Church Strategies to Enhance Spiritual Growth

[frienduff thaylorde]

1 minute ago, Yowm said:

Why stop at Foster? Maybe they should go way back to the heavy weights like Alice Bailey, Mme Blavatsky, Guirdjieff and Ouspensky and see the movements true colors.

I did a bit of research on some of them .       And their spokes lady Barbara max hubbard .   Lady ran for office under the democratic ticket YEARS AGO .  she did not make it though.

BUT YOU KNOW what her own mouth said .    SHE called biblical christanity as the OBSTACLE in the way OF WORLD peace ,  her and others .

OH but it don't end their    .   YOU KNOW WHATELSE that lady said .    That new age would come into the churches and most would accept it ,

But about a fourth WOULD NOT .   she called those the defective seed .  YOU KNOW WHAT SHE SAID ABOUT the defective SEEDS ,  LIKE US YOWM ,  

THEY GOING TO DIE ,   but she was so kind as to say its not the peoples job,  ITS the DUTY of the elites in power .  GEE,  I wonder , WILL IT BE TEN .  

YEAH .  THEY UNDER a delusion , A BIG ONE .  and now so too are many churches .  PS ,   and they got NO LOVE FOR US .    MURDER ,  but not love .

[MadHermit]

In  typical fundamentalist fashion, Yown and his ilk attack books they haven't read and don't understand and post false and slanderous reviews that give them an excuse to avoid the thrill of learning firsthand why "Christianity Today" rated "A Celebration of Discipline" one of the top 10 Christian books of the 20th century.  These critics lack the integrity to engage a ground-breaking spiritual work by pondering its specific insights and recommendations.  How ironic that a site like Worthy aspires to be a uniting force in Christendom, but instead inspires such godless and unfair vitriol.  If an evangelical journal like "Christanity Today" rates Foster's book one of the top 10 Christian books of the 20th century, it certainly deserves treatment on a site  with this one's stated purpose.    Sigh!  Let's move on to (2).

(2) Better still, restore 19th century-style class meetings as requirements for church membership.  

By 1870 40% of all Americans (That's "all Americans," not "American Christians") were Methodist.  To be a Methodist you had to attend a weekly Class Meeting.  Class Meetings required church members to give a weekly account of their inner life (thoughts, temptations, faith peace, joy, etc.) and outer life (external events relevant to their spirituality) during the past week.   This discipline was used to help Methodists mature and grow in their faith.  Class members would then counsel each other and pray for each other to address character flaws and flaws in the life of faith.  Then in the early 1900s, Methodism was gaining respectability and members were more private about their personal lives.  So they resented the Class Meeting requirement and decided at their national conference to make it optional.  This decision was in effect a way to abolish the practice.  Methodism has been in a slow, steady decline ever since.  Spiritual disciplines and accountability are essential for spiritual growth. 

[Heleadethme]

12 minutes ago, MadHermit said:

In  typical fundamentalist fashion, Yown and his ilk attack books they haven't read and don't understand and post false and slanderous reviews that give them an excuse to avoid the thrill of learning firsthand why "Christianity Today" rated "A Celebration of Discipline" one of the top 10 Christian books of the 20th century.  These critics lack the integrity to engage a ground-breaking spiritual work by pondering its specific insights and recommendations.  How ironic that a site like Worthy aspires to be a uniting force in Christendom, but instead inspires such godless and unfair vitriol.  If an evangelical journal like "Christanity Today" rates Foster's book one of the top 10 Christian books of the 20th century, it certainly deserves treatment on a site  with this one's stated purpose.    Sigh!  Let's move on to (2).

(2) Better still, restore 19th century-style class meetings as requirements for church membership.  

By 1870 40% of all Americans (That's "all Americans," not "American Christians") were Methodist.  To be a Methodist you had to attend a weekly Class Meeting.  Class Meetings required church members to give a weekly account of their inner life (thoughts, temptations, faith peace, joy, etc.) and outer life (external events relevant to their spirituality) during the past week.   This discipline was used to help Methodists mature and grow in their faith.  Class members would then counsel each other and pray for each other to address character flaws and flaws in the life of faith.  Then in the early 1900s, Methodism was gaining respectability and members were more private about their personal lives.  So they resented the Class Meeting requirement and decided at their national conference to make it optional.  This decision was in effect a way to abolish the practice.  Methodism has been in a slow, steady decline ever since.  Spiritual disciplines and accountability are essential for spiritual growth. 

All I know is....anything that adds or takes away from the scriptures is error.  Extra-biblical activities or "disciplines" open the door to deceptions.  If we have the Holy Spirit we don't need anything more than what Jesus and the apostles did and said.....the simplicity of the gospel.  Having forms of godliness but denying the power (Holy Spirit) thereof...well the bible says from such we are to turn away, so it's a serious matter.  There seems to be an observable pattern whereby the less power (Holy Spirit) is within a body of believers the more they start to rely on man-made rituals and schemes and rules to fill the void.  Catholicism is one example.  And if the Holy Spirit (power) is lacking then we need to stop what we're doing and humbly seek the Lord to find out why....before He departs the building altogether (if He hasn't already).  Jesus didn't come to give us a religion, He came to give us a new "way"....of life, that involves being led by the Holy Spirit and following/obeying the Lord.

[Guest shiloh357]

1 hour ago, MadHermit said:

In  typical fundamentalist fashion, Yown and his ilk attack books they haven't read and don't understand and post false and slanderous reviews that give them an excuse to avoid the thrill of learning firsthand why "Christianity Today" rated "A Celebration of Discipline" one of the top 10 Christian books of the 20th century.  These critics lack the integrity to engage a ground-breaking spiritual work by pondering its specific insights and recommendations.  How ironic that a site like Worthy aspires to be a uniting force in Christendom, but instead inspires such godless and unfair vitriol.  If an evangelical journal like "Christanity Today" rates Foster's book one of the top 10 Christian books of the 20th century, it certainly deserves treatment on a site  with this one's stated purpose.    Sigh!  Let's move on to (2).

Yowm' was right.  The book is poisonous.   No doctrinally sound Bible-believing Christian should go anywhere near that book.  It is abomination. 

[Willie T]

I had never even heard of the book before.  But, I do thank you that I now have it on my hard drive.

[Willie T]

41 minutes ago, Davida said:

A sneering mocking , attitude is just to be pitied and I do not see it in the qualities of believers, but it is usually present in T -trolls. 

I really AM grateful to you.  That book has been out for more than 20 years, but I wouldn't have known about it except for you needing to bring it up.  Your post stands as some pretty fair advertising for that book.  I don't yet even have the slightest idea what is inside its pages, but thanks to you, I will now have the opportunity to find out.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Willie T

[MadHermit]

58 minutes ago, Willie T said:

I had never even heard of the book before.  But, I do thank you that I now have it on my hard drive.

One of the great breakthroughs in modern evangelical spirituality is their discovery that early church fathers and ancient Christian monks who spent their whole lives seeking God's face and becoming prayer warriors have lessons to teach modern Christians.  It's so sad that posters like Yown and Shiloh fall under the umbrella of one of Jesus' greatest pet peeves--unteachability.  One would hope that the assessment of the leading evangelical journal in the world  that CofD is one of the top 10 Christian books of the 29th century would arouse Fundamentalist curiosity about its merits.   But they are typically closed-minded to learning from Christians from different traditions and they lack the spiritual integrity to actually read it for constructive discussion and thus they illustrate why the typical denizens of this site are the worst conceivable exemplars of the pursuit of Christian unity.  

Foster is one of my favorite Christian authors because his insights are based on an advanced grasp of Scripture, a thorough knowledge of the whole history of Christian spirituality, and most importantly, a life devoted to prayer disciplines.    If you like C of D, you might also check out his book "Prayer," which discusses the 22 types of prayer and grounds them in both Scripture and tradition.  Other books on prayer may be a better read for some due to their sensationalistic stories, but Foster's book on prayer is in my view the most mature and well-informed.

Well do fundamentalist posters here illustrate Sir Winston Churchill's definition of a fanatic: "A fanatic is one who won't change his mind and won't change the subject."  They lack the courtesy to respect the OP's guideline that the discussion sequentially follow the topical outline and they love to derail the thread by attacking Richard Foster, whose books are mostly relevant to the later issues specified by the OP.  

And Yown's bigotry knows no bounds.  He falsely stereotypes all Methodists as godless liberals, when in fact most Methodists are solidly conservative, evangelical, Bible-believing Christians.   

[Willie T]

5 minutes ago, Davida said:

Be assured Willie You alone  are responsible for your own responses - it is all on you-- and you alone, you cannot shift it to anyone else.  

The warning about the spiritual danger is for those who have ears to hear & whom the Lord God would have heed it, and not surprising when there is opposition in the form of mocking.  

Good and Bad Fruit

Matt 12 :" 35The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure. 36But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”…

Boy, you are something else.  All I said was that what you intended for evil in tearing down yet another man, God meant for good in showing me some good reading.

[Willie T]

3 minutes ago, Davida said:

Did you check out the site Yowm gave you on Foster? 

Haters create sites on everyone.... even the guys you love have some fool who has made a site tearing them down.

[Steve_S]

Thread locked due to getting personal by the OP.