Spiritual Formation and Calling
by Jon & Steph Boyle
"Live a life worthy of the calling." Ephesians 4:1 describes some of the questions Urbana 06 delegates wrestled with during their time in St. Louis. As Ajith Fernando preached on the morning of December 29, Paul is urging his readers “to be genuine Christians. God has called you to something; now you live according to that.”
The first part of the verse asks us to live our lives to a different standard than the rest of our culture—to be holy and set apart so we can do God’s work in the world. Many people made life-changing decisions in response to God’s word during Urbana, but it’s just the beginning of many milestones God uses to make us more and more like his son, Jesus.
This life-long process by which we develop into who God wants us to be has been termed “spiritual formation.” Tom Boyle, director of staff development and training for InterVarsity USA, elaborates on spiritual formation by saying:
We come unformed and when we take Christ into our lives, the shaping process begins that day, but it continues throughout your lifetime. What works for a seventeen/eighteen-year-old freshmen in college might not work as well anymore by the time that person is thirty and they need to move on to different levels of feeding their own spirit and growing into the person that God knows they can be.
The lessons God has for us and the ways in which we learn those lessons will change over time and as we grow. Boyle elaborates:
There was a time in my life when a thirty-minute quiet time was plenty. Then that morphed into memorizing scripture for awhile. That morphed into listening to worship music. Then that morphed into doing something more liturgical in a systematic way every day. That morphed into a very careful study of themes in scripture and that morphed into looking at characters in scripture. So it keeps changing depending on how God is working in your own world.
Hallie Cowan serves as an associate regional director with InterVarsity in New England, and was a member of the Urbana 06 intercessory prayer team. She is also a spiritual director to others. Cowan explains: “A spiritual director is a person with discernment who walks alongside you and helps you to hear what God is saying to you.” Similar to a relationship you’d have with a counselor, being vulnerable and wholly honest is important. But, Hallie continues, “unlike counseling, they’re not looking to fix what’s wrong, but to help you discern where God is moving in your life.” For example, “when I meet with directees, I often prescribe spiritual disciplines. If somebody, for instance, is dealing with jealousy, a discipline of gratitude—my instruction is to begin the day with ten things that you’re thankful for.”
Spiritual formation is neither wholly counseling nor discipleship. “Discipleship takes you up to a place of everything every Christian needs to know," Cowan explains. "It’s a general course. And then, spiritual formation becomes personalized and looks at my calling and the issues of redemption and holiness that Jesus is working in me."
The second part of the Ephesians 4:1 passage speaks of the specific work God has for each one of us. So what is the calling God has for me? During this week, delegates have been challenged to serve overseas in the slums of Southeast Asia or the poorest regions of India; to help in the fight against Aids/HIV, become an enemy of injustice and defend the oppressed; to minister to the poor of the world’s cities and work for racial reconciliation. Of the numerous opportunities available, which one is God asking me to be part of?
When asked what she would tell students at Urbana about how to discern their calling, Cowan suggested praying, “'Who are you Lord and who am I?' And he’ll let you know," she said. "I see the ministry that you do as coming completely out of who you are. The business of calling is to hang onto Jesus and look where he’s going and enjoy the ride. Our primary calling is to be in love with Jesus and to be filled with him.”
As many of us heard during the plenary sessions and experienced in times of worship and prayer while in St. Louis, the Holy Spirit is moving, both within us individually and in the church body as a whole. His work is to transform our hearts to that of Jesus, sharing in his compassion for the world. May we continue to drink from the deep well of Urbana 06 and allow Jesus to continue his work of making us more like himself, today and for the rest of our lives.
For more on spiritual formation, follow the InterVarsity Press Formatio series. Cowan recommends beginning with Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton and Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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