Knowing God: Restoring Spiritual Vitality Among New African Immigrants to Canada

Abstract

In this Research Portfolio, the author examines the practice of personal and communal prayer to enhance spiritual vitality and deepen believers' intimacy with God. The author presents this topic through three means. First, the author explores aspects of his personal spiritual journey through a spiritual autobiography. The autobiographical chapter highlights God’s work in the author’s life. Born and raised in a Muslim-dominated community with only a scant place of worship, God's mercies nurtured and sustained him through childhood and adulthood. Secondly, the Model chapter highlights the decline in spiritual fervour among African immigrant believers in my Church – Healing Stream Centre, Kitchener, Ontario. This Model examines some of the factors contributing to the decline of spiritual vitality among these believers, specifically within the African immigrants with Pentecostal-Charismatic framework and discusses various spiritual disciplines through which the Holy Spirit works to transform the lives of His people. Finally, the author reports on a project conducted with the Healing Stream Centre’s leadership teams in Kitchener, Ontario. The project explored using the biblical strategy of prayer— Divine Hours prayer and Lectio Divina to restore spiritual vitality to a church where most of the members are recent immigrants. Overall, the outcome of this project was positive. The research suggests that prayer, as one of the spiritual disciplines, enhances participants' deepening experience, strengthens their devotion to God, and facilitates their spiritual vitality.