Flourishing Next Step
What is Your Congregation’s Flourishing Next Step? We Have a Resource For That!
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By Dana Allin, ECO Synod Executive One day in July I had six appointments with p...
By Doug Rumford
“Only 30% of pastors finish well. If the ending is bad, no one will remember the beginning. How do we go the distance?”
John Mark Comer, at ECO’s 2023 National Gathering.
Do you know how to cultivate your own spiritual vitality daily and also experience it with your family, small group, and congregation?
Life and ministry are hard on the soul. We know the Lord has provided everything necessary for us to live well, minister effectively, and finish strong—but these will not happen automatically. God plays God’s part—and we must play our part. God makes, we shape. As Paul exhorted us, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you…” (Philippians 2:12-13).
ECO Pastor Doug Rumford, author of SoulShaping (Second Edition): From Soul Neglect to Spiritual Vitality and the SoulShaping Journal, has developed “The SoulShaping Experience” to provide the resources and strategic plan to equip God’s people to experience life-changing spiritual health in daily life and ministry.
“The SoulShaping Experience” is a congregation-wide 10-week experience designed to engage participants in an accelerated season of spiritual growth. It includes preaching resources, journals, and small group questions.
Spiritual growth does not just happen. It takes accessible resources, practical planning, inspired commitment, and intentional effort. SoulShaping bridges the gap from a vague knowledge of spirituality to a vibrant experience of God’s pace, presence, perspective, power, and purpose for our lives.
In addition to learning the practice of spiritual disciplines participants experience the life-altering results those disciplines produce. “The SoulShaping Experience” walks participants through a five-stage process:
Diagnose your spiritual condition with the “10 Symptoms of Soul Neglect” assessment.
Develop your personal vision for your spiritual vitality by taking time to sculpt a vision of the person you believe God wants you to be.
Discover God’s pathways for spiritual vitality by understanding the five vital signs of spiritual health and the spiritual disciplines that supports each.
Discern your personal plan for spiritual vitality by crafting a personal soul plan that can bring immediate strength and joy to your spiritual life.
Devote yourself to your spiritual vitality by implementing your plan, especially in Christian community. This is your gift to yourself, to others, and to God’s continuing work in the world.
Even when pastors and leaders know the elements of spiritual vitality, they often lack the easily accessible materials and strategy to teach and equip their people at a practical level.
SoulShaping is meant to be a key catalyst for life-transformation, not “just another program.”
It begins with pastors (from multiple congregations) forming a SoulShaping Cohort led by Doug. The Leaders Cohort meets six times over a 12-week period both for training in the theology and practice of their own soul care, as well as preparing them to lead “The SoulShaping Experience.”
Remember, it is not so much that God wants something from us; God wants more for us than we can ever imagine!
For information about joining a pastors’ cohort and bringing “The SoulShaping Experience” to your congregation visit Doug’s website www.loricaministries.org. You can also contact Doug Rumford at doug@loricaministries.org.
