Read an Excerpt
STIR
spiritual transformation in relationships
By Mindy Caliguire ZONDERVAN
Copyright © 2013 Mindy Caliguire
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-49482-9
CHAPTER 1
START STRONG
One of the first Bible study groups I ever attended was at the Sigma Chi fraternity house at Cornell University. We were a hodgepodge of academics, sorority girls, fraternity boys, star athletes, mature believers (there must have been at least one), nonbelievers, and quasi-believers. I'll put myself in that last category.
The lacrosse player who introduced me to the group was a guy named Frank. Some time later, Frank shared with me his first experience with the group. He had never attended a Bible study before, so he entered the second-story room sheepishly, and after surveying the one or two available seats in the room, he wormed his way between the three pretty coeds already squished together on the couch.
The leader opened in prayer and instructed the group to turn to Ephesians 2 so they could read it together. Frank panicked. He had no idea where Ephesians was, or even what Ephesians was. So he turned to the woman next to him and coolly asked, "Where's Ephesians?" She replied, "Next to Galatians." Great. As if he knew where Galatians was! Frank was in desperate need of some direction. He had no idea where to start, and he needed someone to come alongside and help him understand.
Perhaps you've been in a situation similar to Frank's, where everyone but you seemed to know the drill. Or maybe you've led groups where the people attending know absolutely nothing about the Bible or its doctrines. I once led a group where one of the people attending, a woman named Anne, had once believed that the Trinity was Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (a phrase often used as an expletive in some parts of the country!). She learned this basic and vital Christian doctrine before coming to the group, but the point is we all need to internalize these foundational ideas.
Frank and Anne represent some of the unique needs of those who are entering the "on-ramp" of spiritual development. They are in a growing relationship with God, but they are learning how to merge their modern, secular lives with the great historic and present-day stream of God's activity among his people. There is a lot of excitement, but plenty of confusion as well. And much room to grow.
As with newbies in any endeavor, there are many new things for them to learn, and one of the most powerful ways they'll learn is through relationships with other believers. Learning is what defines this stage — that's why we call it the Learning Together stage (creative, I know). Because of the vast amount of learning that takes place in this stage, a highly directive relationship is needed, one that allows growth to happen in a focused and logical manner.
Though it's been several years since I first learned some of these foundational spiritual truths, I can certainly relate to the feelings of confusion that people have when they are learning something new. A rather silly analogy, but still quite real, is in the realm of learning to play video games. My sons tell me I am a "n00b" — someone who knows nothing. Truth be told, if I'm ever going to learn a video game, it will only happen if they take the time to teach me every little detail. (I finally learned LittleBigPlanet, but even with their help I never could get the hang of Super Mario Bros.) When I play a video game, there is just so much to look at, so much activity, that it leaves me utterly confused. It's a whole new world, completely unfamiliar. I don't understand the rules, the dangers, or even, sometimes, the point. It's "game over" before I've even begun.
The spiritual life can look just as bewildering to someone who is absorbing a new set of beliefs, growing in a relationship with an unseen Being, developing new friendships, and learning the Scriptures — often for the first time in their lives. For some new believers, it's "game over" just as they are getting started. You see, without a proper foundation in the basic beliefs and practices of the faith, these new disciples of Christ are vulnerable. It takes commitment and deliberate focus to walk with them developmentally to the point when they mature in their relationship with God and grow in their faith. It's far easier to simply allow them to become absorbed into the Christian subculture of the church. But that doesn't mean they are growing. A person can attend church and even be involved in leadership and yet never take steps to grow and mature in their faith. They can be a cultural Christian, but not a growing disciple.
If growth is to occur, significant progress must be made in helping these new believers grasp the core beliefs of the faith, understand the Scriptures, and gain comprehension that extends beyond mere head knowledge. Growing and maturing followers of Christ will begin to see themselves as part of the bigger picture of God's greater story. The progress they make through the Learning Together stage sets them up for a lifetime of following God.
LEARNING TO DRIVE IN BOSTON
One night at small group, Lisa suddenly and unexpectedly blurted out, "I get it!" We looked at her, wondering what she meant. During this particular study, we were exploring how various themes are carried out through the Scriptures. Lisa went on to explain: "Since first becoming a Christian, I have been learning about the Bible and its importance in my life. But through our group, I've begun to see the Bible differently. Now I get it! This is the same thing that happened when I was learning to drive in Boston."
Now we were confused. My experience was that learning to drive in Boston was more like a nightmare!
"Really?" I thought. "Studying the Bible can't be that dangerous!"
Lisa explained. "When I first started working," she said, "I had an apartment in East Boston and traveled all over the city for work and fun, using the T." (The "T" is how Bostonians affectionately refer to the subway system.)
"Later, when I moved to the suburbs and bought a car, I began driving the roads that overlaid that very subway system, and for a while it seemed I had to entirely relearn the city. Nothing was familiar to me, and it took a long time to connect what I knew so well underground to the streets and buildings and distances between places aboveground.
"It's been the same process for me in studying the Bible. Early on, I learned a few key foundational truths to undergird my faith. I was so excited to learn the truths in Jeremiah 29:11, then go underground and come up to Psalm 23, and then learn about Revelation 3:20; John 3:16; and Galatians 5:22. But I would zip from one verse to another verse without really understanding the context of where they actually fit in the whole of the Bible. Now, as I am learning the lay of the land, I'm finding those treasured truths amid the context of a much bigger picture."
Lisa wasn't just picking up bits here and there. Our deliberate and intentional study of the Bible was helping her see how it all fit together. This is the key shift that happens when someone is growing. A person no longer relies on random verses that offer encouragement on different topics; they begin to see the whole story of God.
Whether driving in Boston or navigating the spiritual landscape of the kingdom of God, once this level of understanding has been reached, we have a foundation — something that can support the rest of our journey. There is always more that can be learned, but a bigger picture is beginning to form.
READING TO LEARN
There are some parallels between the "learning" of this first stage of spiritual growth and early child development. Early elementary educators typically observe a shift in young children as they grow and mature. In the first year or two of school, the focus of a "reading" curriculum will involve learning the meaning of words, basic grammar, and sentence structure. Children are learning how to read. They are comprehending the mechanics of language at a basic level.
And then it changes. Suddenly, the light of comprehension is turned on. Symbols on pages connect to meaningful ideas, to a story, to reality. The child has now learned to read and comprehend. But this achievement is hardly the destination; it's simply a significant threshold. It may seem obvious, but after this point, the purpose of reading is to learn. We learn to read; then we read to learn. And once we can read, we can learn anything. The door is opened wide. The same principle applies to the basic truths of the spiritual life. Once we grasp the basics, those basics become foundational to everything else we do.
GOALS OF THE LEARNING TOGETHER STAGE
The Learning Together stage is the initial stage when new believers develop a firm foundation on which they can keep growing for the rest of their lives. In this stage, believers learn some important "rules of the road." They begin to grasp what becoming a disciple of Jesus might actually hold for them — especially when all they've ever known is the kingdom of earth, not the countercultural, upside-down kingdom of heaven. There's a lot to learn, and to unlearn!
Among churches that have taken the REVEAL survey, the greatest percentage of respondents typically fall into this early stage of spiritual development. Unfortunately, there is no correlation between how long someone has been a follower of Christ and whether or not they remain in the Learning Together stage. Many who have been Christians for years, even decades, stay in this stage. Their responses to REVEAL indicate that though they may be attending church, they are not actively growing.
In this first stage of growth, a person should discover the answers to several key questions:
? Who is God?
? What is God like?
? What has God revealed about himself?
? What are God's intentions in this world?
? Who is Jesus?
? Why is the Bible important?
? What is the Bible all about?
? What does the Bible have to say about my life?
These questions get answered at deeper and deeper levels as we grow, and through a variety of inputs. So in this Learning Together stage, we can identify three goals for learning: (1) Scripture, (2) core beliefs, and (3) ways of relating to God and others.
Learn Scripture
First, we anchor our learning in the Bible. The psalmist writes these words in Psalm 119:
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the Lord.
Blessed are those who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart —
they do no wrong
but follow his ways.
You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
— Psalm 119:1–5
Later in this psalm, verse 105 reads, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." If there's anything those who are learning to internalize the basics need, it's a well-lit, well-directed path for their life in Christ.
The State of the Bible 2012 study published by the American Bible Society tells us that 85 percent of American households have a Bible. But 36 percent of Americans read the Bible less than once a year or never, while 33 percent read the Bible once a week or more. While this statistic may reflect our general culture, even many believers do not have a strong grasp of the Bible. So one of the primary goals of the Learning Together stage is to build a frame of understanding about the Scriptures and then to learn key truths from within Scripture.
Learn Core Beliefs
Someone like my friend Frank won't simply show up at a few Sigma Chi Bible studies and suddenly understand with perfect clarity everything about the deity of Christ. A person new to faith is unlikely to have any clear beliefs about the authority of the Bible. So, along with developing a growing familiarity with Scripture, a growing believer learns core beliefs that are vitally important for the rest of their spiritual journey. According to the REVEAL research, these five core beliefs are critical in the early stages of growth:
1. Salvation by grace
2. Existence of the Trinity
3. Authority of Scripture
4. Kindness of God
5. Everlasting love of God
Learn to Relate to God and Others
Finally, in addition to forging a relationship with God, people in the Learning Together stage need to form healthy, life-giving, nurturing bonds with other Christians — relationships that are accepting, God-focused, and fun. These relationships are increasingly rare both in our culture at large and in the church, but they hold great potential for exponential growth.
This kind of relationship made all the difference for Brian.
Brian moved to Chicago after graduating from college and had been living in the city about nine months. In his own words, he was on the right career path but the wrong life path.
"A friend kept asking me to go to church, but I was not interested," Brian explained. "Then I reached a low point and agreed to go. I don't remember the message or much about the ser vice that day, but I remember meeting some cool people."
That week, after attending the church ser vice, Brian couldn't sleep. He felt emotionally unsettled, like something was stirring in his heart. He returned to the church the following week. After the ser vice, people were invited to gather into their small groups, but Brian didn't have a small group. Neither did seminary student Tyler Grissom, who happened to be visiting the church that day as well. Brian and Tyler met and sat together in the lobby. That's when they discovered a shared interest in country music and cowboy boots.
"We knew in that moment that we'd be friends," Tyler said.
Tyler shared part of his faith journey with Brian and then asked Brian if he'd talk about his, assuming that Brian was also a Christ follower. So it came as quite a surprise when Brian's first words to Tyler were, "I'm lost." Tyler's authenticity and vulnerability in sharing his own story enabled Brian to be completely honest as well. "I don't have a story," Brian admitted. "I know a little about God, but I'm pretty confused. If someone could help me understand what a relationship with God is all about, I'm ready to listen."
That was not what Tyler had expected! Trusting that this was a divine appointment, he used Romans 6:23 to share the gospel with Brian and explained the meaning of words like wages, sin, death, life, and gift. Tyler asked Brian several questions to make sure Brian really understood the gospel.
"I was incredibly hungry and seeking," Brian said recently, as he and Tyler retold their story. "I knew there was more."
After a long discussion in the church lobby, Tyler sensed Brian was ready to trust Christ. "Do you want to do this right now?" he asked.
"I just about screamed a prayer!" Brian recalls. Brian's life immediately began to change. The old patterns were replaced by new habits of pursuing God — and the people who knew him noticed.
Most of the time, this is how the story ends. Brian has been saved, and we assume that in some mysterious way he will grow into a mature Christ follower. Tyler's role has been played. But Tyler knew this wasn't the end of the story; it was just the beginning of his journey. And it's a journey best carried out together, with others. So Tyler arranged to visit with Brian the following week—simply to reconnect.
Tyler sat and listened to me ... again," Brian said. "I couldn't believe someone cared for me. The fact that he came back the next week was so huge to me. He helped me stay on track."
"I was so drawn to Brian's story," Tyler says, "and wanted to walk with him. I had seen people come to faith before but had never journeyed with someone beyond that point. I watched Brian be transformed and it's been cool to be a part of that. First Peter 3:15 tells us to always be prepared to share our faith. If I had not been prepared or had backed off, I think our stories would have taken a different turn." Tyler continued sharing his faith with Brian, building and developing their newly formed relationship in Christ.
Five years have passed. The two men have become good friends. They've stood up in each other's weddings and shared the highs and lows of life together. When Tyler's dad was suddenly killed in an accident, Brian was one of the first people Tyler's wife called, and he immediately headed over to comfort his friend.
"Our story is a picture of what it means to be the church and it's a story that is still being written," Tyler said. "I know we'll stay connected for the long haul. People often ask us if we're brothers. I hope someday we're old men in rocking chairs, reminiscing about all our stories along the way." And still wearing their cowboy boots and listening to their favorite country music, of course.
The changes in Brian's life were more than changes to his lifestyle. Brian grew in his faith journey by studying the deep truths about God. He was taught different ways of relating to God (Bible study, prayer, etc.) that will equip him for the rest of his life with God. His grasp of Scripture as an authority for his life will provide him with guidance and direction for the road ahead. And he'll be used by God to help others who, just like he once was, are confused and searching for answers to the meaning of life.
That's the goal of the Learning Together stage. New believers take steps of growth, learning what it means to follow Christ and learning from other believers how to think and act like a disciple of Jesus.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from STIR by Mindy Caliguire. Copyright © 2013 Mindy Caliguire. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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