Leave No Student Behind

LEAVE NO STUDENT BEHIND: A CURRICULAR PARADIGM SHIFT FOR THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF INTENTIONAL SPIRITUAL FORMATION WITHIN
TEEN CHALLENGE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
FINAL PAPER
SUBMITTED TO DR. RICHARD PEACE
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY PROGRAM
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE
SPIRITUAL FORMATION & DISCIPLESHIP IN A POSTMODERN WORLD
CF-705
BY
PATRICK CURNYN
G10200886
DUE: MARCH 1, 2014
SUBMITTED: MARCH 1, 2014

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CONTENTS
MINISTRY BACKGROUND. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A Brief Overview of Teen Challenge
The Paradigm at a Glance
TEEN CHALLENGE STUDENT SURVEY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Family Background
Educational Background
Religious Background
Career Objectives
THE CHARACTER OF THE KINGDOM CURRICULUM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Experiencing God by Creating Space for God
Incarnational Curriculum
Accountable Discipleship & the Risks of Small Groups
INCORPERATING THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Hearing the Scripture
Spiritual Journaling
Silence & Solitude
Meditative Prayer
Lectio Divina
Rhythms of Sabbath
Vices & Virtues
Secrecy
Fellowship
Spiritual Guidance
ANALYSIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Student Curriculum Survey Results
Staff Mentor Curriculum Survey Results
FURTHER WORK FROM THIS STUDY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Small Groups at our Ministry Institute
Staff Training
Life Situational Learning Environments
APPENDIX
Teen Challenge Student Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Character of the Kingdom Curriculum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss a learning paradigm that generates a deliberate
environment for effective spiritual formation to occur in the lives of students in the Teen
Challenge residential program. It will serve as an entry point into an ongoing discussion of how
such a paradigm will promote spiritual formation at the forefront of who we are and what we do
as a ministry. This process has been fashioned from collecting a comprehensive set of data about
the student’s needs and interests, in order to maximize behavioral changes in their character
formation.1
It has been applied and evaluated by designing a curriculum as a template for future
curriculum.
In this paper, I will first discuss the nature and history of our ministry that has led up to
this research. Second, I will discuss the results of the research conducted through a student
survey. Third, I will describe the curriculum designed and implemented as a template for future
curriculum development. This will include a description of ten spiritual disciplines interweaved
throughout this curriculum. Finally, I will present my analysis of the implementation of this
project – including possible changes to future curriculum development based on how this
research may suggest future steps that could be taken to improve our residential program
ministries.
MINISTRY BACKGROUND
Teen Challenge began just over fifty-years ago as an evangelical outreach in the streets of
New York City under the leadership of David Wilkerson, and has grown over the years to
include many discipleship ministries throughout the nations. To date, nearly 200 centers are
located within the United States, as well as centers scattered in nearly 100 other countries. The
context for this project was done within the eight residential Teen Challenge Southern California

1
Ralph Tyler, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969),

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network of centers. These centers consist of just over 400 adult men and women living at one of
these residential facilities for a one-year period.
Our residential centers are scattered throughout central and Southern California. The one-
year residential ministry is comprised of two phases. The first phase is located at one of our
induction centers, lasting for approximately three months. Following the induction phase,
students feed into one of our two training centers for a nine-month second phase of the program
– one for men, the other for women. All of our centers are separated by gender, and all but one of
our centers is for students over the age of eighteen.
Students who enter the one-year residential program are on a voluntary basis. Nearly one-
third of our students are probated by the courts. Those probated by the courts must, however,
must be willing to receive the type of biblical mentoring we offer. For this reason, we do not
receive government grants. During this one-year live-in environment, students are not allowed to
hold any outside employment, and must be dedicated to the entire program we have to offer
them. All of our services are offered at no cost to the students or their families.
Our primary target of assistance is for those who suffer from life-controlling problems,
namely an addiction to drugs and alcohol. Our model of recovery centers on dealing with the
issues that most often cause such addictive behavior. Through this method of discipleship,
students learn about redemption and reconciliation as the means for their recovery and discovery
of their new life in Christ.
A vast majority of our staff are products of the residential program. Of our 108 full-time
staff and 2 part-time staff, 84% are Teen Challenge graduates. Therefore, the nature of our
program is based on a peer-to-peer mentoring model. This poses both positive and negative
factors. In some aspects staff are able to minister out of empathy and gain credibility from the

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students for having a similar background. However, over the course of time, this has created a
culture that is now finding need for gradual change. Without adequate training, many staff over
time have become stuck in their roles, reproducing students in the same fashion as they become
staff members. This major paradigm shift requires new methods of mentoring our students – who
will comprise the next generation of staff members. It also requires strategic staff training to aid
in this cultural shift. For this project I will focus effort on the former, by implementing a
discipleship model that creates more intentionality in the learning environment in order to
employ deeper spiritual formation that will produce the desired results in the student’s character
formation.
Paradigm At A Glance: The Discipleship Funnel

This project addresses a growing need of incorporating a type of spiritual formation that
fosters a method of discipleship to not only better impact the character formation of its students,
but to also allow its students to then impact the kingdom of God. It takes into serious
consideration that learning does not always have to be confined to the classroom setting, but may
be more effective when carried out through a variety of environments. James Wilhoit writes,
“While Jesus was a teacher, he did not teach in a school or publish a formal curriculum. Jesus
was a great and captivating teacher who understood that teaching is worked out not in the
classroom but in everyday life.”2
Our methods of spiritual formation previously have included classes, small group studies,
chapel services, and one-on-one peer-to-peer mentoring. Prior to this project, my initial
assumption was that despite such methods were serving as good points of instruction for the
student’s spiritual formation, the students were receiving this information within a structure that

2
James C. Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation as If the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ through Community
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 38.

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included random teachings. By the end of any given week, the students had learned so many
various aspects of the Christian life that they had a difficult time applying it into the context of
their own life. They were given the knowledge of the Christian life, yet it was information
overload, with no themes to focus on – no thematic threads that could be weaved throughout the
week in their classes, small group studies, chapel services, and one-on-one peer-to-peer
mentoring.
What the students needed was a way to gather all these teachings in smaller bites and
gradually funnel them into a system of coherent learning and accountability, where by the end of
a week the student had greater clarity that an individual decision needed to be made on a single
topic: Will I follow this teaching of Christ? Or will I remain a part of the crowd? They needed a
better system of learning that helped them move from rote memory and recognition of Biblical
concepts, toward relating these truths to their lives and realizing how they could apply these
truths to their own situation.
In his book Creative Bible Teaching, Larry Richards demonstrates that the goal of
creative teaching should be to move the learner from rote repetition, to recognizing Biblical
concepts, then being able to restate that concept into further thought, to relating with that
concept, until finally being able to realize the response that is personally required.3
Without such
a structure of intentional learning, a long-standing culture had developed where discipleship had
become a “check-off” mentality to be completed, rather than a move toward greater self-
realization that allows for a life-long search of inner integrity.
In order to promote clarity to the inner-needs of the students, a three-step funnel approach
was created as an umbrella to this new structure, illustrated below in figure 1. Over a set period

3
Lawrence O. Richards and Gary J. Bredfeldt, Creative Bible Teaching (Chicago: Moody Publishers,
1998), 75.

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2. Group discussions
for application

of time, a Christian life series was designated and taught first through the chapel, second it was
discussed within the small group setting, finally made individually intentional in the one-on-one
peer-to-peer mentoring. As the series was first heard through chapel services given to the
corporate body, it was then discussed in the small group setting guided by curriculum developed
specifically to promote character formation. For those students still unclear or unable to make
personal application with the material, the final part of the funnel was in the private setting of the
counseling office. With realization being the goal, the slogan for this new paradigm of learning is
“leave no student behind.”
TEEN CHALLENGE STUDENT SURVEY

Prior to the development of a curriculum being utilized as a test method throughout this
learning paradigm, 345 students participated in an anonymous 45-question survey. These
questions were categorized into five sections: Family background, educational background,
1. Corporate learning
3. Personal mentoring for
individual implication
Will I follow this teaching of Christ? Or will I
remain a part of the crowd?

Christian
Life Series
Lesson
Lesson
Lesson
Fig. 1. The Discipleship Funnel Of Intentional Learning.

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generational characteristics, religious background, and career objectives. The overarching
purpose of this survey was not merely to help guide the development of a test curriculum in this
new learning paradigm, but to also uncover other gaps in the structure of our residential program
ministries that need to further be addressed through other means. The following is an analysis of
the findings from this research. Detailed information regarding the results of this survey can be
found in appendix I.
Family Background
The first portion of the survey dealt with the student’s family of origin. This included if
the student grew up in a divorced home, how old they were when their parents separated, various
types of abuse the student experienced, the age of the student’s first sexual experience, whether
they were brought up in foster care and the nature of this experience, and their current marital
status.
According to research on children and divorce, the growing effects on children of
divorced parents demonstrates that children suffer academically, are more likely to engage in
alcohol and drug use in their teen years, and suffer more from psychological distress which
carries emotional scars from the divorce into their own adulthood.4
Forty-six percent of our
student population grew up in a divorced home. According to the census bureau, 31% of children
in the United States last year did not grow up with two married parents.5
For our students who
have grown up in single-parent homes, many find it difficult to open up to a mentor. Those
whose father left them at an early age become defensive and build up walls around other men –

4
Amy Disal, “How Could Divorce Affect My Kids,” Focus on the Family, accessed February 4,
2014,http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/divorce_and_infidelity/should_i_get_a_divorce/how_could_divor
ce_affect_my_kids.aspx.

5
“America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being_2013,” ChildStats.gov, accessed February 4,
2014, http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/famsoc1.asp.

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especially their staff mentor assigned to them for the duration of their stay, for our male students.
In my conversations with both male and female students, I have frequently found them having a
distant view of God as their eternal father when their earthly father was rarely involved in their
life. Similarly, students who experienced various abuse from their biological or stepfather have a
distrust of God that is not apparent to them on the surface. Their relational experience with their
father has often been unconsciously similar to their relationship with God.
The abuse portion of the survey shed interesting light on a couple of possible issues.
Overall, just over half of our students reported experiencing some type of abuse. While the men
who reported abuse was under half of the population, 84% of the women reported abuse.
However, only 5% of the women intentionally elected not to comment on this part of the
anonymous survey while a quarter of the entire population of the men declined to answer these
questions. Why would these students “decline to answer” questions of past abuse on an
anonymous survey if “no abuse” was not the answer?
This presents two possible issues for our male population. First, are a portion of our male
students unable to recognize abuse in their past? Did they experience abuse and somehow write
it off, thinking there was no abuse against them? If at a young age it was sexual in nature and
welcomed by them, do they not understand this still as abuse? Such occurrences, welcomed or
not, are the greatest contributing factor to adult male addiction to pornography. How will they
address issues if they are unable to understand the reality of their past? Second, if these male
students are unwilling to reveal past known abuse on an anonymous survey by declining to
answer, how will they grow in spiritual maturity without the willingness to seek guidance in this
area in order to overcome their past?

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While 65% of our student population have never been married, 22% are divorced or in
the process of divorce. Thirteen percent are currently married. The concern from this portion of
the survey was the drop in married students from our induction centers to our training centers.
While 19% of our induction students are married, only 8% of our training center students are
married. This reveals that 58% of all married students drop out during the induction phase
without moving onto the second training phase of the program.
Educational Background
The educational portion of the survey sought to find out the level of our student’s mental
capacity, their learning styles, and their desire to continue their education post Teen Challenge.
The goal, from these results, is to design curriculum that meets their learning needs. It is also a
starting point to help our students improve their reading comprehension level during their stay
with us.
The results of the highest level of education completed were higher than originally
expected. Seventy-three percent of our students have completed high school. While 24% claimed
to have completed high school or successfully passed a G.E.D prior to entering Teen Challenge,
the first figure shows that in actuality, 27% are in need of enrolling in our G.E.D class. The
difference between the 24% and 27% would simply demonstrate that a couple of the students
surveyed did not answer honestly of their need to enroll in our G.E.D program.
The vast majority of our students (40%) indicated having completed high school and
began their first year of college. This is followed by 24% of our student population that
completed high school but did not begin college. 65% of the students indicated a serious interest
in attending college post Teen Challenge. With this in mind, giving attention to our G.E.D
program will be important in helping just over a quarter of our students prepare for entering

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college. Likewise, finding avenues to raise our student’s current reading comprehension level
should be a focus in helping our students to be more successful when entering or re-entering
college.
Sixty-four percent of our students indicated an interest in reading. However, this is
unique when taking into consideration that the worst learning style of our students is reading on
their own (41%). This is followed closely by hearing a teacher lecture as the second worst
learning method (35%). It may be possible that the current writing style of what our students are
reading is of little interest to them. Furthermore, there is great indication that our current
teaching styles are not serving our students properly. The two teaching methods most often used
in our current curriculum is having students read on their own, while classes consist almost
entirely of a teacher lecturing. The best learning style of our students indicates that our students
will benefit more from visual aids (56%).
Following this discovery, I showed a group of students a short video on what was meant
by the Church needing to be a “missional Church.” For these same students, I gave them a brief
one-page article that discussed the same aspects of the meaning of a missional Church. In my
following discussion with these students one-on-one, nearly all of their explanation of the
missional Church came from what the video expounded on, rather than the article.
In order to test the 23% that indicated learning best in group projects, I conducted a class
with more difficult material than they are used to. Half of this Hermeneutics class was presented
in lecture format, followed by the other half in group projects. This format was repeated on three
separate sessions. At the end of each class session, students had a greater grasp not only on the
content of the material presented in lecture format as a result of their group discussion time, but
were more importantly able to make personal application of the material from the interaction

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with their peer groups. The group learning dynamic not only deepened their understanding, but
also held the students accountable to understanding the material.
It may be safe to assert that holding our students accountable for information only from
lecture format through written exams is not the best method. Not only does this minimize their
actual learning of the material as well as the personal application from the material, it also holds
interest in the material to a minimum. However, incorporating a variety of learning styles that
serve as accountable measures will allow the students to enter into the material at a deeper level.
For example, furthering their understanding of the material through the accountability factor of a
group project will allow for greater character formation than merely holding them accountable
through a test. Methods of accountability to the learning environment must not merely hold the
student liable for the information given, but also cause for the student’s transformation through
appreciation of the material on a personal level.
Generational Study
The generational study consisted of nine questions to determine the factors of post-
modern characteristic traits. The results from this portion of the survey indicate two things: First
is the need for the students to view their self in healthier ways. Second is their need for clear
communication.
Two of these questions sought to understand how the students view themselves in
relation to a community. From the results of this survey, 70% of the students considered their
upbringing more independent compared to the 30% who were more sheltered. Likewise, 70% of
the students considered themselves currently as a problem solver in comparison to the 30% that
view themselves as team-oriented.

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In an essay on Recovering Faithfulness in our Callings, Douglas Ottati describes how
society has taught isolated individualism by encouraging us to “fashion our personal identities
detached from loyalties to anything larger than self.” He goes on to write, “Contemporary me-
ism, with its glorification of isolated individual interests and fulfillment, amounts to a tendency
toward inordinate self-love.”6
The issue at hand is a distorted view of the true self.
Our students, like a vast majority of others in their generation, have created a false view
of their true self. Personal identity has been self-created from what their peers and society in
general has taught them. This is in contrast to the biblical understanding that God has created
each individual uniquely, while Christians belong to the community of God’s people. In his book
The Deeper Journey, Robert Mulholland Jr. describes the difference between the “false self,” and
the “true self” that is made new in Christ. He explains that “unless you are aware of these two
selves, these two ways of being in the world, you will have great difficulty allowing God to lead
you into a deeper life of wholeness in Christ.”7
The self-created false self is amplified in our
context when considering the factor that selfish ambition is a key character trait of the addict.
Take away the dependency to any substance, and the selfish factor does not go away on its own,
but only buries itself further to be manifested in other ways.
Perhaps the most popular scripture verse our students know by memory is 2 Corinthians
5:17. This appeals to their need to be made whole from their past – to understand their new self
opposed to their old nature. However, a vast majority of our students understand this to be
something that occurs instantaneously at the point of conversion, rather than a beginning of

6
Robin Maas and Gabriel Odonnell, Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1990), 225.

7
M. Robert Mulholland and Jr, The Deeper Journey: the Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self
(Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2006), 24.

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being made into the image of God – the gradual ridding of our false self-created image, into the
image designed by the Creator; our true self. It would seem this way as much stress is placed
upon the beginning of their new story. In most conversations I have had with students, many
consistently point to what God has done to free them from their past, rather than how He has
freed them from their past as well as what He is doing in them now. Diogenes Allen writes,
“When too much stress is placed upon the beginning of the story – the experience of Christian
conversion – it may appear to us that with conversion we have already reached our goal.”8
Allen asks a pertinent question that deals with this issue: “What is there for us to do after
conversion.” The self begins a life-long process of learning to control our destructive tendencies.
He describes the journey as a “task of coming to terms with our deep inadequacies.”9
This
journey is characterized as discipleship. It is the new life of reorienting our selves by attaching
ourselves to Christ so that we actually become what we have already been made; a new creation
that removes the masks we craft as a result from our fall.10
The second indication form the survey reveals the need for our students to have clear
communication. Twenty-two percent of the students specified preference of clear standards
(rules) compared to the 78% valuing clear communication. The majority of our students have not
had clear vision for their own life. A portion of their life has been lived day-to-day in survival
mode. Some of our students are already familiar with having clear rules imposed on them
whether from other residential programs, correctional facilities, etc. However, I have noticed a
difference in the demeanor of our students when they are explained the value of the “why”

8
Diogenes Allen, Spiritual Theology: the Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today (Cambridge,
MA: Cowley Publications, 1997), 7.
9
Ibid., 8-9.

10
David Augsburger, Dissident Discipleship: a Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God, and Love of
Neighbor (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), 40.

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factor. This, in essence, gives them the ability to make an adult decision on their own in favor of
a positive direction – as opposed to a decision being made for them.
Religious Background
While 47% of our students claim to have grown up in a Christian home, 81% of our
student population claim to be Christian. When asked the question what it means for a person to
be a Christian summed up in a single sentence (only to those who claim to be a Christian), four
distinct categories were observed. 43% referenced Christ’s death and resurrection on the cross
(doctrinal reasoning). Twenty-one percent claimed this meant to be a follower of Christ and obey
his commands (conformity reasoning). Another 21% referenced a personal relationship with
Christ (interpersonal reasoning). Four percent stated that being a Christian meant having
assurance of eternal life (incentive reasoning).
While 3% claimed to have no answer, the final 9% had answers that were concerning and
did not fit with the above categories, such as: “believing in the goodness of God,” “having faith
in trusting yourself that God has a plan,” “because I feel connected to God,” “because my faith
and belief,” “by my beliefs, the way I talk and act, the way I live,” “because I am here in Teen
Challenge,” and “putting myself in Teen Challenge wanting to become a Christian on my own.”
In my discussion with several of our staff on the 47% of our students who claim to have
grown up in a Christian home, their response was that many of these students have had a poor
understanding of what a Christian family looks like. During their mentoring sessions, staff have
discovered students claiming to have grown up in a Christian home upon further learning about
very poor parental examples as Christian mentors. Not only do these students have to learn what
constitutes a healthy Christian environment, but they also have to develop a personal relationship
to Christ apart from the relationship their parents or guardians had for them.

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Career Objectives
The career objective portion of the survey is an attempt to promote a more holistic
approach to how we disciple our students. From these results, a team of staff and volunteers are
in the beginning process of developing ways for our residential program to be more vocationally
sensitive to the future needs of our students. From these results, we are better able to understand
what types of vocational interests our students have, where they intend on searching for
employment post Teen Challenge, and what factors cause hindrance to obtaining these goals.
From these results, we will be able to divide our training phase of the program into tracks
(vocational sensitive opportunities) so that our model of discipleship is holistic. Curriculum
would not only provide them skills in their area of interest, but also emphasize the necessary
nature of character needed for that environment of employment. The hands on component of this
vocational training would include students performing on campus work tasks in the area of their
focus. Partnering outside corporations desiring to hire Teen Challenge graduates on the basis of
us instilling in them genuine Christian character not only would provide instructional teaching on
our campus, but also help to fund this vocational program on a regular basis so that students can
remain in their area of focus rather than having to fundraise to keep our program at no cost to the
individual.
Factors causing hindrance to our student’s vocational goals reveal that 27% fear the
impact their criminal background will have on gaining employment. Forty-three percent of our
males at our training center are convicted felons. Thirty-eight percent of our student population
indicated that the greatest concern is not having the resources or support to obtain these goals.
Hopefully, our new corporate partnerships will help to address some of these concerns. Lastly,
50 percent of our students indicated that not having a clear sense of God’s direction in their life

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is their greatest concern. This indication demonstrates that many of our students are more
concerned about God’s purpose in their life than the circumstances that surround them. Based on
these results, discerning God’s voice and understanding their gift sets will need to be a large
portion of our future curriculum.
THE CHARACTER OF THE KINGDOM CURRICULUM

Education is the process of changing behavior patterns of people.11
This curriculum seeks
to do just this. It has been applied under the umbrella of the discipleship funnel learning model
previously described, in order to assist the students in applying what they have learned. Applying
Kingdom character is the student-learning outcome. The method of evaluation is utilizing this
curriculum within the accountability structure of the discipleship funnel, so that, as the motto
states – no student is left behind. According to Tyler:
“Since the real purpose of education is not to have the instructor perform certain
activities but to bring about significant changes in the students’ patterns of behavior, it
becomes important to recognize that any statement of the objective of the school should
be a statement of changes to take place in the students.”12
This curriculum is an eleven-week teaching series based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
The curriculum can be viewed in appendix II. It is first taught in chapel, meditated upon
throughout the following week as students work within the curriculum, then discussed in small
groups, and finalized in one-on-one peer-to-peer mentoring. Each lesson of the curriculum
focuses on a single aspect of what type of character God seeks in His Kingdom people,
according to Matthew chapters 5-7. Students, mentoring small group staff, and outside teaching
pastors have all received this curriculum prior to the series starting so that there is consistency to
what is being taught. During the week as students work through the written material in the

11
Tyler, 5-6.
12
Ibid., 44.

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curriculum between chapel and small group time, the focus is for the student to internalize the
material by incorporating several spiritual disciplines. Rather than merely hearing the material in
a chapel service, then discussing it in that following small group session, it is imperative for the
lesson to allow spiritual formation to occur in the student’s life by helping them to create space
for God to do a deeper work.
Experiencing God By Creating Space For God
Our survey reveals that the greatest desire of our student’s future is to have God’s clarity
in their life. Hearing from God cannot be done apart from creating space for God. Merely
completing various tasks for the sake of having to complete tasks has become routine for our
students. There is just not enough time to think. In his study on post-moderns, Paul Jensen
discusses how Xers and Millennials are experiencing what he calls “the collapse of space and
time.” “Cramming more tasks requiring greater speed into a given measure of time and packing
more into less space eventually leads to a point of collapse.”13
By engaging in ways that allow
for creating a space for God, post-moderns are able to escape this collapse. He writes:
“Ministries that do not devote much time and space for God in these disciplines betray
their own biblical heritage, fail to resonate with the spiritual ethos of the culture, and miss
a major missional opportunity. By engaging in these practices, many Xers are resisting
the collapse of space and time and thus helping the church to allow God to make room
for himself in its life and mission.”14
The curriculum is designed for the student’s work to go beyond merely answering
questions from information they have gathered. It encourages for transformation to occur
through this reflective time in between chapel and small group, by guiding the students through
ways of creating this space for God.

13
L. Paul Jensen, Subversive Spirituality: Transforming Mission through the Collapse of Space and Time
(Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Pub, 2009), 3.

14
Ibid., 218.

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It is one thing to believe in God, yet another thing to encounter the presence of God.15
Our survey indicates that a vast majority of our students believe in God. They have even
experienced a taste of God in various ways. But the contrast in the survey also sheds light that
hearing from God in the experiential is still greatly desired. Xers and Millennials spiritually are
sensate – they experience through all the senses.16
Richard Peace writes, “Our task is to learn to
notice God in God’s various manifestations and then to respond to the God we meet. Without
response there is no transformation.”17
By helping our students to set up a space for God through a Bible study curriculum, they
are able to experience the God of the Bible. Giving students the information from the text will
not alone help to transform their lives. The key to the discipline of study is not reading, but
experiencing what we read.18
In the case for our students, it is assigning them the task of creating
this space themselves through various means.
Robert Mulholland describes the first question of spiritual formation as two-fold:
“Are we operating on a functional basis, somehow trying to get ourselves closer to
God or to what we think God wants us to be; or are we operating on a relational basis,
where, in responsiveness to God, we are allowing God to draw us into genuine spiritual
formation?”19
The method in helping our students to apply the scripture should avoid a works-righteous
approach where they try to apply rules or behaviors given to them in a curriculum. The primary

15
Richard Peace, Noticing God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2012), 14.

16
Jensen, 219.
17
Ibid., 17.
18
Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: the Path to Spiritual Growth, 20th ed. (New York:
HarperSanFrancisco, 1998), 72.

19
M. Robert Mulholland and Jr, Shaped by the Word: the Power of Scripture in Spiritual Formation, rev.
ed. (Nashville, TN: Upper Room, 2001), 95.

20

agenda for such a curriculum should be for the student to cultivate a relationship, rather than
trying to change their own self. If we desire for transformation to occur in the lives of our
students, our task is to help them to create this space for God, so that they are able to experience
God on their own.
Incarnational Curriculum
Besides the format of the curriculum helping the students to create this space, another
important aspect is for the curriculum to be incarnated. Through this entire process, I have
discovered that the greatest curriculum is not the material itself, but through the lives of those
who represent the curriculum. As well thought out any curriculum may be, it is nowhere as
effective without good teachers and mentors. The one-on-one peer-to-peer component is
essential to our discipleship model. It is imperative that the teaching of this curriculum does not
reside only in the chapel services and the small groups, but that it is continued in discussion in
the one-on-one setting. Mike Lueken observes, “Christianity without apprenticeship is the
predictable result of a truncated gospel that separates discipleship and salvation.”20
Simply put,
curriculum must be incarnational because mentors are the curriculum.
This is not to say that those teaching the curriculum merely be the curriculum, but that
they reflect a life of ongoing transformation through their own created space for God. Henri
Nouwen eloquently writes, “We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the
givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we
care for.”21
Mentors who help to facilitate this process must reveal a life that experiences God so

20
Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken, Renovation of the Church: What Happens When a Seeker Church
Discovers Spiritual Formation (Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2011), 58.

21
Henri J.M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections On Christian Leadership with Study Guide for
Groups and Individuals (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2002), 61-62.

21

that the experience factor can be redirected onto the students. In seeing what the mentors have
relationally with God, the students will want this for themselves. Foster writes:
“The history of religion is the story of an almost desperate scramble to have a king, a
mediator, a priest, a pastor, a go-between. In this way we do not need to go to God
ourselves. Such an approach saves us from the need to change, for to be in the presence
of God is to change.”22
Our students are looking for mentors in their life. This in itself is not a bad thing.
However, it is imperative that those mentors not become the “in-between” but aid the student to
cultivate their own relationship with the God who transforms. They should not merely instruct
the material of the curriculum, but demonstrate to the students that without practicing the
spiritual disciplines for themselves they are creating space only for themselves. By incarnating
curriculum, it begins with those who lead – it must first take root in the leader’s heart.
Accountable Discipleship & The Risks Of Small Groups
Not only are post-moderns spiritually sensate, as pointed out before, but also
communal.23
The small group dynamic of this curriculum helps the students to experience
spiritual formation within the context of a community. This is facilitated not so that the students
conform to the group, but so that the student feels that he or she has a voice in the group. He or
she is then able to share about the struggles and successes of his or her own personal experience
in creating a personal space for God. The small group facilitator maintains this safe environment.
It is also a way to hold students accountable to remaining faithful to the practice of the spiritual
disciplines outside of the group environment. Robin Maas writes, “Faithfulness is not simply a
matter of obeying rules; it is, rather, the maintaining of a relationship with God in the company
of good friends that are trying also to be faithful. None of us is going to make it alone – we need

22
Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 24.
23
Jensen, 227.

22

all the help we can get.”24
Perhaps the greatest way to avoid legalism from entering is by
maintaining emphasis on faithfulness to God over strict observations of rules.
Likewise, it is imperative to avoid the group dynamic becoming an all to familiar routine.
One of the benefits of the small group dynamic is the robust relationships formed. When this
occurs, the above-mentioned faithfulness is able to occur. However, there is always a risk with
small groups developing a culture of their own that is different than the original purpose of the
curriculum. Our residential program structure is such that new students enter on a monthly basis.
It is possible that this slow and constant inflow of new students will keep a fresh perspective in
the overall group dynamic.
Another risk of the small group is it becoming another Bible study or social gathering.25
The students have already learned from the Bible study by this point and do not need to be taught
the scripture passage again from the group facilitators point of view. What they need at this point
is to experience spiritual formation in the context of their small community.

INCORPORATING THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
In order to help our students create this space for God so they may be able to encounter
God on their own, this curriculum has incorporated ten spiritual disciplines. Foster defines a
spiritual discipline as “an intentionally directed action by which we do what we can do in order
to receive from God the ability (or power) to do what we cannot do by direct effort.”26
The
curriculum itself does not produce the change; it merely helps place us where the change can
occur. Nor does the staff make the change occur. We can, and must however, cultivate the

24
Maas, 325.
25
Carlson, 126-127.
26
Richard Foster, Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation (New York:
HarperCollins, 2008), 16.

23

ground by planting the seed, watering the ground where the seed is, helping to provide nutrients
necessary for healthy growth – but it is God who causes the growth. The spiritual disciplines
open the door. The change that must occur within us is God’s working inside.27
Opening the door is our task. It is the practice of the spiritual disciplines that welcomes
God to come in and do this inner work (Rev. 3:20). When we combine this process as a whole –
God’s work and ours, we are defining what spiritual formation is. Spiritual formation is “the
ongoing work of sanctification by the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life and with the believer’s
cooperation. Justification is God’s work but spiritual formation calls for our involvement.”28
Spiritual formation is partnering with God. God will not force us to change. We have to be
willing for transformation to take place. We must be willing to enter into the desert for God to
bring us through the desert into the Promised Land. Bruce Demarest writes:
“Deciding for Christ is only the beginning of the life of discipleship and spiritual
formation. Far more than getting our ticket to heaven stamped, conversion is an ongoing
process of allowing the Spirit to put sin to death and initiate transformation of every
dimension of our lives.”29
Dallas Willard writes that the secret of addiction is that the addict lives a life of “quiet
desperation.”30
It is the powerful grip of an addiction to a feeling where the addict wants to stop,
but cannot. Demarest makes an interesting point in regards to this, that many believers live the
lives of a quiet desperation in that “they know they need to mature as disciples of Jesus, but they
are frustrated by their inability to get there. Many professing Christians remain mere infants in

27
Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 6-8 passim.
28
Kenneth O. Gangel and James C. Wilhoit, eds., Christian Educator's Handbook On Spiritual Formation,
The (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 271.

29
Bruce Demarest, Seasons of the Soul: Stages of Spiritual Development (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books,
2009), 37.

30
Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ, 10 ed. (Colorado Springs,
CO: NavPress, 2012), 125.

24

Christ (1 Cor. 3:1).”31
Without our students practicing spiritual disciplines, though their quiet
desperation of addiction may be gone, they so easily run the risk of continuing into a Christian
life of quiet desperation remaining mere infants. The goal, then, of the spiritual disciplines is to
facilitate a process for our students to become mature sons (“huios”) rather than remaining little
children (“teknon”) (Eph. 1:5).
The methods of spiritual formation in this curriculum are the ten spiritual disciplines:
Hearing the Scripture, spiritual journaling, silence and solitude, meditative prayer, lectio divina,
Sabbath, vices and virtues, secrecy, fellowship, and spiritual guidance. These ten disciplines
provide a means for the student to create his or her own space for God. With each of these
disciplines, a method of evaluation has been created to ensure that the student is making an
active effort rather than remaining passive throughout this curriculum series.
Hearing The Scripture
The Bible is a story that contains many stories within it that supports the grand story of
redemption. When we do not read the Bible in whole segments – seeing the full picture of the
individual story, we miss the grand story.32
This curriculum series was designed for the students
to focus on a single character trait for each section through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, so that
they are able to understand the greater picture of how their character may be formed in following
Christ. By hearing the scripture during chapel services in whole segments, the students are better
able to, through the preaching of the pastor, enter into the story themselves as active participants
in the story rather than passive observers.33
Experiencing the story as it was first told by Jesus to

31
Demarest, 34.
32
Foster, Life with God, 27-29 passim.
33

25

the crowds, gives a clearer picture to our students of the decision that needs to be made on an
individual basis: will I remain as a bystander in the crowd, or will I engage this teaching into my
life as His disciple? Hearing the story is the first of the spiritual disciplines, so that the
disciplines that follow throughout the week help to bring about transformation that is in tune
with the lesson of that story.
The heart of spiritual formation is to teach and train people to follow the instructions of
Christ through the enabling power of his grace.34
Hearing the scripture passage explained in this
curriculum is provided in two forms. It is preached during the chapel sessions by the team of
outside pastors who paint the picture of the story. Having this team of pastors has proven
beneficial to our students as it brings a variety of styles of preaching to the series. It is also taught
by having the single key lesson (character trait) to focus on written at the beginning of each
lesson in the booklet. All who help to lead this series, whether preaching or facilitating a small
group, understand the importance of staying to the single topic of that lesson so that emphasis is
placed on that character trait.
At the beginning of each lesson, the first question serves as the method of evaluation:
What is the most important thing from the chapel service that stood out to you from this passage?
This not only serves to hold the students accountable to listening during the chapel services, but
also more importantly teaches the students to begin to hear God’s voice for themself through the
preaching of scripture. The question to ask in evaluating the student is: how well did they place
themselves as an active participant in the story? Discerning God’s voice is a learning outcome
for each of the spiritual disciplines. Though it is most likely to occur more frequently in this first

34
Wilhoit, Spiritual Formation as If the Church Mattered, 39.

26

discipline, while keeping the students grounded to the scripture as a reliable source of accurately
hearing God’s voice.
The sole purpose of the student hearing the scripture spoken is for it to become a
transforming encounter with God. Scripture is the primary method we encounter God, and
shapes our understanding of all other encounters we have with God.35
In order for this to occur,
the individual student must realize that in this sense, the role of the scripture is to probe them to
show them their un-Christlikeness.36
Reflection on this character trait is then carefully meditated
on throughout the following week by ways of the other spiritual disciplines.
Spiritual Journaling
The student responses in this curriculum are intended to help the student begin a spiritual
journal. In the introduction of the curriculum, students are explained the nature of how to journal.
Currently, many of our students write responses in their classes to get material out of the way
rather than allowing the journaling process to be a way of encountering the presence of God. In
instructing the students how to answer questions in their booklet, I have written, “when
answering questions in this book, take your time. This is not something to just ‘get done’. We are
not transformed by just getting homework done. God transforms us as we spend the time with
Him.” What the students journal is about their experience with many of the other spiritual
disciplines, which will further be discussed. Questions are styled to promote self-reflection and
are asked as open-ended questions.
The benefits of spiritual journaling are tremendous. They allow us to record our journey
with God. They provide for us a safe place to do this. Journaling helps us to become aware of

35
Peace, Noticing God, 87.
36
Mulholland, Shaped by the Word, 105.

27

God’s presence in our lives. They help us to quiet the noise of our mind and focus our mind on
God’s presence. Spiritual journaling encourages emotional expression rather than suppressing
our emotions. Essentially, they bring us into a deeper self-understanding. Peace writes, “A
journal is more than a diary; it does not so much record our days as records our spirits.”37
Journals help us to record our journey with God because they show us God’s fingerprint
in our lives. It is a way for us to pause and reflect where we are on the journey – where God has
brought us from, and what direction he may be leading us into. Journaling captures God’s
activity in our life in a way that makes sense to us on a personal level. This is important for our
students considering the past God has brought them from. It gives them a sense of gratitude.
Likewise, according to the future needs of our students from the survey, it will help students to
hear more clearly from God pertaining to what their life direction should be.
Our students need safe environments. Besides finding these safe environments in
relationships, journaling provides another place for them to share their innermost being. Over
time, seeing God answer prayers through journaling increases their faith. This brings about a
growing awareness of God’s presence. It is a way for them to share things that they may
otherwise not share with others. Through this, God himself becomes their ultimate safe place.
With all the commotion of life, our minds can become too noisy to recognize God’s
presence. Journaling helps in this way to rid us of the exterior and enter the life of the interior. It
helps us organize our feelings and desires and brings them in accordance with God’s design for
our life. So many of our students account for wanting to hear from God. They are too often

37
Richard Peace, Spiritual Journaling: Recording Your Journey Toward God: a Spiritual Formation Study
Guide (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1998), 11.

28

unaware of the daily noise drowning God’s voice out. It is not that God is absent. Rather it is that
our students need to learn to recognize God’s presence.38
Our survey demonstrates the commonly known factor that men are less likely to express
emotions than women. While a quarter of our male population declined to answer questions of
abuse in their past, only 4% of the women declined to answer questions of abuse before they
were 18 and only 6% declined to answer about abuse after turning 18. That fact that our students
have experienced many types of hardships in their past indicates the need for focus on emotional
health. The natural tendency for those who have experienced hardships is to layer these
experiences with masks. Journaling can be a safe environment where the masks come off, as they
learn the value of resting in the presence of their Creator.
Silence & Solitude
Silence and solitude are spiritual disciplines that are too often not practiced. Perhaps it is
due to the hefty schedules our Western culture encourages. Or perhaps it is seen as too esoteric –
something to be left for the seriously introverted individuals who flock to the desert for extended
periods of time. Why is this really avoided? Why are so many afraid of silence? Why are we
afraid of solitude? I would say, simply, that it is because we misunderstand it altogether. Sadly,
because of this, we miss out on much that God desires to say to us.
Solitude and silence go hand in hand. Without silence there is no solitude. The purpose of
silence is to be able to see and hear.39
In silence we learn to listen. In silence we must begin to
look inside of us, which leads us into solitude. In the inner emptiness of loneliness we first

38
39
Foster, Celebrating Discipline, 98.

29

experience from solitude, we find inner fulfillment that is God’s presence.40
This is why silence
and solitude is such an uncomfortable place to be for many. Not because we are uncomfortable
with God’s presence, but with ourselves. Often we refer to these moments of silence as an
“awkward moment.” We then fill these moments with noise to avoid the loneliness– anything to
escape from a moment of solitude. Foster writes, “Our fear of being alone drives us to noise and
crowds. We keep up a constant stream of words even if they are inane.”41
This is not to say that the person who spends more time in silence and solitude is more
spiritual. A person can become a desert hermit and still not experience solitude.42
This is to say
that the purpose of silence and solitude is to rid approval of ourselves, and place our
responsiveness to God. This requires us to focus both our heart and mind on God. Silence and
solitude is not a defined destination out in the distance. Rather, it is a journey where we must
battle against our desire to focus on what gratifies the self. Nouwen describes this as the great
struggle and the great encounter. He writes that it is “the struggle against the compulsions of the
false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new
self.”43
It is a way of becoming, rather than a matter of doing.
Control rather than the absence of noise is the key to silence.44
One can sit in silence from
the outside world and still have thoughts run rampant. The purpose of silence and solitude is not
to rest from the chaos of the world, but to reflect on what God speaks to us in the “still voice.”

40
Ibid., 96.
41
Ibid.
42
Ibid.
43
Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart, Reprint ed. (New York: Ballantine Books, 2003), 16.

44
Foster, Celebrating Discipline, 98.

30

As we gradually empty our minds of what we want to think about, we give up the overt control
of our lives. Foster writes:
“One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless. We
are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others. If we are silent,
who will take control? ... Silence is one of the deepest Disciplines of the Spirit simply
because it puts the stopper on all self-justification.”45
The benefits of practicing silence and solitude are enormous, especially for our students.
Such a discipline allows us to receive the “peace that passes all understanding” (Phi. 4:7). It
sanctions us to battle with our false self, and absorb of our true self. Out of silence and solitude
we are better able to experience genuine community with others by the way we view others and
desire to grow deeper alongside of them. For those who so desire to hear God’s voice, it is in this
discipline, as Foster describes, that we are able to “listen to the thunder of God’s silence.”46
In this curriculum, students are called to take what they have heard in chapel, to journal
their thoughts, and to now hear further from God personally as they spend time alone in silence.
The second question in each session of their booklet asks them to find a quiet place, and spend a
given amount of time apart from their routine where nobody will disturb them. The time spent
begins only for 10 minutes, and gradually increases throughout the series up to 25 minutes. The
method of evaluation is determined as the students are asked to write about this time spent
hearing from God – where they may have struggled, and where they benefited.
Meditative Prayer
Both silence and prayer teach us the same thing. They both teach us to listen. Yet without
silence there is no prayer, because as previously discussed, silence is the language of God.47

45
Ibid., 100-101.
46
Ibid., 108.
47
Maas, 75-78 passim.

31

Certainly, as I have already pointed out, we hear God primarily through his written Word. We
can also hear God through other avenues as is being discussed with each of these spiritual
disciplines. However, we cannot hear God through any of these spiritual disciplines if we do not
silence ourselves to hear Him.
“Prayer changes things,” is a popular motto of the Church. We should qualify this phrase
first – prayer must change me first before my circumstances. The purpose of prayer is not for us
to make God aware of a situation and bring Him in line with our agenda, but for God to bring us
in tune with His plan. Oswald Chambers says it best when he writes, “To say that ‘prayer
changes things’ is not as close to the truth as saying, ‘Prayer changes me and then I change
things’.”48
In his book The Tree Of Life, Steven Chase compares models of prayer to the ecology of
a tree. He describes prayer as transformation, where as when new leaves bud, open, and grow;
the old must die. When the leaves fall to the ground, they allow for the tree to survive and for
new growth to occur. Essentially, Chase says that to pray is to change.49
This is why prayer is something that we must learn. When Jesus’ disciples asked him to
teach them how to pray, they learned that Jesus’ style of prayer was one that was already in tune
with God’s heart. Neither Jesus nor his disciples ever concluded a prayer for others with “if it be
your will” because they believed they already knew what the will of God was. They, like us,
learned that through prayer we get in contact with God so that it is His power and not ours that
flows out onto others.50

48
“My Utmost for His Highest,” Daily Devotionals By Oswald Chambers, http://utmost.org/the-purpose-
of-prayer/ (accessed February 17, 2014).

49
Steven Chase, The Tree of Life: Models of Christian Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005),
15-16.

50
Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 37-38.

32

In this curriculum, the students learn to pray in the context of their time in silence and
solitude. The second question of each session of the booklet asks them to pray about the passage
they are studying during their time alone. This question ties in all the disciplines discussed up to
this point. Their reflection of the Scripture passage they heard in chapel is now brought into
context of silence and solitude, so that they may prayerfully consider what God is saying to them
as they journal about their experience during this time alone. The purpose of “meditative prayer”
specifically, is so that the students can place themselves in the story of the Scripture passage.
Peace writes:
“At the heart of meditative prayer is Scripture. In meditative prayer we enter into a
story from the Bible by means of our imaginations, becoming one of the characters,
watching the action unfold, speaking to Jesus, hearing Jesus speak to us.”51
Lectio Divina
Our ability to read has given us control of the text. Meaning of a text no longer resides in
what the author intended as it did in a classical interpretation of meaning in centuries past, but
now meaning resides in what the reader creates it to mean by his or her own presuppositions. The
danger with this is obvious. How do we allow the Scripture to inform us and transform us if we
as the reader can twist its meaning to satisfy our own agenda? Mulholland writes that often our
response to the Scripture may be “simply that of reading ourselves into the Scriptures at some
level rather than allowing God to speak to us out of them. We manipulate the Scripture to
authenticate our ‘false self’.”52
What we are in need of, then, is a way to read the Scripture that seeks to understand the
author’s intent while we let go of our control of the text. We need to be able to read the Scripture

51
Richard Peace, Meditative Prayer: Entering God's Presence: a Spiritual Formation Study Guide
(Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1998), 44.

52
Mulholland, Shaped By The Word, 22.

33

for both information and for formation. We need both parts, to analyze and to consciously reflect
– to read with both mind and heart. Doing so assumes that God wants to speak to us from the
text.53
Lectio Divina literally means “divine or spiritual reading.” It is reading with the heart for
holiness. In this way of reading, we allow the message to flow into us rather than our attempt to
master it.54
The point is not to get through a text, but to read it in its deepest sense.55
It can either
be done individually or in a group setting. In either setting, being drawn to certain words or
phrases allows the individual to seek a deeper personal implication from what stands out. The
purpose is not for the individual to interpret the meaning of that word or phrase from their own
knowledge, but for them to ask the question: why did that stand our to me? What personal
implication does this have on my life as I reflect on that word or phrase?
In a group setting, the passage is read aloud. When invited by the group leader, the word
or phrase is mentioned aloud with no comment or explanation. After members share what words
or phrases stood out to them, the passage is read again. Members then share briefly the
connection between that word or phrase and their life. The passage is read a third time, followed
by an invitation for participants to share a response they feel God is calling them to. The session
ends as other members of the group pray for members who have shared.56
In this curriculum, a form of lectio divina is primarily found in the second question of the
booklet for each session. Based on the particular passage that the student has already heard

53
Peace, Noticing God, 97-98.
54
Foster, Life With God, 12.
55
Maas, 49.
56
Richard Peace, Contemplative Bible Reading: Experiencing God through Scripture: a Spiritual
Formation Study Guide, rev. ed. (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1998), 15-16.

34

explained through chapel and the introduction material in the booklet, the student is asked to
write down words and phrases that stand out to them in their journaling space. Secondly, they are
to expound why they feel God has showed them that word or phrase from the text through all the
experience they have had with that passage up to this point. During their small group time that
follows, students discuss together their experience spending this time alone with God in the text.
This form of study has been practiced on our students in both individual studies as
mentioned above, and in group study. It is imperative, however, that lectio always follow the
teaching of the text. In our context, the students receive two forms of teaching for each section
before attempting a form of lectio: first through the chapel service, second by the background
material written about that passage in their booklet. The method of evaluating the students is
done in the group setting based on their discussion, and furthered in individual mentoring for
those students who were hesitant to share during their small group session. The terms lectio
divina is never mentioned to our students nor written in the material – it is simply practiced and
explained.
Rhythms Of Sabbath
The Biblical concept of Sabbath has a dual meaning. In one sense it literally means to
“cease” or to “rest.” On the flip side, this rest is qualified as reflective. It is a rest that pauses to
admire the work that has been done. God Himself set the standard of rest in the completion of
creation by resting on the seventh day. The purpose of rest here was not so that God could
recuperate from the six days of labor, but so that the reader could replicate the same pattern of
admiration for God’s work after going about doing His work. Throughout the Hebrew festivals,
there was always the call to not merely “cease” from the normal routine of life, but to
“remember” what God had done in celebration of that day.

35

When we step back and see the grand picture of Sabbath in the Scripture, we find patterns
of time – weeks, years, etc. This is to say that God has created every living organism with
rhythmic pattern for it to be sustained. Humans need physical rest, just as the human spirit needs
to be nurtured. When we get out of the rhythmic step that we have in resting patterns, our body
has to readjust to that new pattern. Obviously, without rest and revival things will eventually die.
Nothing in creation was designed to be autonomous, but to rely on something for its sustenance.
McNeal writes, “Putting off Sabbath means putting off life. Without Sabbath, out souls lose
touch with our true destiny.57
The same can be true for the practice of spiritual disciplines. Sabbath, being a type of
spiritual discipline, is one of many that need to be practiced in a rhythmic fashion for the health
of our spiritual formation. Creating rhythms of spirituality build up a space for God in our busy
lives to show us the person that God has uniquely called us to be. Being must come before doing.
Before we can “do” the work of the Lord, we must “be” in the presence of God. It may be safe to
assert that the works of God through man comes out of our rhythms of spiritual practices. This
begs the questions, whose work is it when we attempt to do the works of God apart from
spending time with God?
In his book Subversive Spirituality, Paul Jensen describes the connection of the Apostles’
practice of spirituality and mission throughout the life of the early Church in Acts.58
This fashion
of doing the work out of time spent with God through various disciplines was a continuation of
the example that Jesus practiced between rhythms of spirituality and mission. For example, the
Ethiopian eunuch’s conversion was a direct result of Philip’s attentiveness to God’s voice (Acts

57
Reggie McNeal, A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders, Updated ed. (San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011), 143.
58
Jensen, 115-127.

36

8:26-39). Or the solitary prayers of Peter and Cornelius, which led them not only to one another,
but also began the inclusion of the Gentiles.
Not only is Sabbath essential, but a life of rhythmic reflection. In this curriculum, the
students are introduced to creating a pattern during their week where the spiritual disciplines are
consistent. While the topic from the text will vary each week, the students practice the same
spiritual disciplines throughout the week. Most questions for small group discussion ask
reflective type of questions so that the discussions are based on the experience of their reflection,
rather than answers about what the text says in general.
Vices & Virtues
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount addresses all of the seven vices and virtues: lust, gluttony,
greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. The point of knowing the vices and virtues is first being able
to recognize these characteristics in our life, and how to address these vices by practicing the
virtues. My discussion of the vices and virtues as practiced in this curriculum is not focusing on
the seven vices and virtues themselves, they come out naturally in the text. It is to help the
students to recognize their own patterns of behavior – and being accepting of God’s design for us
to be different at times. In order for our students to be formed in their character, self-awareness
comes first. It is one thing to know what the Bible says; it is another to recognize its relevance in
my own life.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus addresses the ideal character for Kingdom living. What we find
in the Beatitudes is the call for an inner search of how our character matches with Jesus’ value of
Kingdom living. Students are asked to reflect on these vices and virtues that are written as
“Jesus’ Value vs. Counter Values” by rephrasing this in their own words to understand its
relevance in todays society, as well as how they feel God shaping them in each of the Beatitudes.

37

Secrecy
In the making of a nation in Genesis 11 and 12, a great contrast is seen between two paths
– those all gathered together who would follow their own path and “make a name for
themselves” (Gen 11:4), and those who would be distinct by allowing God to lead them where
He “would make their name great” (Gen. 12:2). The difference rests between those who would
be self-sufficient, verses those who would be God-dependent. As the story continues on, God’s
promise of sustaining His people despite their flaws and weakness eventually made them into a
powerful nation. But with this power, there was a loss of God-dependency as the nation slipped
into serious self-sufficiency.
What God’s people had failed to uphold was that their life was to be played to the
audience of One. The core of their call in being God’s people by reflecting God’s character had
been long forgotten. In his book A Work of the Heart, Reggie McNeal poses the question to the
reader “who is your audience?” He writes, “Do you have an Audience of One? If not, the call is
in jeopardy of being compromised, no matter how slightly or innocently your ticket sales for
grandstand seats have been altered. Only One belongs in the audience.”59
Seeking approval in others is not uncommon. To the degree that it becomes more regular
is an unhealthy place spiritually to be. It becomes dangerous when our need for approval from
others allows our identity to be shaped by our surrounding culture. This is not to say that we
should abandon culture altogether, but to not allow it to reshape who we were created to be. In
this type of environment, we are mimicking the Genesis 11 crowd who sought to make a name
for themselves, apart from God’s direction.
The spiritual discipline of secrecy helps to keep us on the Genesis 12 road of God-

59
McNeal, 113.

38

dependency so that we are better able to understand our identity in Christ. It involves doing our
good deeds for God and not feeling the necessity of boasting about what we have done for the
approval of others. The outcome of practicing secrecy allows us to learn our true identity in
Christ rather than letting culture feed the identity shaping of our false self. The goal, therefore, is
for the students to overcome this approval addiction of overt people pleasing in order to more
fully understand God’s purpose in their life. Willard writes, “As we practice this discipline, we
learn to love to be unknown and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of our peace,
joy, or purpose.”60
In this curriculum, the discipline of secrecy is introduced and practiced as one entire
session in the context of Matthew 6:1-15. The students are prepared in the previous section that
discusses the need of recognizing our own insecurity from Matthew 5:38-48, and is followed in
the subsequent section on recognizing material insecurity in Matthew 6:16-24. The intent is that
the students will put to practice this spiritual discipline in between recognizing their own
insecurities that causes one to seek self-satisfaction in other people and material things.
One of the questions that follow their time in silence and solitude and journaling the
experience from the text is to practice secrecy in some fashion during the week prior to their
small group gathering. Once they have done so, they are to write about their feelings during and
following their act of secrecy without writing about what they actually did.
Fellowship
Perhaps the greatest demonstration of fellowship is in the practice of communion. At the
heart of communion is confession and forgiveness. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 describes the
necessity of understanding unity in the body of Christ. Communion as a form of fellowship must

60
Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 172.

39

be seen as an act of unity through forgiveness with those around us as we boldly claim
forgiveness with God. Willard writes:
“For all that is between me and God affects who I am; and that, in turn, modifies my
relationship with everyone around me. My relationship to others also modifies me and
deeply affects my relationship to God. Hence, those relationships must be transformed if
I am to be transformed.”61
While confession to God is a vital part of the Christian faith (1 John 1:9), fellowship
entails confession in the context of other believers (James 5:16). It is through this intimate
fellowship of believers that mirrors the character of God’s heart. Many of our students prefer to
confess through means of the former – keeping things between God and themselves. However,
few are able to practice confession in the context of other believers. Those who are reluctant to
the safety of such a community may do so because they have rarely before experienced such a
community. In fact, due to their backgrounds, many of our students are naturally cautious to any
type of community that attempts to unprotect their false self.
Yet transformation does not happen in isolation. Out of our solitude we may receive these
eye-opener moments, but these moments cannot reside in our time alone with God. They
eventually need to be brought into the context of such a like-minded community of support.
Wilhoit writes:
“The fertile field for formation is community genuinely aware of the depth of their sin
and the reality of their spiritual thirst. True formation requires that the community deeply
understands that they cannot cure the sickness of their souls through willpower alone.”62
The purpose of small groups being at the end of all of these spiritual activities is to allow
ample time and enough of these eye-opening God-encountering moments to occur and be
brought into the context of community. The goal of this small group community, then, is for the

61
Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 182.
62
Wilhoit, 63.

40

students to feel a new sense of community as many of them discover that they have the same
struggles. They learn throughout the week the spiritual condition that causes them to feel and
respond to others the way that they do. In community, they are given solution to these eye-
opening moments. This solution is found in the realization of God’s presence in the supportive
gathering of others (Matt. 18:19-20).
Spiritual Guidance
Guidance is closely related to community. It is in community that we find guidance. But
it is when we make community intentional that we receive guidance. It will be more difficult for
an individual to receive guidance if he or she is hesitant of community. Foster writes:
“God does guide the individual richly and profoundly, but He also guides groups of
people and can instruct the individual through the group experience. Perhaps our
preoccupation with private guidance is the product of our Western individualism. The
people of God have not always been so.”63
Due to the fact that some of our students are hesitant to opening themselves up in community, it
is important to also discuss guidance by mentors now in the context of the one-on-one peer-to-
peer environment.
The final stage of our discipleship funnel model is intended to provide further guidance
for our students after all the other spiritual disciplines have been practiced. It is a way to help
students who may still be struggling with anything, or who have slipped through the cracks.
However, we must begin with the mentor as a spiritual leader before we can discuss what the
mentor does.
In general, there is a great tendency in leadership training to fill the leader’s mind with
effective ways for them to perform their leadership tasks. If we do not begin with the mentor’s
heart, we run the risk of creating people into our own image rather than discipling them into

63

41

God’s image. McNeal observes, “We will not have renewed congregations and ministries until
we have renewed leaders.”64
God must first shape the heart of the spiritual leader so that He can share His heart with
His people.65
I would like to briefly discuss this in three steps. First, the spiritual leader must
understand their past. Second, the spiritual leader must come to understand his or her call.
Finally, this allows for the spiritual leader to operate from a position of spiritual authority rather
than any other type of authority.
All leaders limp. McNeal writes, “Leaders become leaders, in part, because they are
willing to wrestle with who they are, who they want to become, how they can overcome some
deficit in their own lives.”66
Understanding one’s past is imperative. Without receiving proper
healing, one’s negative past can bury itself and manifest in ways that harm those we lead. This
may even go unnoticed to us when it is painfully obvious to others. This often resurrects itself in
various forms of insecurity. However, one’s negative past may also serve as a benefit to those we
mentor if we have come to understand God’s love and purpose in our circumstances. Through
this, we are better able to emotionally handle our past, no matter how negative our circumstances
may have been. Wishing that we could erase our past does not always lead us to emotional
health. The spiritual mentor must learn to embrace his or her own limp.
Naturally, as one understands their past, this then shapes the call of God on their life.
Calling goes far beyond one’s job description. Rather, it is maintaining the heart as a life-long
learner. Calling is not something that we aimlessly receive, then go and do it. It is through the

64
McNeal, 143.
65
Ibid., 111.
66
Ibid., 117.

42

call that God shapes the heart of the leader.67
Once we sense the call of God in a specific area,
God then begins to do an inner work. Sometimes, this may entail us needing to revisit issues of
our past that we thought were dealt with. When we cease to learn about our calling, we get stuck
and loose sight of our life-contribution.68
Spiritual leadership is the practice of incarnational leadership. Incarnational leaders
reflect the works of Christ through their own life. When this occurs, the leader is able to operate
out of a position of spiritual authority rather than a position of personal authority. Effective
leadership must always regard the people being served. McNeal writes:
“With false leadership, it is all about the leader and not those served. The leader’s
agenda. The leader’s vision. The leader’s passions. The leader’s goals. People play a role
in helping the leader get to where the leader wants to go. People are not served. They are
used.”69
Spiritual authority does not base itself on the premise that the individual has heard from
God; therefore everyone else should listen to what they have to say. Rather, God only grants it to
the individual who has taken what has previously been described seriously – through maintaining
a life of brokenness, and the desire for others to receive the same compassion from God that they
continue to receive. For the spiritual discipline of guidance to work properly in this discipleship
funnel model, the one-on-one peer-to-peer mentoring environment must rise out of such spiritual
authority. What our students need, through all of the spiritual disciplines, is for this to be
properly modeled – it needs to be incarnated for them. Without our curriculum being incarnated,
the words run the risk of remaining on the page. This is to say that our lives can always teach
more than our words.

67
Ibid., 95.
68
For a fuller description on calling and learning our life-long contribution see, Terry Walling, Stuck!
(Saint Charles, Il: Churchsmart Resources, 2008).

69
McNeal, 140.

43

ANALYSIS
Comparing this structure to what was in place before, the general consensus among both
staff and students is that this new paradigm has helped enhance the spiritual formation of our
students. This has been an enormous step in a positive direction; yet there are also necessary
improvements to be made. During this series, both staff mentors and students were given a
survey based on the overall curriculum. The following is a summary of what the survey revealed.
Student Curriculum Survey Results
First, students were asked if they feel that they found the time to actually do all the
curriculum asks them to do. Five percent revealed that they did not have the time due to having a
busy schedule. Eight percent revealed that they had the time but were not good at managing their
time. Fifty-three percent claimed that they had the time to spend with God on their own each
week. Forty percent claimed that they found the time to spend with God, but not the amount of
time they were asked to spend according to the booklet.
Secondly, students were asked where they felt they learned the most about the Bible
passages each week. Sixty percent revealed that they learned most in the chapel services. Thirty-
eight percent revealed that they learned more from the booklet and spending time alone with
God. Forty percent claimed that they learned most during their small group time. Eight percent
claimed that the most beneficial time in learning about the Bible passages was during their one-
on-one mentoring time with their caseload mentor.
Third, students were asked where they felt they benefited most spiritually in their own
personal journey with God from this series. Forty percent revealed that they grew spiritually
most through chapel times. Thirty-three percent revealed that the written material in the booklet

44

and time spent alone with God helped them grow most spiritually. Forty-three percent claimed
that they grew most during the small group sessions.
Fourth, students were asked about how they spent their time alone with God in a quiet
place according to the second question of each session in the booklet. Forty-eight percent
revealed that they did most of the time. Twenty-three percent revealed about half of the time.
Twenty percent claimed less than half of the time. Thirteen percent claimed they never really
did, but filled out the questions just to get the assignments done in time for their small group
sessions.
Finally, students were asked to write how the series overall helped them in their spiritual
journey that was different from the way we have done things before. The following are the most
common responses:
• The series helped them get to the root of their core issues.
• The series provided clarity, since they were all on the same page in a consistent learning
process.
• The series helped them review their notes from the chapel service and meditate on this
throughout the week, so that what was learned in chapel did not remain in chapel.
• It made them take a deeper look at the reality of their spiritual journey with Christ.
• The discussion aspect of the small groups brought them value in what they were learning,
as they felt they were able to have a voice, also holding them accountable to each other.
• The overall format helped the lessons of the Bible become more alive for them.
• The transparency and participation by their small group mentors helped them to share
more than they would have.
• With the series topic each week, and the overall expositional style, this helped them to
understand better the character changes they needed to make.
• The variety of learning methods kept them actively engaged in the series.
• The series helped both stimulate their mind and permeate their heart.
Staff Mentor Curriculum Survey Results
One staff mentor shared that the second question in the booklet challenged his students
since they are all too familiar with doing busy work. Those who seriously engaged with this
question learned how to hear God’s voice for themselves. His students also in turn ministered to

45

their fellow students during small group sessions so that he was not the only one doing the
encouraging. They, in turn, learned how to minister to others through what God had been sharing
with them personally.
For his other students, however, they acknowledged that they frequently wrote the first
thing that came to mind in the booklet, rather than spending much time in silence, meditating and
praying on the passage. He felt that merely doing book checks was not sufficient to measure
whether or not the students spent genuine time with God on the assignment. Despite his
continually encouraging his students to not wait until the final moment to do their meditative
assignment, it seems that some still did.
Based on these observations above, other staff varied in their comments. Another staff
mentor shared that he believed his students actually spent time in silence and solitude for each
session because “their answers were from the heart. There were emotions involved not just
surface answers.” Yet another staff mentor shared he felt that his students were not spending this
time alone with God. He commented that a majority of his one-on-one mentoring sessions
involved seeking why those students were not praying before they answered the questions, and
why they were waiting until the final moment on getting the assignment done prior to their small
group session. Still another staff mentor shared that he felt his students were taking seriously
their time in silence and solitude each week based on the fact they were completing the
curriculum assignments.
The mixture of responses from both the staff mentors and students indicate that it is quite
possible that some students and some staff mentors do not completely understand the necessity
of silence and solitude. It would seem beneficial, if at all possible, to be able to measure the
students actually spending time alone with God besides assignments being completed or based

46

on their answers during small group time. Perhaps staff mentors could read deeper into their
answers, seeing if there is any evidence that their writing demonstrates spending genuine time
with God. For example, did those students write specific words or phrases that stood out to them,
followed by what implication this had on their life? Did they draw from the text, which would
give some evidence to spending time with God? Or did they give answers that seemed somewhat
similar each week? The goal is not for the students to demonstrate a deeper understanding, but a
deeper openness to God.70
This can only happen in time spent with God alone.
It is also probable that this is not a quick fix issue. It will merely take time for this style
of curriculum to begin to change the current culture of our students. This is a major paradigm
shift in the way that assignments are completed. Seeing that some of the students who are
spending this time properly indicate that others will see the transformation in their lives not from
the curriculum itself, but from practicing being in the presence of God.
My personal analysis from observing small group sessions presents two additional
concerns. By definition, small groups should consist of between five and thirteen people. Less
than this amount will not allow for diversity, while having more than thirteen creates an
atmosphere where not all can equally share.71
Our staff mentors have between 15-22 students on
their caseload. Their caseload is their small group. While it is good having the same staff mentor
facilitate a small group, then have the same students for their one-on-one peer-to-peer mentoring
sessions – this amount is too high. This was especially true when I noticed that on occasion a
staff mentor might be gone on the day of small group. When this happens, a small group can
consist of upwards of 40 students. For the benefit of the students, it would be better having

70
71
Ibid., 160.

47

another staff that provides support to our various ministries helping to facilitate small groups
than having two caseloads doubled in a single session. If this is not feasible due to the workloads
of our support staff, I would suggest utilizing volunteers with a mentoring heart.
My second observation was that staff mentors were most often unfamiliar with what was
talked about specifically in chapel sessions. The first question of each session in the booklet asks
the student to share what was most important to them from the chapel time. Staff opened up with
this question, but were unable to share themselves personally as they do not normally attend
chapel. In small group sharing, it is best for the leader to share first before opening up for the
others to share.72
It may be best for staff mentors to listen to chapel services; either in person, or
at their convenience since all of our chapel services are available by digital recording.
Our next series will adapt the same format with some very minor modifications to
address some of these issues. Students are allotted specified times for study. However these
study times are confined to certain areas. It would be best to allow for students to get to a place
on campus where they can better enter into God’s presence, rather than the confines of their
dorm room or the library.
Secondly, perhaps students should be prompted to answer how they spent their time alone
with God more than this booklet has asked for. It may be valuable to ask where they spent this
time. Perhaps not only the second question should come out of their time in solitude, but the
entire assignment. Meanwhile, it would be most beneficial for staff mentors to emphasize the
importance of this alone time with God, while encouraging students whom they know are
benefiting from this time to spur the others into God’s presence.
Staff mentors should also share with each other during their weekly caseload meetings
how to read through their student’s material. This, however, must be led with extreme caution.

72
Ibid., 161.

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