W
hen I talk with Christian leaders about Level B growth, they frequently respond with a good-natured smile, accompanied by a comment like, “In theory that is excellent; however, people are simply not resilient enough to get involved with such a process. It would be too challenging for them.” Let‘s assume these leaders are right. The only constructive response would be to come up with a way to help the people who aren‘t resilient today to become resilient by tomorrow.
At some point, we must join the dots. On the one hand, we complain that people are not resilient enough; on the other hand, we oppose the training that would make them more resilient. If you feel challenged by anything—it doesn‘t really matter what it is—one way of dealing with it is to reduce the demands on yourself. The result is that you will continue to feel overchallenged by the same things for the rest of your life. Alternatively, you can participate in a training program until the very things that you experience as overchallenging right now, will no longer be a challenge for you. That is the basic rule of any kind of training, including spiritual training.
How long since you personally participated in an intensive training process targeted at growing a specific aspect of your spiritual life? Does your ongoing pursuit of spiritual maturity require such a challenge now?
Further topics in the above chapter of the full version of the book
Spiritually trained or untrained? - Spiritual training in churches - Training in godliness - The right dosage - Churches as spiritual training centers - The function of rituals - Time for training