Spiritual Transformation in Christian Schools

Dr. Todd Marrah, Ph.D.

Definition of Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation is the process conforming to inner character of Jesus.

Ø Spiritual Development Ø Spiritual Transformation

Key Questions ! Are you being shaped? ! How do you know? ! Can it be measured? ! How would you describe it? ! Can others see it? ! Should others judge it? ! Can you shape yourself?

! Is it possible to partner with the Holy Spirit?

! Is it partnership or availability? ! Is availability required to be

shaped? ! Can you shape others? (students?) ! Can a focus in spiritual formation

cause spiritual formation?

! Can you join in the process?

What is it in us that needs transformed?

Literature Review Summary

! Transformation of the Heart (Jeremiah 17:9)

! The source of all physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional and moral energies (Nouwen, 1981)

! The executive center of human life, the center of the process of spiritual

Literature Review Summary

! Transformation of the Mind (Ro. 12:2) ! “Spiritual formation involves exchanges

within the mind, or, in other words, it is the removal of the former system of evil ideas and replacing it with the thinking system that proceeds from the mind of Christ.” (Willard, 2002)

The transformation of the Hands “Jesus did not come to be served but to serve…”

Mark 10:45

Key Understandings

! Monergistic – the work of One (Philippians 1:6)

! Synergistic – the working together (Philippians 2:12-13)

! “Make every effort to add to your faith…” (2 Peter 1:5-7)

“Spiritual formation is character formation – we all receive character formation. The question becomes what character/who’s spirit?”

Dallas Willard

Relational Spirituality

“All spiritual transformation happens in relationships.”

God is a relational God

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” Genesis 1:26

Scriptures highlight a relational view of human development

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’…And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22: 37, 39

“God made us hard wired to connect relationally, we cannot directly change our own character – our soul – by ourselves.” (Todd Hall, Biola University)

! What implications does this have for Christian Schools?

The Relational Revolution

Brain Research ! The brain is dependent on

relationships to develop properly and to organize itself.

! 1940’s – 1950 British Foundling Hanes

! 1990’s Romanian Orphanages

“God made our brains such that we need healthy attachment relationships in order for them to grow and develop.”

Todd Hall

! We are hard wired to connect in relationships.

! What implications does this have for Christian school educators?

“We love, because He first loved us.” I John 4:19

We have been loved into loving.

What does “loved into loving” look like in school?

! Head level vs. gut level

! In what way have you seen God at work in your life lately?

! Faculty – daily saturation in the love of God…leads to fullness, leaking, spilling over, pouring out. (Even when bumped hard, what will spill out?)

! “Even a jar full of sweet water can’t spill bitter water.” Amy Carmichael

! Kaylee/Hope example

What implications does relational spirituality have for Christian schools? ! Academics

! Bible class

!  Chapel

! Retreats

! Extra Curricular (drama, etc.)

! Arts

! Athletics

! Mentoring

! Crisis

“…make every effort to add to your

faith…” 2 Peter 1:5-7

“Grace is opposed to earning not to effort.” Dallas Willard

Can we be more intentional about putting ourselves “in God’s way” as Christian school educators?

How?

Relational Spirituality

5 Relational Dimensions That Guide Spiritual Transformation

Dr. Todd Marrah, Ph.D.

Growing in Christlikeness

Relational Spirituality - We are Created to Connect in Relationships

! We love God because He first loved us and gave Himself up for us.

! “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” I John 4:10

! “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.”

I John 4:15

Relational Spirituality - We are Created to Connect in Relationships

We are created to know and be known, to love and be loved.

(Todd Hall)

Relational Spirituality - We are Hard-wired To Connect

Different kinds of knowing:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’ Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Matthew 7: 21-24

Different Kinds of Knowing

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:17-19

Unthought Knowns. We know more than we can say.

! Our brain uses 2 strategies to make sense of the world.

! Explicit ---Head Knowledge ! If we asked Lebron James how to shoot a jump shot

could he explain it? ! Implicit –Gut Level Knowledge (non verbal, intuition

etc) ! Love is often a gut level kind of knowing. “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared

to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Phil. 3:8

Attachments in Relationships often grow out of the gut level knowledge

! Two kinds of memory ! Explicity Memory (head level) – What is the

capitol city of Ohio, what was Adam’s wife’s name?

! Explicity Memory is linear, and we can put words to explain it

! Implicit Memory (gut level) – recorded in emotions, perceptions, bodily sensations, etc.

! Implicity Memory – Disneyworld ! Recent tour with Jay DeMarcus

Gut level memory is crucial to our spiritual transformation to Christlikeness

! It does not require conscious attention to be encoded in the brain.

! We are not aware of it when it is operating.

! It becomes the lens or filter through which we view all relationships.

! “We remember how important people in our lives feel about us not in words, but in our emotions, our gut level.

Gut level memory is crucial to our spiritual transformation to Christlikeness

! Over time these memories become defined in our brains as patterns called attachment filters.

! “These memories of relational experiences with emotionally significant people are etched into our souls and become filters that shape how we feel about ourselves, God and others, and how we determine the meaning of events in our lives.”

God as an attachment figure

! Our relationships with others impact our relationship with God.

! Imagine God thinking about you. What do you assume He thinks about you?

! Our view of God and our view of how He feels about us is often an outgrowth of how we relate to others emotionally significant people in our lives.

! Consider Peter fishing.

God as an attachment figure

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39

Relational Review

! Knowing about God vs Knowing God. ! Head level knowledge and gut level knowledge. ! We know more than we can say. ! God designed us with an Explicit (head)

memory system and an Implicit (gut level) memory system.

! How we feel about others and how we perceive others feel about us is generally recorded in our Implicit system…at the gut level.

Relational Review

! The process of organizing and assigning meaning to our experiences and relationships.

! Relationships with God and others are deeply impacted by our Attachment Filter. Earthly attachments and relationships impact our relationship with God.

Attachment Filters

! “We remember how important people in our lives feel about us not in words but in our emotions – our gut level memories.

! Our memories of relational experiences are etched in our souls and become filters that shape our feelings about God, ourselves, and our future relationships.

Attachment Filters

! The attachment system in our brain influences and organizes our memory, motivation, and emotions with respect to our caregivers.

! A child looks to the caregiver to provide a safe and secure environment (physical and mental).

! Through attachment the infants brain grows in its ability to organize and regulate emotions.

Attachment Filters

Secure Attachment ! Emotions are normal and appropriate for any

given situation ! Marked by a secure view of life and self Secure People ! Low Anxiety / Low Avoidance in relationships ! Tend to solve problems effectively ! Seek support when they need it ! Consciously acknowledge emotional distress ! Tend to express emotions openly

Attachment Filters

Preoccupied attachment ! Emotions are not regulated (not normal or

controlled) ! Expect people to be unreliable ! Have negative painful memories that often

surface ! New negative events bring up all past negative

memories into one big ball of pain

Attachment Filters

Preoccupied people ! High anxiety and low avoidance in relationships ! Are clingy in relationships ! Exhibit help-seeking tendencies in prayer (me, me,

me) ! Are anxious (worried) ! Have a fragile relationship with God and their

Christian community

Attachment Filters

Dismissing Attachment ! Emotions are shut down ! Expect others to be unavailable or unresponsive ! Shut down or stifle their need for God and others ! Develop a strong disconnect between their gut

level and head level knowledge ! Act strong and self-reliant – above needing people

Attachment Filters

Dismissing People ! Low Anxiety / High Avoidance in relationships ! Avoid conflict ! Lack curiosity ! Have few memories of childhood ! Pray non-personal prayers ! Do not desire close relationships (therefore don’t

desire a personal relationship with Christ)

Attachment Filters

Fearful Attachment ! Refuse to show emotion ! Expect others to reject them ! Caregivers were inconsistently available

and expressed fearful or negative emotions

Attachment Filters

Fearful People ! High Anxiety/High Avoidance in relationships ! Have low self-esteem ! Do not open up in relationships ! Avoid God

Attachment Filters

! No matter what your background is, God can transform your gut level memories and your attachment history.

! Transformation is done by the Holy Spirit, through prayer, studying God’s word, being in relationships with Godly people, and life circumstances.

! Journal – what area of your background do you want God to transform?

Relational Spirituality Dimension 4

! Our attachment filters are stubborn, self-reinforcing

! Our attachment filters need to be transformed

! Spiritual transformation occurs only after new pathways are formed in the brain, indicating new gut-level relationships.

Relational Spirituality Dimension 4

! Spiritual transformation occurs as God and others show us the correct way to connect

! Spiritual transformation occurs suddenly after a long process of change that involves hard work and diligence (often it appears that nothing is working)

Malcomb Gladwell

! Tipping Points – changes occur radically in a dramatic, unpredictable moment.

! Hush puppies

Tipping Points

Consider: ! Saul/Paul ! Peter ! James and John - “Sons of Thunder” ! John the Baptist/Jesus

Tipping Points

! Long periods of preparation when seemingly no changes happening…then…

! Moments of meeting ! Transformational moments

Relational Spirituality Dimension 5 – Furnishing the Soul

! We cannot force spiritual breakthroughs but we can “prepare the way.”

! We furnish our souls by putting ourselves in God’s way (in the way God works).

Furnishing the Soul

! “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Matthew 16:25-26 ! Spiritual Improv

Furnishing the Soul

! We cannot directly transform ourselves. ! We are responsible for furnishing our

souls. ! Practicing spiritual disciplines.

Soul Projects

! Journaling ! Prayer ! How have you seen God working in your

life? ! Bible Study ! Lectio Divina

Prayer of Examen

! In prayer, we begin to see ourselves as God sees us and we see God as He is.

! Make time at the end of your day and replay the days events.

! Reflect on how God has been at work in your life today, this week, this month, this year: -- How was He present? What was He teaching you? When

did you display His character? How does He want you to react differently?

! Invite God to search your heart and uncover gut level feelings that need to be healed and transformed.

Lectio Divina

! Means divine reading or sacred reading ! Is a slow contemplative praying of the

Scriptures that becomes a means of listening to God

! Other methods tend to have us read God’s word for information. This method teaches us to read God’s word for transformation!

Lectio Divina

!  Spend a time in silence to prepare your heart to be open to God. (Quiet your spirit.)

!  Read the selected passage four times (about 10 verses) with each time followed by a period of meditation. --Read and listen for phrases that grab your attention, meditate

on these phrases --Read and meditate on how the phrase speaks to your life right

now --Read with your mind focused on how God is speaking to your

gut level, what are you sensing from Him, what is He teaching you

--Read with the purpose of resting in God and his sovereignty over your life (Journal what he taught you through reading this passage.)

Christian schools…making every effort...in the spiritual formation of students.

The Furnishing the Soul Project: A Portrait of the Spiritual Lives of ACSI Students Dr. Todd Marrah, Ph.D.

Research Question

“What perceptions do students in Christian secondary schools have of their spiritual formation and what are their perceptions of the role of the school in this formation?”

Identification of the Need for Research

! Smitherman (2006) – Spiritual formation - a crucial area of learning.

! Graybeal (2006/2007) – “It is essential for the Christian school community to assess it’s effectiveness in spiritual formation.”

! Uecker (2003) – “Spiritual formation must be emphasized and carefully sought after if a Christian school philosophy is to be actualized in the lives of students.”

Definition of Spiritual Formation

Willard (1998) – working definition “The redemptive process of forming the inner

human world so that it takes on the character of the inner being of Christ Himself.”

Literature Review Summary

Old Testament Education

“How did the Hebrew child learn to worship? First through a relationship with a worshipping parent, a member of a worshipping community; through intentional education built into the rituals of…community…; through a life of ethical actions…; through a pattern of recreating the Hebrews’ story, and eventually through a form of public, community gathering which made teaching an essential part of the liturgy.”

(Ng & Thomas, 1981)

Literature Review Summary

Christian Education

The educational mandate “requires passing on the commandments of God to the next generation. Its ultimate goal is to foster the love of God expressed in loyalty and obedience…the word ‘love’ refers to obedience from the heart involving all of one’s being…”

(Pazmiño, 1997)

Literature Review Summary

! Transformation of the Heart (Jeremiah 17:9) ! The source of all physical, emotional,

intellectual, volitional and moral energies (Nouwen, 1981)

! The executive center of human life, the center of the process of spiritual

Literature Review Summary

! Transformation of the Mind (Ro. 12:2) ! “Spiritual formation involves exchanges within

the mind, or, in other words, it is the removal of the former system of evil ideas and replacing it with the thinking system that proceeds from the mind of Christ.” (Willard, 2002)

Literature Review Summary

! Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines ! “Spiritual disciplines are personal activities that

become a conduit through which God transforms, ‘disposing the soul towards… blossoming.’” (Hadaway, 2006)

! “By undertaking disciplines of the spiritual life that we can do, we receive from God the ability to do things we simply cannot do, such as loving our enemies.” (Foster, 1998)

Literature Review Summary

! Relational Spirituality ! “The quality of one’s relationship with God is

theoretically predicted to be similar to the quality of one’s relationship with others.” (Hall, 2006)

! Wonohadidjojo (2004-2005) goes so far as to define Christian education as “The directed change process that occurs through the interactions of learners with God, themselves, and their fellow humans for the purpose of their holistic development with their community.”

Results

Sample Demographics – Years in a Christian School

0

5

10

15

20

Years spent in a Christian school(Percentage)

0 years 1 year

2 years 3 years

4 years 5 years

6 years 7 years

8 years 9 years

10 years 11 years

12 years 13 years

14 years

Results

22 Subscales Highest Means

! Spiritual meaning m=4.727 (more true to mostly true)

! Gratitude m=4.591 ! Transformational Suffering m=4.537 ! Spiritual Community m=4.370 ! Spiritual Openness m=4.368

Results

22 Subscales – Lowest Means (Positive Reporting)

! Prayer Type Frequency m=3.748

(more false than true) ! Awareness of God m=3.692 ! Prayer Type Impact m=3.478 ! Spiritual Practices Impact m=3.452 ! Spiritual Practices Frequency m=3.284

Results

School Impact Questions (cciq) – Highest Means ! Praise/worship m=5.533

(slightly to moderately positive impact)

! Retreats m=5.504 ! Chapels m=5.460 ! Bible classes m=5.411 ! Faculty Mentoring m=5.379

Results

School Impact Questions (cciq) Lowest Means

! Opportunity in crisis m=5.045 (slightly positive impact)

! School scripted mentoring m=4.992 (neutral to slightly

positive) ! Internships m=4.955 ! School Counseling m=4.931 ! Extra-Curricular m=4.724

Results

! Open-response questions ! Crisis – 70% (death, sickness, boy/girl, moving,

emotional, friends) ! Relationship with God – themes – varying levels of

relational connectedness with God ! 3 struggles – relationships, priorities, media, self

image, sin issues, hurt ! Greatest Contributions – relational focus – teachers,

Bible teachers, friends, pastors

Conclusions & Recommendations

4 Major Findings: !  The role of spiritual disciplines in spiritual formation – a

heart connectedness to God without the mind - practices (postmodern).

!  Students experiencing crisis – 70% annually connecting to God through transformational suffering. School-based counseling low mean.

!  Relational spirituality confirmed – teachers, mentors, friends, pastors, and with God but without disciplines.

!  School impact results – Top 5: praise/worship, retreats, chapels, Bible courses, faculty mentoring. Bottom 5: crisis, scripted mentoring, internships, school counseling, extra curricular (side note: athletics bottom quarter).

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