Spiritual Transformation Through Community Importance of Community for Spiritual Transformation

Accountability

Process of Growth

Biblical and Theological Foundations

Jesus Christ

Love

Holy Spirit

Community Transformation

The broad theme that this research project will endeavor upon is to what extent is there a necessity of community within spiritual transformation. Transformation can be thought of on many different levels that include on a personal as well as a corporate level transformation. It is reasonable to assume that every individual in the Body of Christ must align themselves fully on an individual basis so they are in a position to make their optimal contribution to the community and the church can move in its fullness of power and purpose. However, it is also reasonable to believe that the power of the collective Christian community is far greater than just the sum of its parts; that ultimately, there should be a Christian community transformation as being a light to our local and earthly community.

Every individual believer must come to terms with their responsibilities to acquire a Kingdom mindedness, and learn to mitigate any personal ambitions that deter from the pursuit of this perspective. The research question can thus be stated as "how does the of the connection of the individual to the community facilitate spiritual formation on all levels?" It is the responsibility of the local pastor and elders to empower the people to strengthen the bonds, in both directions, and work together with the empowering provided by the Holy Spirit. With basic assumptions things in mind, the thesis statement of analysis will be "the community of believers as a collective unit plays a foundational role in each individuals' spiritual development and transformation of the community on a collective and holistic level."

II. Importance of Community for Spiritual Transformation

A. Purpose

"When Jesus came to his first disciples, he came to them with his word, and was present with them in bodily form. But this same day Jesus died and rose again. How is his call handed on to us to-day? To call us: "Follow me," Jesus no longer passes us in bodily form as he passed by Levi the publican . . . Who are we to come forward and volunteer for such an extraordinary and unusual life? Who is there to tell me and others, for that matter, that we are not acting on our own initiative and following our own wild fancies?

(Bonheoffer, 1959)"

Bonhoeffer (1959) poses some tough questions to be answered about the role of the community in The Cost of Discipleship. If you compare the experiences that the first disciples had with Jesus directly, with the circumstances that congregations must face in today's contemporary period, there are obviously substantial differences. The scriptures represent the only witnesses we have today of Christ's presence in the material world as it existed in its humanly life and our faith rests on the unity of Scriptures; "who tells us that the Pauline Christ is as alive for us to-day as he was for St. Paul?" (Bonheoffer, 1959). Indeed, if people were forced to rely on Scripture alone, it is reasonable to suspect that this would limit the understanding of Christ's presence would be limited to a small segment of the population, not everyone can access, interpret, and understand the meanings that lie within the strings of words contained in Synoptic Gospels for example. Even for adept Biblical scholars, using the texts to find "substance", that is unlocking symbolism and metaphor, can make it difficult to extract underlying messages that allow these texts to speak the messages contained on their own terms (Volker, 2015).

However, if we have accepted our own personal calling to serve God, and believe every person is a child of God and humanity is created in the image of God, then through the scriptures we must be necessity define our own faith in terms of our community. The writer of the letters of John emphasizes how important it is to treat each other as brothers and sisters who love one another (Dyck, 2012):

"If anyone boasts "I love God" and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love...

You've got to love both."
(1 John 4:20-21, The Message)

Fortunately, the Christian tradition has been passed down with far more than the written word alone. Also, accessible to all individuals in humanity are networks of other followers who have congregated and founded communities in the name of Christ to help us expanded upon our own faith, as well as facilitate spiritual growth in others. The bond that Christ can offer men and women from all walks of life is unprecedented in its powers of attraction. There are different levels of community that can be postulated from the local community that we are most intimate with, to the global community of believes, and then to all humanity. Although there must be tactical considerations for any level of community in which we engage with, it is also reasonable to suspect that the basic underlying principles of integration apply to all levels of congregations of differing sizes and scopes.

1. Accountability

The bonds that form in a community do not always manifest without conflict however. Each individual, despite having a unifying faith on the deepest level, may also have points of departure in their personal interpretation of scripture or even broader themes in Christianity itself. To overcome such challenges, Dyck (2012) has developed a system of empathizing with the perspective of others as a route to restoring a collective cohesion in the community of God.

Holy conferencing isn't for convincing others that we are right. It is for listening to others in such a way that we understand better why they hold their beliefs. The scripture's observation that someone might be "strong on opinions but weak in the faith department" could apply to any of us! It's the next line that holy conferencing seeks to draw out: what part of another's history brings them to their perspective?

(Dyck, 2012)

Every community of faith can disagree internally about the ideal ways in which the church can follow Christ's presence. However, in building the types of communities that can provide the foundational role that can foster spiritual development on differing levels, these challenges must therefore be identified and overcome.

B. Principles

People come to the church from many different circumstances and walks of life. Assuming that you know where an individual is at in their path along their own personal spiritual development can be one of the most fundamental of all mistakes in fostering relationships with Christ. Dyck (2012) recalls one lesson that was learned in the mentoring from Bishop James S. Thomas when he spoke of his own story that claimed that he used to say that the truth was clear to him when he was thinking his own thoughts by himself, but it was when he was in the presence of others that it all got confused; he had to confer with others to see more sides or angles or perspectives on whatever the matter was at hand (Dyck, 2012). However, to face these challenges, one must develop a sense of tolerance and humility in our own internal perspective, before we can relate to the perspectives of others.

C. Process of Growth

John Wesley believed that we first need to "order [our] conversations right" and he wasn't a stranger to confrontational, emotionally charged conversations about deeply held beliefs (Dyck, 2012). Whether we are engaging in a discourse with other believers, or in one with a non-Christian worldview altogether, there is bound to be sources of conflict at almost any level of spiritual growth.

He (Wesley) emphasized the need to converse "always in grace." Again, this means to give the other person the benefit of the doubt, to assume the best instead of the worst, to listen deeply

("Preface to Sermons on Several Occasions," § 9-10, in The Works of John Wesley, Vol. I, Sermons I, ed. Albert C. Outler, Abingdon, 1984).

While most people might naturally shy away from such conflict, or at least feel an internal sense of righteousness in the presence of conflict of ideas, the greater the conflict, the greater the opportunity for spiritual growth. That is to say, we should not fear those that think differently or interpret scripture differently than us, or even life in general, rather pursuing a dialogue based on empathy, understanding, and above all, love, can overcome virtually any crisis or conflict that can work to divide a community.

III. Biblical and Theological Foundations

A. Jesus Christ

Ultimately, all things must be rooted and grounded in the Word of God. This is so because it is the only foundational truth to build upon. Anything that does not line up with what God says will eventually sink. Although there are many different interpretations of biblical foundations, for Wesley, the ultimate goal of sanctification was "to renew men's and women's hearts in (God's) image (Dieter, Hoekema, Horton, McQuilkin, & Walvoord, 2987).…