A New Kind of Christian - Chapter 13

Neo said that if he ever went back into the pastorate he would lose all his inhibitions about talking about money because he felt that generosity was one of the most important spiritual disciplines and that greed was one of the soul’s worst poisons.
He said that if the new kind of Christianity we had been dreaming about wasn’t radically generous, it was a waste of time. He said that we live in the most affluent culture in the most affluent period of human history. If we can’t discipline ourselves to learn the joys of generous living, we are an embarrassment to the gospel. The “Caesar” of our day is our economy of consumption, greed, and materialism.
Spiritual Formation: Postmodern is post-Protestant, I think that our forms of spirituality and spiritual formation will be more like the ancient and medieval church and less like the modern church. I think we will welcome back tradition and saints and liturgy and holy days.
How can we keep prayer and Bible reading as key to our spiritual lives without turning spirituality into spiritual techniques, duties, and legalisms- still more to feel guilty about? I feel that most preachers don’t preach good news about grace; they preach bad news about inadequacy and pressure.
How do we develop a more holistic, balanced spirituality in people without a boatload of guilt?
1. Future approaches to spiritual formation will be more akin to ancient ones. There will be more short-term monastic experiences. People will be together in simplicity and in community and practice spiritual disciplines together like prayer, Bible study, and solitude. Retreats are an example of this.
2. Short-term mission trips are modern examples of the missionary journeys of Paul or of the Celtic monks. In a way they are like pilgrimages – journeys undertaken for a spiritual purpose.
3. What are small groups and one-on-one mentoring relationships but echoes of ancient training method, before we slipped into the modern misconception that the best education takes place in sterile classrooms? Small groups and mentoring – filled with give-and-take, personal as well as intellectual interaction, formation as well as information – recall the old images of the apprentice training with his master or the disciples following Jesus.
4. What is getting people involved in ministry – but an echo of the many biblical stories where God taught people to swim by throwing them into the deep end? I think of Moses, feeling so inadequate, or even the disciples being sent out two by two, after only several months of training, to learn by success and failure the lessons that can only be learned by doing, not just listening or studying.
So my guess is that teachers of the future will spend less time giving out information and more time helping students learn how to find what they need when they need it.
I want to mention on other area of spirituality that I think we must rediscover: creation spirituality. Modern men and women have lost their connection with creation. If I could live another life, I think I would devote it to ecology, because I also believe that this is a truly spiritual and Christian work. Genesis begins with our mandate to take care of God’s creation, and never has our failure to do so been more acute than now. Learning to live as caretakers of creation and friends to our fellow creatures must be at the core of a new kind of Christianity.