The Spiritual Discipline of Journaling

Today I was challenged by a passage in a book by Dr. Donald S. Whitney called Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spiritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed. In a chapter called "Keep a Simple Journal" he urges his readers to engage in the practice of keeping a journal. Why? Because 100 years from now, it is very likely that no one will even know your first name. Not even your great-grandchildren. For example: do you know your great-grandparents names? Eight of your ancestors and you probably don't know their names. What trace of their lives exist?

But if we will simply journal, 100 years from now there will be a record of your life. And not only that, it can be a spiritual record of your life: a testament to God's goodness and faithfulness in your life!

So, I feel challenged to keep this simple journal. For me, this blog functions best as that journal. The only question: will I be faithful to write?

For more reflections on this see Mark Batterson's blog here.

REVEAL

I'm reading a very challenging book called Reveal. It is based on research that was done at Willow Creek Community Church. Every few years, Willow has surveyed their congregation to get a feel for how they are doing. They want to know where they are so they can become more effective as a church.

Before doing any research, they made three hypotheses. They "hypothesized that spiritual growth depended on increasing participation in church activities."

They discovered that this wasn't true. They found that spiritual growth is related to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Not surprising if you ask me. What is clearly revealed is that church activities don't often help people develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Yikes!

So where are we, First Christian Church of Wray, Colorado? Does our church help you develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ?

The research is ongoing and there is a blog that continues the conversation. In a recent post, charts were shown that reveal how the congregations of 20 different churches feel about their church's role in their spiritual growth and their own satisfaction concerning their spiritual growth. Ideally, churches want congregations who see their relationship with Jesus Christ as very important and feel that the church plays a positive role in their spiritual growth.

Is that the case with our church? Do you feel that your relationship with Jesus Christ is very important? Do you feel that the church is playing a positive role in your spiritual growth? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!