Spirtual Formation Plan for the Prayer Department of Full Gospel Assembly International

SYLVANUS GATORWU

October 24, 2019

THEO5223.01 Spiritual Formation

 

Professor Sanejo Leonard

Spiritual Formation Plan

The role of Spiritual Formation in the Church. The role of Spiritual Formation in the church cannot be overemphasized. Diane Leclerc says one cannot have God as their father unless they have the church for their mother, stressing the need for one to be in a church.[1] This implies that if Spiritual Formation is well inculcated in the Church, it would make the process of discipleship more complete. Akerlund supports this idea by saying, “Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a church to raise a disciple”.[2]  Spiritual formation thus becomes a church-community practice where leadership takes center stage and the member follows suite.

How discipleship intersects with Spiritual Formation

Writing on Spiritual Formation in the church, Ruth Haley Barton et al postulates that the church is the place where each member is to be held, supported and made to grow each member in “their relationship to God for the fulfillment of their God-given mission”[3]. Therefore, if the church succeeds in building an effective Spiritual Formation process as part of discipleship, it will inure to the benefit of its members as they would grow to support each other. Willard Dallas says to get as many people into heaven, there is the need to also get heaven into as many people as we want to get into heave, calling it “full-throttle discipleship to Jesus Christ.”[4] This makes discipleship and spiritual formation process an interwoven process which cannot be separated. The latter however making the former much more effective. Willard puts discipleship at the first step in God’s plan for spiritual formation.[5] Writing on Spiritual formation at the Graduate School of Clinical Psychology at the Gorge Fox University, Rodger K Bufford et al mention that Spiritual formation was interwoven with curricular and other activities to develop Christian character.[6]

A practical guide for Spiritual Formation implementation.

Implementing a Spiritual Formation process or guide will involve disciplines. The first step will include making members see that they need to be like Christ. This is the beginning of discipleship. Beard sees this as key to the success of missions and church[7]

Next, the members to go through the process must come to a point in their discipleship where they understand that there is the need for every disciple to “upgrade” their Christ-like nature by going through disciplines. This will make all members grow a will to partake in the disciplines that are about to be unfolded to them. This should involve all members at all levels. Jin Ki Hwang says of Paul in “spiritual formation and storytelling” that the spiritual formation of his members was something he followed through for members at all levels.[8]

The third step for implementing a spiritual formation in any group should involve the practicing of disciplines. These practices should be so done that becoming like Christ is not the focus but the outcome of the practices.[9]

The audience and context of the student's church/ministry.

A spiritual formation plan for the Prayer Force Department of my Church aims at helping the members of the department to develop themselves. As Richard Foster said, “Spiritual formation is a lifelong journey. The moment we received Jesus Christ is just the starting point of this journey. We are not instantaneously released from the confinement of the slavery of our sins.  Sin is the natural motion and internal structure of our lives. Launching an attack by means of willpower or determination will just get us nowhere. All efforts will be in vain.”[10] This process will help to sanitize the church of people who are ailing inside and not having an opportunity to free their hearts of their burdens.

And I have noted with concern the helpless state of some of these “Prayer warriors”. They pray a lot, but also worry a lot. Many are dealing with terrible habits, others have marital problems, some have health issues and too many times, they are given hope of prophetic utterances that do not come to pass. The end result is that they are very frustrated inside.

The aim of this plan first and foremost is these members to appreciate the presence of God in difficult situations and not live in a state of denial.

Secondly, as a praying team, there is the tendency to be prayerful in the sense of just spending hours in intercession, mostly praying in tongues. My aim with this plan is to bring them to that point where they can develop themselves as individuals. And then have time to speak to the Lord. As part of the plan, we shall be meeting every Saturday for two hours i.e. from 9 – 11 GMT.

This plan will include a number of aspects; spiritual, leadership, and physical

Spiritual:

We shall spend one hour together every Monday from 4:30 am to 5:30 am

Each member of the team is mandated to spend at least 30mins each dawn in solitude and will share their experience with the rest of the team after church every Sunday.

Leadership:

I shall make parts of a book on spiritual formation available for members to read. We shall discuss this portion for some minutes during our Saturday meetings.

Beginning the first Saturday in November we shall be a two-hour meeting every Saturday. This meeting’s activities will include some minute’s solitude, discussion on a portion of a book read. And some minutes silence. A typical meeting will look like this.

9:00 – 9:30	9:30 – 10:00	10:00 – 10:45	19:45 – 11:00
Discussion of Book	Speaking to the Lord	45mins solitude practice	Corporate Prayer

Since some disciplines like fasting are already familiar with members, they would be encouraged to practice other disciplines such as solitudes in their own time, however, what shall be done on Saturdays would be like a model that will guide them in their individual practice.

The 15mins corporate prayer time will include a little discourse before closing.

The Speaking to the Lord segment is to give members the opportunity to also pour out their “frustrations, burdens and need” before the Lord.

Physical

We shall take a quiet prayer walk together on the last Wednesday of each month. This is something I have already led the team to do twice.

During this walk, members shall meditate and speak to the Lord.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Åkerlund, Truls. “‘To Live Lives Worthy of God’: Leadership and Spiritual Formation in I Thessalonians 2:1–12.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 9 (May 1, 2016): 18–34.

Beard, Chris. “Missional Discipleship: Discerning Spiritual-Formation Practices and Goals within the Missional Movement.” Missiology 43, no. 2 (April 2015): 175–194. Accessed October 10, 2019. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAn3800003&site=ehost-live.

Bufford, Rodger K, Nancy Stiehler Thurston, Kathleen Gathercoal, Marie-Christine Goodworth, and Lynn H Holt. “Spiritual Formation in the Graduate School of Clinical Psychology at George Fox University.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 11, no. 2 (2018): 296–313. Accessed October 24, 2019. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiFZK181210001132&site=ehost-live.

Foster, R. Celebration of Discipline. John Murray Press, 2012. https://books.google.com.gh/books?id=QEYsw-PYukUC.

Hwang, Jin K. “Storytelling and Spiritual Formation According to the Apostle Paul.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 9, no. 1 (2016): 35–53. Accessed September 19, 2019. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAn3989311&site=ehost-live.

Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ. First Ed 1st Printing edition. Colorado Springs, Colo: NavPress, 2002.

“Spiritual Formation : A Wesleyan Paradigm.” Accessed October 24, 2019. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzUyMDAzM19fQU41?nobk=y&sid=25817f4f-8c78-4dfc-bf1c-ac2336b4dfa8@sdc-v-sessmgr01&vid=6&format=EB&rid=1.

“Spiritual Formation in the Church.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 7, no. 2 (2014): 292–311. Accessed October 24, 2019. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAn3836675&site=ehost-live.

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[1] “Spiritual Formation : A Wesleyan Paradigm,” 87, accessed October 24, 2019, http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzUyMDAzM19fQU41?nobk=y&sid=25817f4f-8c78-4dfc-bf1c-ac2336b4dfa8@sdc-v-sessmgr01&vid=6&format=EB&rid=1.

[2] Truls Åkerlund, “‘To Live Lives Worthy of God’: Leadership and Spiritual Formation in I Thessalonians 2:1–12,” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 9 (May 1, 2016): 20.

[3] “Spiritual Formation in the Church,” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 7, no. 2 (2014): 292, accessed October 24, 2019, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAn3836675&site=ehost-live.

[4] Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ, First Ed 1st Printing edition. (Colorado Springs, Colo: NavPress, 2002), 171.

[5] Ibid., 172.

[6] Rodger K Bufford et al., “Spiritual Formation in the Graduate School of Clinical Psychology at George Fox University,” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 11, no. 2 (2018): 4, accessed October 24, 2019, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiFZK181210001132&site=ehost-live.

[7] Chris Beard, “Missional Discipleship: Discerning Spiritual-Formation Practices and Goals within the Missional Movement,” Missiology 43, no. 2 (April 2015): 2, accessed October 10, 2019, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAn3800003&site=ehost-live.

[8] Jin K Hwang, “Storytelling and Spiritual Formation According to the Apostle Paul,” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 9, no. 1 (2016): 47, accessed September 19, 2019, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAn3989311&site=ehost-live.

[9] Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 172.

[10] R. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (John Murray Press, 2012), 4, https://books.google.com.gh/books?id=QEYsw-PYukUC.

Explaining the Trinity

SYLVANUS GATORWU

LITERATURE REVIEW

DR. PAGE BROOKS

SEMINARY DISCIPLINE

NOVEMBER 3, 2019

 ON THE TRINITY SUBMITTED AS ASSIGNMENT AT THE SCHOOL OF URBAN MISSIONS

[SUM]

Abstract

For centuries, this subject of Trinity has been debated. It has taken so much effort from theologians throughout history to come out with a definitive description of exactly what it means. This paper attempts to dig out the scriptural basis for the Trinity. Other views opposing the doctrine are also looked at and their reasons for their opposition also explored.

Introduction

Much as various creeds support the Trinity, much as it has become a fundamental truth for Christendom, it is also still vehemently refuted by sects like the Jehovah’s Witness who carry on with Arinian doctrine. It is of utmost importance that this subject is explored by all who seek to intellectually defend the Christian faith.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study will be to explore the trinity. This paper will seek to explain how the scriptures explain the doctrine of the Trinity as against the other schools of thought on the subject.

Thesis

The Trinity has been with Christianity for time immemorial. Even though it has taken centuries for it to find a good explanation, it is still being contended by other faiths who also profess Christ. This piece will attempt to make a case for the Trinity and to answer, how the study of theology can help us explain this all-important fundamental concept of Christianity.

Literature Review

According to Kelvin DeYoung, if there is any doctrine makes Christianity what it is, it must be that of the Trinity. He says all the three major creeds of Christian history are weaved around the Trinitarian theology.”[1]

Even though the word cannot be found in the Bible, a vigilant study of the Bible will show that the teaching of Trinity is founded on certain truths from the Bible. God is one, and he is in three separate personalities who can all be found displayed in the Bible and each of those is fully identified as God. In this paper, an attempt will be made to answer a few questions.

What are some of the other views on Trinity? What are some of the objections to Trinity?

From the Bible, how can the Trinity be explained? What does the Bible say about it from the Old and New Testaments? These would be answered in the review of various literatures.

What are some of the other views on trinity?

Three heresies arise against the teaching of Trinity, Modalism, Arianism, and Tritheism.[2]

Modalism: Is a school of thought held by a Christian, Sabellius. He opined that God is one, the Father and that he decided to make himself visible as the Son, as a result, he came into existence with the name Jesus Christ of Nazareth[3]

According to the Modal teaching, God in history can manifest himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at different times but not the three at once concurrently.

According to Driscoll, for those who ascribe to this thought, it is God the Father who manifested as Jesus Chris, and then after he had died and resurrected, this same Father came back as the Holy Spirit.[4]

Some consider this school of thought as protecting the inviolability and Bible standpoint that God is regarded as the Father. He will forever be God. Quoting John 10:30 and 14:9 respective, Modalists claim there is only one God. Their major challenge, however, is how to integrate this belief with other places in the scriptures where the Trinity appears not as a mono being but in different forms.

Even though the Modalist upholds the oneness of God, they were going struggle to explain certain scriptures and incidents like the Baptism of Jesus. Ware argues that God must at the same time be all three at the same time and not just modes for the occurrence at the baptism to have happened.[5]

Arianism: A school of thought championed by Bishop Arius from Alexandria,  this view denied the deity of Jesus as God the Son and also the Holy Spirit. Arianism simply says God the Son became who he was at a time in history and had no pre-existence with the Father as the Trinity seeks to uphold.[6] Arianism has John 1:14; 3-16, 18 and 1 John 4:19 as their scriptural basis. Their explanation is that Jesus Christ is God’s “only begotten” and does not in any way connote being equal with the Father. They claim that once Jesus was begotten, he must come into existence when he was born.[7]

I Cor 1:15 according to Arianism means the conception of Jesus and so he is not divine as the Trinity sort to portray. The Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 rejected Arianism, it was at this gathering that Bishop Athanasius made a case for the deity of Jesus Christ. The Nicene Creed was subsequently written to support Christ being as same nature and substance of the Father.

Arianism holds the view that the Son is created, but he is not divine. It also supports “Subordinationism” in that the Son is less than the Father in being The Christian faith affirms[8]

Traces of Arianism can still be found in cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses founded by Charles Teze Russell in 1881. To this sect Driscoll responds “Thus, Jesus is the archangel Michael, who is mentioned in the Old Testament. Neither is the Spirit divine but rather more of a cosmic force of Jehovah”[9]

Trintheism: according to Mark Driscoll, Tritheism doctrine is that of three different autonomous Gods[10]. This view seems to emphasize the plurality of the Godhead but denies the unity which the Trinity seems to espouse. This teaching, therefore, says God is three different persons and each person is fully God[11]. The minus of this school of thought is that it promotes contrary to the Bible, a concept of polytheism.

 How does the bible affirm Trinity?

To help explain this for the rest of this paper, the summary of Dr. Bruce Ware will be explored. He says Christianity upholds, there is one God, who forever exists in the various three personalities of the Trinity.[12]

Only One God

At a time where polytheism was the order of the day, the scriptures affirmed the “monotheistic” nature of God in Gen 1:1 and Dent 6:4. John MacArthur in supporting this standpoint says the fact of God being one was key to Israel because they lived in the middle of societies that had many gods.[13] We will never fully understand God, even though he is a simple and good God.[14] There is, of course, an explicitly Trinitarian understanding of prayer, whether liturgical or personal: that prayer is offered to the Father, through the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit, which relates to the passage in Rom. 8.15–17.[15]

While the world at the time had many gods in almost every culture, God commanded that he alone be worshipped according to I Kings 8:60. Later on, in history, the Prophet Isaiah declared “I am the Lord and there is no other” Isaiah 45:5-6.

God being one is also loudly spoken of in the New Testament in John17:3 and I Cor 8:6. Paul says Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man in I Tim 2:5. Dr. Bruce again clarifies “The Bible is clear: there is one and only one God. The God of the Bible, the God of the Israelites, is the only true God.”[16]

How does the Bible explain three persons?

John MacArthur on this says, “God is one, yet exists not as two but three distinct persons. That is a mystery unparalleled in our experience.”[17] Invariably, this implies that the Father is fully God, the Son Jesus Christ is fully God and the Holy Spirit is also fully God.

Commenting on Gen 1:26, Millard Erickson observes that “Here the plural occurs both in the verb, ‘let us make’ and in the possessive suffix ‘our.’ What is significant from the standpoint of logical analysis, is the shift from singular to plural. God is quoted as using a plural verb with reference to himself.”[18] In finding a solution to the Tower of Babel, a plural nature of himself is referred to by God as “Come, let us go down” in Gen 11:7 connoting a plural nature of God. The truth that God is three persons is distinctly loud in the New Testament when Jesus spoke to his disciples in Matt 28:19. Over there the use of the singular “name” is crucial to God as one person yet three persons. Millard again opines “name is singular but there are three persons included in that name”[19].

The baptism of Jesus presents another opportunity to explain the Trinity in Matt 3:17 when the Father spoke as the Holy Spirit came down upon the Son who was being baptized.

Gen 1:1 uses a similar plural underpinning of the nature of Elohim “us”. In teaching the disciples to pray, Jesus says in Matt 6:9 refers to a Father. The Apostle Paul referred to God as a Father to Jesus in Eph 1:3. Millard explains that Jesus is not just deity, the Scriptures actually see him as God himself[20]

John 1:1 opens with an endorsing statement in which Christ is referred to as the incarnate “Word” which dovetails into Genesis 1:1, meaning Christ existed before he was born as human. Far ahead in John 20:28, Thomas screams “my Lord and my God”. To further explain this Dr. Wayne Grudem fittingly says a comprehension of the Father and Son as God would better explain texts like Matt 28:19. The Holy Spirit will then be placed neck to neck with the Father and Son.[21]

For the Jehovah’s Witnesses cult, Jesus was a god and not God. This opposition comes from a misinterpretation of John 1:1. The direct interpretation of this verse would render it as “God was the Word”. Textually, it would be wrong for anyone to suggest that the “Word” was anything else but God. John M. Frame argues that scriptural passages that affirm Jesus as God are about ten, and goes on to state that their contest is difficulties that certain people may have and not because the texts themselves resist the claim of Jesus as God.[22]

Even though opponents of the Trinity might try as hard as they can, it would impossible in the face of certain Biblical texts. In Acts 5:3-4, Peter accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit, and in verse 4, he declares the Holy Spirit to be God, an equation hard for the Watchtower to explain.[23] This scripture and more affirm the fact that the Holy Spirit is God too.

In Conclusion

This short paper shows how the Teaching of the Trinity has soldiered through history. It has explained the nature of God as three persons from the scriptures and has also shown some opposing views to it. The true creator of the universe exists in three discrete persons but equal and are fully each God.

Apostle Paul in closing his written sermons would declare “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Byassee, Jason. Trinity : The God We Don’t Know. Vol. First [edition]. Belief Matters. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2015.

Collins, Paul M. The Trinity: A Guide for the Perplexed. Guides for the Perplexed. London: T&T Clark, 2008. Accessed November 2, 2019. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=344171&site=ehost-live.

DeYoung, Kevin. The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2010.

Driscoll, Mark, and Gerry Breshears. Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.

Erickson, Millard J. Introducing Christian Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.

Frame, John. A Theology of Lordship v 4 The Doctrine of the Word of God. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, 2010.

Grudem, Wayne A. Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999.

MacArthur, John. “An Interview with John MacArthur, Jr.” Fundamentalist Journal 3, no. 10 (November 1984): 47–49.

Martin, Walter. The Kingdom of the Cults. Edited by Ravi Zacharias. Revised, Updated edition. Minneapolis, Minn: Bethany House Publishers, 2003.

Ware, Bruce A. Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God. 1 edition. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2009.

Ware, Bruce A. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005.

White, James R. “Loving the Trinity.” Christian Research Journal 21, no. 4 (1999): 20.

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[1] Kevin DeYoung, The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2010), 49.

[2] Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 71.

[3] Bruce A Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 65.

[4] Driscoll and Breshears, Doctrine, 60.

[5] Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 65.

[6] Wayne A Grudem, Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 113.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid., 114.

[9] Driscoll and Breshears, Doctrine, 62.

[10] Ibid., 63.

[11] Grudem, Bible Doctrine, 114.

[12] Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 121.

[13] John MacArthur, “An Interview with John MacArthur, Jr,” Fundamentalist Journal 3, no. 10 (November 1984): 18.

[14] Jason Byassee, Trinity : The God We Don’t Know, vol. First [edition], Belief Matters (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2015), 18.

[15] Paul M. Collins, The Trinity: A Guide for the Perplexed, Guides for the Perplexed (London: T&T Clark, 2008), 17, accessed November 2, 2019, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=344171&site=ehost-live.

[16] Bruce A. Ware, Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God, 1 edition. (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2009), 40.

[17] MacArthur, “An Interview with John MacArthur, Jr,” 19.

[18] Millard J Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 110.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid., 108.

[21] James R White, “Loving the Trinity,” Christian Research Journal 21, no. 4 (1999): 21.

[22] John Frame, A Theology of Lordship v 4 The Doctrine of the Word of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, 2010), 663.

[23] Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, ed. Ravi Zacharias, Revised, Updated Edition. (Minneapolis, Minn: Bethany House Publishers, 2003), 29.