Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to:

Unit Description

This unit helps learners develop a proficiency in their understanding of spiritual formation and the role of spiritual direction in the life of the believer and the community of faith.

The primary allegiance of their lives should be to Christ as He is revealed in Scripture. The Christian life is a personal response to the personal activity of God in His redemptive self-disclosure. This means that one’s commitment to Christ affects the full range of one’s values and decisions.

Loyalty to Christ in a personal relationship is set within the framework of the community of the redeemed. The common allegiance of this community is to its head, Christ, who ministers His grace for the spiritual development of His people through the interdependent functions of His body by means of Word and Spirit. Initial reading introduces the learner to issues related to spiritual formation and education and looks at how it edifies. This function of the church is traced back to the Old and New Testaments. We begin by looking at the Hebrew education model and how learning and teaching took place. Learners are guided through a history of Christian education, including the influence of Augustine as well as the Middle Ages, scholasticism, the Reformation and Protestant humanism.

Faith is lived out in every facet of life. Spirituality is the description of the quality of the believer’s life whereby the new disposition is expressed in spontaneous reconstructions of God’s perceptive will. It includes the character traits that result from the swift and sure use of one’s will to will God’s will. Spirituality is that quality in the believer which causes him or her to have a greater desire for and joy in prayer, Bible study, worship, and Christian service than a desire for and joy in wealth, power, sex, fame, or success. The learner will consider the role and function of spiritual disciplines in the formation of the believer.

This unit explores the ministry and dynamics of spiritual direction. Topics include: the history and scope of spiritual direction, especially within the Christian tradition, theological foundations, and the variety of expressions of spiritual direction within the personal, interpersonal, and vocational contexts.

Teaching Strategies

The learning process consists of three phases: Reading, Residential, and Research. Each phase has a blend of individual and group learning, and subsequent phases build upon the learning of those that come before.

The first phase is a Reading phase, and lasts for 12 weeks. The learner, as part of a small cohort study group (3 to 5 members), is guided through a reading program to explore the current scholarship on the practice of “community organisation and development”.

Reading assignments are compiled with the help of the librarian, the educational technologist, and administrative support staff. Required weekly readings are posted to the unit website once a week for downloading.

Students are also required to read the prescribed textbooks in this phase.

During this first phase learners in cohort groups embark on a guided social inquiry, resulting in a research project. Hands-on research conducted in context by each participant allows him/her to gain an understanding of specific, emerging ministry concerns/questions encountered by Christians as they seek to mature as believers.

The second phase is the Residential phase: equipped with the reading and research, learners then undertake a Residential phase of 40 hours’ worth (one week, full-time) of residential study. During the residency, all cohort groups gather in a local church setting chosen because of a leader who is known as a thoughtful practitioner, and because the agency has a proven track record in “spiritual formation”.

In the third Phase students complete a personal theology in which issues related to “Spiritual Formation” are explored. Cohorts also plan and implement an intervention to address spiritual formation questions that were identified. The intervention is a professional presentation that summarises findings and proposes a number of ways the church/agency might go about addressing the emerging questions. The intervention invites church leaders into theological reflection and constructive thinking about the concern and what might be done to begin addressing it. Following the intervention, the small cohort study group reflects upon and assesses their collaborative work.

Unit offerings

Face to face: (Every 3rd Year, Semester 1)
Online: (Every 3rd Year, Semester 1)

Please note

The Unit Offerings listed above are a guide only and the timetable for any year is the final authority. The College may vary offerings based on demand, regulatory requirements, continual improvement processes or other conditions.

This unit may be available in different modes of delivery i.e. online and face-to-face as listed above. The unit content will not differ between these modes of delivery. There will possibly be a difference in the schedule and/or the prescribed assessment tasks, however both will cover and assess the same content.