Church Planting Journey » Spiritual Formation

Notes from REVEAL Conference (Part Two)

David — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:10:34 +0000

David’s Note: I recently had opportunity to attend the REVEAL conference at Willow Creek Church in Chicago. When the REVEAL study was first released, the focus was on the controversy surrounding the results. However, this conference had solid, clear focus on spiritual formation. These are my reflections from my time at the conference.

The REVEAL conference focused on movement — what factors help people take their next steps toward God?

They discovered the top five catalysts for moving people forward in their spiritual growth:

Reading and reflecting on the Bible is the most powerful catalyst for individual spiritual growth.
Developing core Christian beliefs is crucial for those in the early stages of growth. These need to be taught early — not later.
Personal spiritual practices are the building blocks for a Christ-centered life.
Serving is the most catalytic experience offered by churches (as opposed to individuals). As people grow, they move from:
- Serving inside the church to serving outside the church
- Serving in corporate service opportunities to serving as an individual lifestyle.
Spiritual community is vital at all phases of spiritual growth, but as people grow this moves from organized (e.g., church small groups) to organic (e.g., spiritual friends and mentors).

Insights from WCA REVEAL Conference (Part One)

David — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:40:13 +0000

Pastors and other church leaders typically see people through the lens of “activity” – from minimally involved in church activities/programs to very involved. The key insight of REVEAL was that activity does not reflect a person’s heart for God or heart for others.

Spiritual maturity is not about activity but about intimacy. REVEAL found that there are four groups of people – those who are:

Exploring Christ
Growing in Christ
Close to Christ
Christ-Centered

The results of the REVEAL study led to the question: “What creates spiritual movement?”

That’s the purpose of this conference – to explore potential answers to this question.

Free Audio Bible Downloads

David — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:08:30 +0000

The folks over at Faith Comes By Hearing do a fantastic job of producing audio versions of the Bible in 314 different languages. Our church has done several seasons of listening to the New Testament in 30 days, as well as given special offerings to make these audio Bibles available in low-income countries.

I just found out that you can now download the audio Bible in 314 different languages free of charge here. You can also get daily audio sent to your cell phone by texting “BIBLE” to 80672.

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