First United Methodist Church

THE TASK FORCE FOR SPIRITUAL FORMATION

The eleven-member Spiritual Formation Team has met weekly
since March 23, 2010. Its purpose is to explore the ways
in which we as a community and individuals may grow spiritually
and reclaim and rediscover Wesley’s Means of Grace. The phrase Spiritual Formation is rich and endless in meaning and includes:

Simply put, we seek those practices that reach toward God, nurture one another, and grow our soul.

The Team recognizes the uniqueness of each individual and that many choices must be available over time. Those choices fall into two major categories of Spiritual Growth:

• Foundational knowledge includes study groups such as Alpha, Bethel, or the several courses of Disciple
• Smaller groups in the Wesley tradition organized to examine individual books of the Old and New Testaments
• More specialized programs such as The Emerging Church or The Truth Project
  

We build the rock of our faith on a strong foundation and an understanding of our spiritual tradition.

2.  Exploration, pursuit, and perfection of various spiritual practices tailored to individual needs. Spiritual practices are diverse in joining traditions of the past, the challenges of the present, and the needs
of individuals in small groups or alone in growing toward the Divine.
The list is long, but here are a few:

• Spiritual book club
• Spiritual retreat
• Spiritual journaling or autobiography or memoir
• Prayer (many kinds and shapes of prayer!!!)
• Lectio Divina
• Meditation and contemplation
• Shared experiences to build trust and support on the spiritual journey
• Fasting

• Estella Lange
• Dale Lange
• Kris Linton
• Terry Shoemaker
• Celia Merrill
• Peggy Blackburn
• John Vanderpol
• Tim Townes
• Barbara Blair
• Rhoda Parker