Do Disciples need Disciplines?
Despite my love-hate relationship, I still know spiritual practices are essential to Christian vitality and becoming. Though, I do feel the need to qualify such a claim because the same spiritual practices that animate one person's life, may be hollow rituals to another. The power of the spiritual practice is not simply in the activity but in the way it allows the Spirit to access the head and heart.
I think about spiritual practices as intentional actions with internal consequences..... resulting in external consequences. Animated by the Spirit of God, spiritual practices, do three basic things:
- embed the love of God in our hearts (Psalm 18,139)
- move us toward greater self awareness and awareness of others (Psalm 139)
- illuminate the way of God for our everyday lives and direct our responses (Psalm 25:1-5)
The first is the most important. Spiritual practices are not an end in themselves, but exist to nurture familiarity with the God who makes himself personally knowable. Not "the universe", not some animistic force or amorphous mishmash of all religions, but the divine person of Jesus who really lived with us, really died for us and overcame real death so we could have real life.
And Jesus promises his disciples that even though he will leave, he will not leave them like orphans. Jesus says "I will come to you"..."I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever"...."the Spirit of truth who Jesus says lives with and within you" (John 14.17) It is the Holy Spirit who makes the relationship personal and the spiritual practice more than self-help or trying harder because in Christianity, we simply can't think our way to God or work our way to holiness. Real change and renewal of the heart and soul is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And yet, there is no avoiding the personal commitment necessary to embracing a life of spiritual practices with God. Perhaps thats why more historically we've referred to "spiritual disciplines" implying something more deliberate, committed and costly. Though not an obligation, authentic Christian spirituality is undoubtedly a (shared) commitment to a way of living regardless of the ebb and flow of my feelings and gratifications. Spiritual practices are a structure we build for all those times in life when our feelings falter and the benefits don't flow our way.
And yet, there is no avoiding the personal commitment necessary to embracing a life of spiritual practices with God. Perhaps thats why more historically we've referred to "spiritual disciplines" implying something more deliberate, committed and costly. Though not an obligation, authentic Christian spirituality is undoubtedly a (shared) commitment to a way of living regardless of the ebb and flow of my feelings and gratifications. Spiritual practices are a structure we build for all those times in life when our feelings falter and the benefits don't flow our way.
All this to say YES disciples do need the discipline of spiritual practices. Thats the principle at least.
But my experience personally, and as a pastor is that a large proportion of Christians experience ongoing cycles of confusion, frustration and guilt associated with their misapplication of this principle. For example prayer may feel hollow, scripture confusing and Sabbath rest an impossibility. If our spirituality needs spiritual practices, what becomes of all the people for whom they are so hard to establish or maintain? Are they just not trying hard enough or is there more to this?
My own conclusion is that there is no universal technique or curriculum for Christian formation and spirituality. Indeed there are many kinds of spiritual practices because there are many kinds of people living at many stages of life and faith. To illustrate, around 5% of Australians have been diagnosed with some form of ADHD and God knows how many people are undiagnosed. So for all those people who struggle to focus for more than 5 minutes, how do they navigate conventional spiritual practices that are typically contemplative and stationary? What about rambunctious teenage boys or just anyone born in the past 20 years who only know life through a digital lens? What about tradies who leave for work before the sun rises, or mothers juggling work, marriage and three kids? How about people with ASD or those with social anxiety? What about those with learning difficulties or Downs Syndrome? What if you just aren't wired for rhythms and disciplines? You might think I'm only highlighting minorities but all those minorities add up quickly.
Sometimes I wonder if we do more harm than good corralling people onto generic programs and pathways. I'm slowly figuring out that:
Connection with God matters
but prayer takes many forms.
Belief matters
but learning takes many forms.
Serving matters
but "ministry" takes many forms.
Thankfulness matters
but worship takes many forms.
Immanence matters
but encounter takes many forms.
Confession matters
but accountability takes may forms.
Faith matters
but courage takes many forms.
Obedience matters
but sacrifice takes many forms.
Koinonia matters
but community takes many forms.
Self-awareness mattes
but examen takes many forms.
Self-denial matters
but fasting takes many forms.
Rest matters
but Sabbath time takes many forms.
And in their exploring lies our adventure.
My point is there is a distinction between essential principles and ultimate forms. I'm not arguing against the principle just the overly prescriptive definition of the form. I know well the tension between getting clear and becoming prescriptive. In research I conducted in 2024 with 20 evangelical pastors across several denominations I found about half had a rough plan for their congregations discipleship and a further 30% said they had a clear plan that was "more in theory than practice." But, when asked, all wanted a clear executable plan recognising that neither ambiguity nor hollow aspirations represent good leadership. Which is true! I've been that leader for years tinkering with these tensions and the dream of cracking some ultimate discipleship code.
As pastors we are all attempting to find the best way to lead the largest number of people into deeper waters. And the larger your church the more you want to systematise your discipleship models so that they are concrete enough to communicate and deliver to everyone you are shepherding. But the shepherding analogy falls short in as much as people are not infact sheep who all think and act the same way. Every person is unique and this makes the whole enterprise of discipleship so much more challenging, especially today in a hyper individualistic culture.
Ok so what's the alternative genius? It'd be a bit hypocritical to now offer a sure fire solution to this discipleship dilemma, and I don't have one. But if I was a pastor starting out or starting again I'd think about reframing the practices and rethinking the strategy. Such as....
When it comes to spiritual practices:
- Continually normalise the diversity in how people connect and experience God.
- Offer people more options than you think they need - and look beyond your denomination.
- Celebrate curiosity and experimentation with regular storytelling.
- Embed spiritual practices in ordinary daily life as its happening.
- Prioritise relational connection over content delivery... as Jesus did with his disciples.
When it comes to discipling people more generally:
- Scrutinise any and all sacred-secular language, structures or practices in your context.
- Prioritise empathic understanding of the lived experiences of people in your context.
- Normalise the challenges and struggles people face in life, and as disciples.
- Make everyday life the principal context and curriculum of Christian spirituality, not Sunday.
- Communicate the vision of discipleship but resist prescribing all the steps to get there.
- Customise discipleship for every individual but minus the vibe of individualism.
- Reinforce the vital role of commitment to the body of Christ in spiritual formation.
- Invest more effort into coaching and storytelling, than preaching the theory.
- More tools less techniques. More permission less prescription.
- Curate contexts for catalytic experiences.
