of Adolescents in The Christian Educator’s Handbook on Spiritual Formation. It’s a pretty good chapter, and here are some of the things I gleaned from it.

“Christ did not come merely to provide a means for us to get to heaven; He came to live in us.” This should be fundamental in our thinking as we share Christ’s work with people. We are not preaching a “get you to heaven” gospel. We ought to be preaching a gospel of transformation, thinking through how Christ will change us in this life, making us who we are meant to be.

“Spiritual formation can only occur in the midst of a struggle.” There is no spiritual formation that does not include effort. The struggle is part of the formation. It is an important part. We struggle to act in accordance to who we are in Christ. Many times, we struggle just to understand what that is supposed to be.

“We must not create young imitators, sending them off to college, work, or marriage as hollow believers who can only mimic truths that are not their own. They must learn to own their beliefs.” We do a disservice to young people if we allow them to simply copy our beliefs. We must teach them to think on their own and have a personal belief system and faith. This implies risk, but it is the only valuable way for them to continue in their faith after they graduate from our ministry.
Continue reading ‘Thoughts on Spiritual Formation’

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