A Holistic Spiritual Formation Model for Selected Chinese Evangelical Churches in the G.T.A.

Abstract

A holistic spiritual formation journey includes knowing the revealed and hidden aspects of God with our minds and our hearts. This is integral to Christian formation and facilitating authentic spiritual transformation in the Christian life. Based on my personal experiences, Chinese evangelical churches have put a strong emphasis on teaching biblical knowledge and encouraging services in ministry and missions. There is a lack of putting the same emphasis on providing channels that guide congregants in nurturing deeper spiritual intimacy with God which leads to whole life transformation. This portfolio includes a spiritual autobiography (Chapter 2) that traces my own spiritual path from being nurtured through acquiring biblical knowledge to growing in my spiritual intimacy with God through applying ancient spiritual practices such as silence and solitude and spiritual companioning. Chapter 3 provides a holistic formation model for Chinese evangelical churches and features four types of Christian spirituality: cognitive spirituality, experiential spirituality, contemplative spirituality, and societal regeneration spirituality. Chapter 4 uses the practice of group spiritual direction in a qualitative research project to determine whether the practice nurtures spiritual transformation of Chinese evangelical Christians. The results from the project affirmed that group spiritual direction did deepen the participants’ spiritual intimacy with God and with other believers as well as their commitment to practicing the spiritual disciplines.