Spiritual Formation

In this course students learn to have the attitudes of Jesus, to relate to God the way Jesus related to his Father, to humble ourselves as Jesus did, to practice the spiritual and personal disciplines of Jesus, to endure suffering as Jesus did, and to engage in the Christian community (the Church) formed by Jesus.

This course examines the Christian’s spiritual formation into the image of Christ. You should schedule 90-120 minutes for each class session, in addition to time for doing assignments outside of class.

(1) Whenever you come to the sign ►, ask the question that follows it, and let students discuss the answer. Try to make sure that all students in the class are involved in the discussion. If necessary, you can call on students by name.

(2) Many footnotes refer to a Scripture reference. Please have students look up some of these verses and read them during the class. Unless indicated otherwise, Scripture quotations in the lessons are from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible.

(3) Each lesson will include assignments.

• Students will be asked to use Dr. Allan Brown’s Daily Prayer Guide as a way to train themselves to pray the Scriptures and to learn communion and fellowship with God in prayer.  This may be found in the Appendix section.
• Students will be asked to write out a personal prayer based on what they learned in the lesson. These prayers should be kept in a personal prayer journal. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage students to personalize the biblical truths taught in the lessons and to turn them into sincere prayers.
• Students will also be asked to make journal entries of what God is teaching them through each lesson.

(4) At the beginning of each class period students will be given the opportunity, should they so choose, to share their written prayer with their fellow classmates. The purpose of this exercise is to practice humility and mutual accountability, and to enjoy spiritual fellowship.

(5) At the end of each lesson is a test. This test can be given orally or in writing.