LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Written Assignment 1 – Spiritual Formation and Discipleship
Submitted to Dr. Gary Waller
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 – D06
Discipleship Ministries
by
Jerrold Hinton
November 7, 2021
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction ....................................................................................................................1
Three Areas Related to Spiritual Growth........................................................................2
Personal Growth Assessment..........................................................................................3
Bibliography...................................................................................................................7
ii
1
Introduction
Spiritual Formation is a method like how I was raised in a church in Georgia that
emphasized the sharing of testimonies. A testimony is a description of a person's life prior to and
following their encounter with Jesus. It did not take me long to figure out the underlying
structure behind these stories, even as a young child. The person begins by describing how
horrible he or she was (even if you were not, you made it appear as though you were). Then there
is the bit about encountering God's forgiving grace. Third, the person expresses gratitude for how
much better life has become. Although there are some small deviations, a good testimony usually
follows this pattern. When a unforgiven person meets Jesus, he transforms into a good person.
Perhaps, the people participating in the testimony services had been riding their spiritual bicycles
with training wheels still on them until they came to a certain point when the training wheels had
to be taken off and they had to learn how to adjust. Charlotte talks about how her son learned to
ride his bicycle with training wheels and her running behind him as she held on to his bicycle.
Then finally letting go of the back of his bicycle after she had taken the training wheels off. Yet
still encouraging him to keep going, sit straight and peddle. She stated, "Just like my son was
discouraged when he could not get the hang of riding his bike without training wheels, I believe
that the disciples felt the same way when they were unable to cast the demon out of the man's
son".1 Dave reveals "The goal of spiritual transformation is becoming more like Jesus. If you are
not changing and growing, you are not experiencing spiritual formation. This is a process of
change Paul refers to as a glorious transformation".2 Spiritual formation is a mix of practice and
1 Charlotte Harris, Taking the Training Wheels Off Your Faith: Growing in the Grace and Knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ, (Bowie, MD: self-pub, 2020), 92.
2 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is… Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2018, 4.
2
philosophy. It invites those who yearn for God to engage in spiritual disciplines to get a better
understanding and experience of God.
Three Areas Related to Spiritual Growth
The three areas related to spiritual growth are "loving God (relating to God), "loving one
another" (nurturing relationships), and "loving our neighbors.”3 All three are critical for spiritual
development. Of course, loving God is the first step, which is accomplished by intentionally
spending time in his presence by reading his word and remaining in regular connection with him
through prayer. Only by doing so may believers experience revival and come to love God as he
loves them. The Bible, according to Wilson Teo, provides the biblical content and source for
spiritual formation in believers' lives (Averbeck, 2010). It shows God's true character and enables
believers to emulate Christ's ideals, actions, and lifestyles."4
The importance of loving one another comes next. This "pertains to loving our brothers
and sisters in the family of God".5 We are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ and to assist
one another in growing in Christ so that we can welcome others into the family of Christ together
(regardless of the color of their skin). Jesus sets us on a lifelong journey of learning to love God
the way he wants to be loved and to love one another the way he loves us. The basic purpose and
central process of our lives and spiritual formation is to learn to love God and one another. This
is the kind of love that fosters a full and fulfilling existence as well as true character
transformation.
Finally, we must love our neighbors, which includes everyone else on the planet. As
Dempsey put it, "Our love for God and for one another should be a major apologetic to the
3 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is…, 101.
4 Wilson Teo, "The Formational Journey of Emerging Ecclesial Leaders", Production SF (2018), 86.
5 Ibid, 103
3
unbelieving world".6 Unbelievers should be able to see Jesus in all we do and in who we are.
Believers should take on the role of a walking, talking apologist. In numerous situations of life,
when we walk in the spirit, we think and act differently from other people. Something
spectacular happens when you walk in the spirit. Peace, joy, love, fidelity, and goodness, among
other things, begin to flourish in our lives as the Bible calls them "fruits of the spirit." (Galatians
5:22 NASV). Those who have been restless, apprehensive, and unhappy in the past will have a
more positive attitude on life.
Personal Growth Assessment
It was excruciating and a convicting experience for me to complete the personal growth
assessment that was part of this project. After receiving radiation and chemotherapy on my neck
and upper chest, it was like gazing in the mirror in my bathroom. Radiation to the skin for 33
days at 30 minutes each treatment kills cancer cells and anything else in the line of fire. It begins
to burn the skin in the treated areas, exposing an unsightly rawness of the flesh that is painful and
uncomfortable. The assessment highlighted my vulnerability and made me feel uneasy as I
discovered my lack of love for the person who has healed and kept me alive today. I received my
bachelor's degree in biblical studies in May of 2003 and started courses for my M.Div. in August
of this year, after an 18-year wait. Since I am married and work full-time, the COVID pandemic
has caused my spiritual life to fall short. Especially because my Church family still only meets
for service on Sundays. According to the assessment, I am the strongest in "love for one
another," just beating out the area of "love for our neighbors." This is reasonable. I prioritize the
needs of others over my own. At least 40 hours of my time is spent at work, with the remaining
25 hours spent studying. I endeavor to make my workplace a happy place for everyone on my
team. I am especially considerate of my neighbors and others with whom I come into contact.
6 Ibid, 105.
4
Strangest thing though – it does not work as well when I'm driving on the I-495 beltway. I could
always stand to improve in all three areas given in the assessment, as could certainly be said of
most Christians.
The area of "Love for God" was so disappointing to me that it made me realize that I
would be in severe trouble if I had to answer for my service right now. This is a strong
realization that cannot be refuted. "The facts and scientific evidence," as I have heard so many
times over the last two years in the media, are eventually overwhelming.
As the hymnist Carrie Underwood wrote:
" Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee
Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come."
Memorizing God's word was something I used to do when I was much younger. My explanation
back then was that my brain was like a computer hard drive storage - you can only store so much
data on it, so why overload the computer? As a result, a significant amount of data was directed
into my short-term memory. Things like names of individuals who I did not care to remember,
strange situations, and garbage some tried to put in my head. Unfortunately, some things that
should have been remembered for a long time were only remembered for a brief time. Do not
misunderstand me. I remember a lot of scriptures and go where the spirit leads me. I also strive
to follow David's example in Psalms 119:11: "Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I may not
sin against thee." Doing so has gotten me to this stage in my life. Then I came across information
in the book Why You Really Can Memorize Scripture by Dr. Daniel Morris. God desires and
commands us to memorize texts for a variety of reasons, according to Dr. Morris, such as
5
"God offers promises and prosperity to those who have his word in their mind and heart and
meditate upon them".7
My greatest score was in the category of "Love for One Another." I have observed my
wife and elder brother give gifts, remember people's special days, and send cards on various
occasions for over 15 years of my marriage. I am more aware than ever before of the value of
spending time with Christ's family on a regular basis. My style has been constrained by COVID
restrictions! In a similar vein, I scored lower on the item that I am not using my spiritual gift to
build up others in the body of Christ as I should. This is since I spend the most of my time at
work, studying, and socially distancing myself - six feet please. As the restrictions begin to
loosen, many of the excuses will go away, allowing more time to do these things. The last section
of the assessment, "Love Our Neighbors," is where I got the second highest score.
I give away a lot of things, and all but one of them are free. My time, talents, kindness,
compassion, joy, and prayers are all free-flowing resources that I do not hoard but often share.
Even if my tangible fortune is minimal, I try to be kind with it. What good is it if a man obtains
the entire world but loses his soul? To obtain more, people will lie, deceive, beg, steal, or borrow.
Most historical conflicts had their origins in this trap. I aspire to be a man of great ethics, which
necessitates a willingness on my part to forego personal financial gain when that achievement
violates morals and human dignity.
I have set high standards for myself, and I want to achieve them for the rest of my life.
When judging things and people, I try to be objective. We should not favor a poor person
because of his social rank, but the same may be said for a wealthy person. Only the character of a
person should be used to decide. We have all had grudges, and we've all harbored anger. We may
7 Daniel Morris, Why You Really Can Memorize Scripture Understand and Unlock Your Minds Natural
Ability to Memorize Long Passages, Life Sentence Publishing, 2012.
6
have plotted vengeance at some point in our lives. All these things emanate negativity and
constitute a constant source of tension. Forgive - allow it to go. I go down on my knees every day
in prayer, not just asking for forgiveness for the things I have done, but also promising to forgive
those who have hurt me. My life is far from trouble-free, yet my soul is at ease. This growth
evaluation has had a significant impact on me. I am going to take all I have learned and apply it
to make adjustments that will allow me to not only improve my score in the future, but also to
help me be the kind of man God wants me to be according to His Word.
Though my body gets cold sometimes due to having gone through radiation and
chemotherapy, I must get that fire back shut up in my bones. When the fire is shut up in your
bones, the Holy Spirit can bring things to our remembrance that it may be used by the Lord. You
see, sometimes we want the word to go down like liquid. But sometimes there are things you
must chew on. Sometimes there is the meat of the word. When I could not swallow anymore and
had to use a feeding tube, I found that meat do not go down quickly - because I had to spend time
chewing on whatever I was eating. I know that if I chew on it long enough, I will be able to say,
"oh taste and see that the Lord is good." He is good cause I chewed on him. I chewed on him in
the morning. I chewed on him in the noon time. I chewed on him late at night. When I lay down
at night chewing on him, I can wake up in the morning still chewing on Him. I've found that
loving my enemies, don't go down easy - I've got to chew on that. I have found that praying for
them that despitefully use me on my job do not go down easy - I must chew on that. As I
complete this personal assessment - I have got to meditate on it and chew on the word of God.
Bibliography
The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NASB.
7
Charlotte Harris, Taking the Training Wheels Off Your Faith: Growing in the Grace and
Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Bowie, MD: self-pub, 2020), 92.
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Spiritual Formation Is… Nashville: B&H Publishing Group,
2018.
Morris, Daniel. Why You Really Can Memorize Scripture Understand and Unlock Your Minds
Natural Ability to Memorize Long Passages. Life Sentence Publishing, 2012.
Teo, Wilson. The Formational Journey of Emerging Ecclesial Leaders". Production
Staff (2018): 86.
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