29.3.07

a balanced spiritual life

last year I went to a conference at college where the speakers were Roy Searle and Richard Foster who founded the organisation Renovare.

Renovare is committed to encouraging Christians to live a balanced spiritual life, drawing on the main streams of Christian spirituality down the ages:

Contemplative: the prayer-filled life
Holiness: the virtuous life
Charismatic: the spirit-empowered life
Social Justice: the compassionate life
Evangelical: the word-centred life
Incarnational: the sacramental life

looking at these 6 streams has been incredibly formational in my own discipleship. Renovare encourage us to work towards having all these streams present and visible in our own lives and present the challenge that if our discipleship is lacking in an area of spirituality then maybe that is a warning to us.

As an evangelical I have, of course, been shown the goodness of being nourished by the Word, however it is only fairly recently in my Christian discipleship that such things as the Incarnational and Contemplative stream have entered my consciousness.

I have to say that I have found both of these 'new' streams to be so nourishing in my walk with God and I would encourage you to have a look at Renovare. www.renovare.org

Just for those of you who have wondered if 'contemplation' is simply 'naval gazing', the root of the word means 'to gaze at the sacred place' and I can't think of any other place I'd rather be.

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