Spiritual Training
Hans Växby March 2009
Spiritual Training
Students at Theological Seminaries normally are "associated" to a local church in town, and serve as "interns" parallel with their studies. So do the students at our seminary in Moscow, and so did I several years ago in Gothenburg Sweden. I was associated to Emanuel United Methodist Church, and I often said that I survived my studies spiritually only thanks to Emanuel. After all theoretical reasoning around faith, it was so fresh and healthy to go to church, especially on Thursday evening, when the lay preachers were in charge. They seldom referred to systematic theology, but they shared what faith meant to them and how God had guided them through life.
The ST Group
Among the youth in the church, I learned about the ST Group. Several people talked about it, but I did not understand what kind of ministry it was, until the leader told me. "The Physical Training Group has been very popular. Every Saturday morning a large group of young people practiced sports together, and that is very good. But even in physical training we are told not to be one-sided, but to get as all-round training as possible. I asked myself, how many of our youth only train their body, but do not care for the wellbeing of their soul? And as an additional program I decided to offer them a Spiritual Training Group."
How exactly did they do their spiritual training? They simply read the Bible together, prayed and shared their joys and concerns. Good practice!
Practice
Religion is by its nature practice. If it is not practiced, it is hardly more than history and knowledge. You may belong to a certain culture and observe some traditions, but passive convictions and shallow habits do not bring you in contact with God, and do not help you to live your life. You may even have experienced a deep encounter with God a few years back, but if there is nothing more left of it than a good memory, you are about to lose it. If you do not practice religion, you have no religion.
Stay in love with God
Bishop Rueben Job has coined the expression "Stay in love with God." It is a wonderful and simple way to point to a basic concept in the Christian faith, confirmed by the experience of generation after generation: The relationship to God has to be actively nurtured, lest it fades away.
It does not mean that we have to add anything to salvation - we have it all abundantly in Jesus Christ. It does not mean that God in any way is dependent of what we can offer him. But it does mean that we need to include our relationship with God in our daily and weekly routines, in other words: practice our religion.
When a group of people asked John Wesley for advice on these matters, he encouraged them to "attend upon all the ordinances of God; such are: The public worship of God; The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded; The Supper of the Lord; Family and private prayer; Searching the Scriptures; Fasting or abstinence." When you start your ST Group, you can talk and pray over what this would mean in practice in your case.