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JEFF SCOGGINSJefl Scoggins, BA, is pastor of the Cambridge,Christ Our Righteousness, and Hinckleychurches in Minnesota, United States.

spiritual disciplineWaki ng up toill you be attending thepastors' retreat?" my con-ference president at thattime, Bill Miller, inquired."l didn't know I had a choice,"I answered. I was new to full-timepastoring, and was still learning theexpectations not only of a three-church district but also of theconference."This is not lil

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SCocGrxsrequires that we put forth some kindof effort toward being with Jesus ina way that He will be able to speakwith us, and we will be able to listen.An athlete, by practicing dis-cipline, learns to perform better.Even so the Christian, by practlc-ing spiritual discipline, learns tolive with God better. The level ofintimacy we will find with God isdirectly proportional to the levelof effort we put into spiritual disci-pline. Assuming balance, the moreeffort -the more reward.

"lntelligent action," says DallasWillard, "is the secret to spirituaigrowth"2It seems to me, in my admittedlylimited perspective, that only inthe past few decades has spiritualdiscipline been rediscovered as thepath that leads to the with-Godlife. Richard Foster, founder of thespiritual formation movement Ren-

ova16, says that lntentional spiritualformation is only now beginning tomake its way into the seminariesresponsible for training pastors.l'm currently enrolled in a dis-tance learning master's prooram forpastoral ministry in which a singleoptional spiritual formation class isoffered. Why is that, when spiritualformation itself is not optional?Everyone is constantly being spiritu-ally formed one way or another.lf, in fact, a personal relationshipwith Jesus Christ is ground zero for

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success in pastoral ministry why arewe not more intentional about train-ing pastors in spiritual formation?Richard Foster writes,The apostle Paul says, "hewho sows to his own flesh will

from the flesh reap corruption;but he who sows to the Spiritwill from the Spirit reap eter-nal life" (Galatians 6:8). Paul'sanalogy is instructive. A farmeris helpless to grow grain; allhe can do is provide the nght

conditions for the growing ofgrain. He cultivates the ground,he plants the seed, he watersthe plants, and then the naturalforces of the earth take overand up comes the grain. This isthe way it is with the spiritualdisciplines-they are a way ofsowing to the Spirit. The disci-plines are God's way of gettingus into the ground; they put uswhere He can worl< within usand transform us. By themselvesthe spiritual disciplines can donothing; they can only get us tothe place where something canbe done. They are God's meansof grace.3Thanks to a small, optionalretreat of silence, which introducedme to one form of spiritual disci-pline, now I am intent on Lrainingmyself, however I can find to do it.

And I have been finding a growingwealth of information Bvailable forthose seeking such training.Spiritual discipline, I am discov-ering, is lil

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Many who are experienced inthe spiritual disciplines have learnedthat one of the most powerful intro-ductions to the disciplines is silenceand solitude. Actually silence andsolitude can easily be separatedinto two different disciplines, butfor space's sake, I will mention themtogether.For someone wanting to begina new effort in deepening theirrelationship with Jesus, a retreato{ silence in solitude is one ofthe best ways to embarl

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scocGlxsreaches a certain poini in their spirr-tual formation, fasting should thenbegin. Fasting is the discipline of themore mature disciple. When other,more tame disciplines are in place,then fasting becomes a necessarynext step, and it will have far reach-ing results for the splritual life,The discipline of servicelhe drscrplrne of seTVrce rs, rnpart, a rampage against our ownpride. Of course, we cannot hope togain humility by actively seeking itbecause the moment we believe wehave succeeded, we become proudof our humility. Nevertheless, whenwe seTVe out of the joy to be found

in service, the end result is humility.Why? Because in serving we cannotbe in charge, Richard Foster, again:"the spiritual authority of Jesus is anauthority no1 found in a position or atitle, but in a towel."BThe discipline ofcelebrationThe discipline of celebration, Ithinl