Spiritual formation and discipleship around tables
Walking and talking with our sisters in Christ has helped us become more Christlike
As a young seminarian, I was introduced to spiritual formation in a first-year introductory course. Although my main area of study was educational ministries, I took classes whenever possible that helped me understand the transformation of my heart into Christlikeness. I had heard about spiritual practices, or disciplines, but did not really know what they were or how they could aid in my spiritual transformation. Each class I took helped me to understand more and to dig more deeply into my heart, Christ’s home. Since that time, as I have grown in my understanding and practice, I pray that my life also shows an increasing Christlikeness.
Fast forward ten years, and I found myself part of a church-planting team in southern Osaka. As we prayed about how to reach out to our neighborhood, we also had the desire to journey with our Christian friends to be transformed to be more like Christ. Women’s ministry was one of the first ministries we developed as the church began growing. Initially, we had events to foster fellowship among the ladies, not only in our own church plant but also ladies we had met at other local churches.
The educator in me recognized these events as times when we could also incorporate learning together as one of the goals. My coworker and I had attended training by Entrust Equipping Women entitled “Developing a Discerning Heart,” and we wanted to see how what we learned could be translated into our church-planting context in Japan. We began holding ladies’ seminars to study how to develop a discerning heart together. (For more information, see page 25 in the resource section.)
Our approach to discipleship
From the beginning, our method of discipleship has been a relaxed time of study around tables that is steeped in God’s word and conversation. The Japanese churches we have encountered place a high value on Bible reading, Bible study, and gaining information. We have also run across a shyness and propensity to defer to the teacher, who’s seen as the expert. However, we have also encountered women who know their Bibles well and have deep wisdom from their years of life experience. Our assumption was that if we took the focus off the front of the room and centered it on studying and discussing God’s word in small groups, a deeper understanding of God’s word and deeper relationships with fellow sojourners would develop.
Amazingly, this is what has happened! As time has passed, the women have been willing to share their personal experiences and knowledge with each other. During discussion and study times at the seminars, we often hear laughter and see tears. We see women encouraging one another, and we hear God’s word being discussed with reverent awe.
Growth through study and conversation
The seminars include singing and direct teaching about the topic and how it relates to our transformation towards Christlikeness. We also spend time in groups of three or four studying what God’s Word teaches us about the topic of the day, followed by a person from each group summarizing the group’s discussion. Lunch and tea breaks are also included to foster fellowship.
We have learned that the women like to know what is going to be studied at the seminars, so we even give homework sometimes. When the ladies register for the seminar, we might give them a list of the verses we will study or some questions about the topic and how it relates to their own walk with Jesus. Having a chance to study ahead of time and think through some of the questions not only decreases stress levels but, more importantly, deepens discussions during the seminars.
Transformation over information
Five years of biannual seminars brought us to the end of the curriculum we had studied about developing a discerning heart and sent us searching for how to continue. The ladies desired to continue meeting and studying together, and we sensed that God was continuing to transform lives.
About that time, I read a book by Stephen Smith called The Jesus Life. In it, he states, “Information and the amassing of information, no matter how true, does not lead to transformation.”1 Thinking about transformation as not just amassing information, we began to look for resources to help us combine the study of God’s Word with spiritual practices that could aid in our transformation towards Christlikeness. At that time, we did not find much available in Japanese.
My coworker and I prayed through our own personal experiences with authors whose spiritual formation practices are deeply rooted in Scripture, writers such as Ruth Haley Barton, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster, Ken Shigematsu, and Dallas Willard. Then we developed six lessons to explore spiritual practices with our ladies as we continued to study God’s word together. (For more information, see page 24 in the resource section.) We worked with the ladies from our seminars and pastors from our Japanese denomination to discover spiritual practices that would enhance current teaching and encourage transformation.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Phil. 3:12, NIV). While we are on this earth, transformation is a continual process. We are excited to see how God uses these practices and lessons to continue transforming us into the likeness of his Son, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
1. Stephen W. Smith, The Jesus Life: Eight Ways to Recover Authentic Christianity (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2012), 21.
Photos submitted by author