In the coming month, I will be launching my newest online course via BeADisciple.com.
“Exploring Spiritual Formation: Mapping Our Journeys Back Home to God” is a four-week, self-paced course which invites individuals to timeline their faith stories and, then, to compare these timelines with maps and models crafted from a variety of sources, spanning the history of the Church.
The “flow” and foci of the course might be summarized as follows:
|
Week # |
Topic/Focus |
|
1 |
Introductions, Foundational Considerations, & “An Initial Mapping/Time-Lining of Our Stories” |
|
2 |
Establishing a First Map of the Spiritual Journey * “Awakening, Middle Chapters, and Union” (cf., Wu & Demerest) * Hannah Hurnard’s Hinds Feet on High Places |
|
3 |
Adding More Layers to Our Map * the “threefold way” (cf., St. Bonaventure et al) * “stages of faith” (cf, Teresa of Avila & Janet Hagberg) * “order of salvation” (cf., John Wesley) |
|
4 |
Next Steps: Processing Practical Implications for Our Ongoing Journeys |
The goal in all of this is not just to know where we’ve been and where we are, but to have some sense of what’s next… and what we might do to cooperate with the ongoing flow of God and Grace in our lives.
(A fuller course description
as well as a registration/enrollment link
are available by clicking here.)
As is true in so many subjects, analysis has its limits. It’s among the concluding points I make (in the video sample from the course, here below): that data and discussions thereof can be useful, but they are no substitute for experience. Having a map of our “journeys back home to God” can be helpful, but it counts for nothing if there’s no real progress and participation in the pilgrimage and the homecoming.
[wpvideo S4BYfouK]
My hopes, my prayers in and surrounding this course, then,
are that it would go well beyond
a mere feeding of thoughts about the journey.
But, more — oh, so much more:
that it would provide practical wisdom
that facilitates movement and progress
in this “critical journey”
(i.e., Janet Hagberg’s label for this journey of spiritual formation)
–promoting, in each and all,
a desire to step out
more boldly
and joyfully.
As you have a question or or a comment,
feel free to leave one here, below.
Or, feel free to drop me a line at
jim.reiter@zoe-life.net.