Personal Devotions
PERSONAL DEVOTIONS
Purpose: To cultivate personal spiritual vitality that can motivate, empower, and sustain evangelism and social ministry.
Why: Holistic ministry begins as individual Christians experience the transforming grace of Christ and submit their whole lives to God (2 Cor. 8:5). As we are filled with the love and power of God's Spirit, we can become God's instruments for transformation in the lives of others.
What:
- The discipline of personal devotions is essential to spiritual growth and personal wholeness. In the context of the church's missional journey, personal devotions provide an opportunity for individuals to focus on areas related to holistic ministry that touch on your own life - your relationship with God, relationship with others, lifestyle, and personal calling.
- Personal devotions has three components: study, prayer, and journaling.
- How often you engage in these practices is up to each person. Ministry Vision Team members should commit to spending time at least two days per week on these activities. Team members can intentionally help to hold one another accountable to this discipline.
Personal Preparaton For Ministry Action: P.R.A.Y.E.R.
H.O.L.I.S.T.I.C. Devotional Guides
Study
- Spend time studying a passage of Scripture, or read through a devotional that centers on an aspect of Christian mission. Don't just read for information, but meditatively and prayerfully. It is often helpful to agree with a friend to read the same material together.
- Keep three questions in mind as you read:
- How does this help me understand God's character and work in the world?
- What does this say about my purpose in life, or about what it means to follow Jesus?
- Are there any specific actions or changes that God is calling me to in response?
Theological Principles For Ministry
Holistic Ministry Reading List
Bible study resources
Prayer
- Making time for prayer acknowledges that in the end, meaningful ministry is accomplished not by our busy activities but by the grace and power of God.
- Pray about everything (Phil. 4:6). Whatever you are feeling about your own and your church's holistic ministry journey - afraid, excited, angry, discouraged, encouraged, awed, bored, overwhelmed, anxious, joyful, weary - tell it to God.
- Balance prayer for yourself with prayer for the Ministry Vision Team, your congregation and the community.
- Pray over items that represent the needs and assets of the community - newspaper articles, letters to the editor, photographs, school yearbooks, etc.
- Pray with expectancy - God wants to answer your prayers (Luke 11:13)!
Journal
- A journal can help you to process new ideas and experiences, to explore questions and doubts, and to capture insights and resolutions. A journal is also a record of your faith journey that allows you to look back with gratitude at how far God has brought you.
- It is helpful to provide each Ministry Vision Team member an inexpensive blank notebook to use as a journal.
- Journal entries can include:
- reflections on field experiences and team meeting discussions;
- commentary on Bible passages or other material that you have studied;
- questions and concerns about your church's missional steps;
- your faith journey as it relates to holistic ministry;
- your sense of calling and commitment;
- your dialogue with God about mission.
- Journaling comes more naturally to some than to others. Some people prefer to keep an oral journal by talking into a tape recorder.
- Journals are private, but you may want to share selections with other Ministry Vision Team members if you think your reflections would benefit the group.
H.O.L.I.S.T.I.C. Devotional Guides: Journal Jottings
