SPIRITUAL FORMATION
Here are the results from the Spiritual Formation portion of our church survey… Check them out, and drop some Qs or thoughts in the Comments box below!
Q: Our church is an essential partner in my spiritual formation. [0-10]
A: 86% Agreement (Spread: 0-10)
Comments:
The vast majority of responders rated this an 8 or above. This is a very positive insight!
Q: How much growth would you say you have experienced in your spiritual life in the past year? [None – A Lot]
A: Average of 77.50% or “Some” (Spread: None-A Lot)
Comments:
Most of us believe we have experienced at least some spiritual growth/formation this year. That’s great to hear! Obviously, we’d love for everyone to answer “A Lot” but this is a great start! We do have a significant number of our church family who do not feel they are growing much. The comments revealed that some are not practicing spiritual disciplines or may not be sure what step to take next.
We believe that every believer is called to be a disciple. This means that every Christian should be actively participating in a local church through worship, small groups, and service, as well as striving for spiritual growth through daily Bible reading and prayer. Please don’t be shy to reach out to the Pastors for resources and encouragement on all of this!
Q: My next steps for spiritual growth are clear to me. [0-10]
A: 70.25% Agreement (Spread: 2-10)
Comments:
On the whole, we’re doing “pretty ok-ish” on this one. But we definitely answered much lower than we should hope. A little more than half responded “8” or higher, with almost one third responding “5” or lower. This indicates that developing a specific discipleship path may be a prime area for our church to grow together.
Q: Regarding SPIRITUAL FORMATION, what else would you like us to know?
Some responses:
“I’m not sure what my next steps are besides getting in the Word more often.”
“I know I need to do more (read my Bible, pray), but i don’t feel like I have the time most days.”
“How do I keep the fire lit?”
“Waterloo (is) a safe place to talk about (recovery) and it helped immensely in my spiritual formation coming back into the fold.”
“I think new Christians need help knowing how to grow.”
“Classes that interest me are few and far between.”
“I feel like sometimes so much of my energy is taken up with checking boxes that opportunities are missed for organic spiritual growth and evangelism.”
“Leaders would benefit from more active training…”
“God says He wants me to know Him. The older I get & the closer I get to Heaven, the more I want to know Him better.”
GOING DEEPER
What are your thoughts? How would you respond to some of the feedback above? What questions does this bring to mind? How can we do better at helping each other grow spiritually?
We want to hear from you! Fill up the Comments below!
Blessings, brothers and sisters – we love you!
Pastor Ron
I am a mother of 3 littles with a very busy life, I have grown the most in the last 5 years when I changed my habits. I stopped scrolling social media, switched from crime podcasts to the Bible project podcast, switched from fiction audiobooks to those that encourage spiritual growth.
I attribute the most growth in biblical knowledge and life changes to studying individual books of the Bible instead of topical or random study. Pray and reread the scripture over and over, wrestling to understand scripture before reading any commentary is the best way to grow.
I needed drastic change, but any one of these is a great way to “set your mind on things that are above” and will produce spiritual growth in turn. I have study suggestions if anyone needs help getting started.
Carissa, that’s huge! I love that you’re “setting your mind on things above” – this is what that can look like! We’re called to live differently. Like someone said, “if you want different results, you’ve got to make different inputs.” Love this, and love y’all!