When we talk about spiritual formation, we’re talking about the process whereby a person moves toward maturity in Christ by the power of the Spirit. Spiritual formation is, as Paul puts it in Colossians 1, all about becoming complete in Christ.
“Him we proclaim,” Paul writes, “warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (vv. 28–29, ESV).
You might say that the telos, or “goal,” of spiritual formation is to be teleios, or “complete,” in Christ.
We, as pastors, will have a hard time getting to this telos without taking more seriously our bodies, without taking more seriously our brains, and without taking more seriously our interpersonal communion, being known by one another and by our Lord and Maker. “For now we see in a mirror dimly,” Scripture says, “but then face to face. Now [we] know in part; then [we] shall know fully, even as [we] have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12, ESV).
From CTmagazine: RT drgrcevich: Excellent piece that calls on Christian leaders to take the role of the brain more seriously. How Can So Many Pastors Be Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time? https://t.co/wsBAz5xwtH via CT_Pastors
— Carol Flohr Giles (@giles_carol) July 23, 2019