Spiritual Growth Through Christian Community

This is a session from Jim Leffel, teacher at Xenos Christian Fellowship on spiritual growth.

There is a wide range of considerations when thinking about spiritual growth through Christian community.

* Theological Convictions - What does spiritual growth look like? What is the relationship between growing spiritually and the church?

* Barriers to Biblical ideals - Are Christians shaped by culture? Are Christians blind to cultural influences?

* The Great Commission - What is the difference between winning converts and making disciples? What is the connection between spiritual growth and winning disciples?

* Practical - How to foster dynamic Christian community?

What does growth look like?

Christianity is not merely credal. It is not a list of things we say we believe and then we move on. The biblical metephors for growth are botany and physical biology (alive, growing, bearing fruit). The vitality of growth is measured relationally, and not by how far we retreat from the world. The greatest commandment is to love God and neighbor.

The fruit of the Spirit demonstrates character change (Gal.5:22-23). All of the fruit are relational. You need to be in relationship with people in order to demonstrate them.

We need to watch for the doors God opens and be prepared for those moments (1Peter 3:15). There is a paradox of discipleship that the more we give up, the more we gain (10:39; 16:25).

Spiritual growth is a fundamental life transformation manifesting the love of Christ. The context for life transformation is the Church.

Individual and Corporate Life

* There is both "me" and "we" in salvation. See the book Community of the King by Howard Snyder and The New Chosen People: A Corporate View of Election by William Klein.

* Individuals matter to God (called, elect, chosen...). These occur in a corporate setting - the Greek word "ekklesia" meaning "called out ones" (Ephesians 1:22, 23). God's work in the world is carried out through the Church.

* We gain a new community (1 Peter 2:9) having radical inclusion: there is a place for everyone in the Kingdom.

* We have an "oikos" meaning household, family. Salvation comes through adoption into the family of God. We have brothers and sisters and we need to be responsible for them (1Peter 4:10).

* We are part of Chirst's body (1Corinthians 12:13).

There are some implications to this:

1) Radical individualism. Isolation is not possible for growing Christians. The cost of individualism is that 25% of people have no one to discuss life with, and of the 75% who do, 80% have only a family member. Only 15% have close friends outside the family. This causes heavy alienation and lonliness. We are less sensitive to the needs of others and can go from apathetic to antisocial. There is increased physical and emotional ill health.
Only 15% of evangelicals have been spiritually mentored. Only 46% feel strongly the responsibility to share Christ. 53% say that their main purpose in life is enjoyment and personal fulfillment (from Barna's book Growing True Disciples).

2) Family life strains. Cultural values and trends are largely reflected in the Church. This leads to too much pressure on marriages, too little support or input, and no models for parenting. The cell provides a biblical context for family. The "household ordinances" are carried out in the context of Christian community. This happens because there is a broad relational base and tangible personal service. This is how we will resolve the tide of selfishness.

Is God calling us to a sense of urgency about spiritual growth?