"America has a spiritual depth problem partly because the faith community does not have a robust definition of its spiritual goals." David Kinnaman, latest Barna report.
Hot off the presses is Barna's new poll on spirituality. This is a hot topic for me because we as a church staff have been discussingspiritual maturity and talking about how to nurture it. It's a tricky topic.
What do we mean when we use the term? Do we mean Biblical Literacy? Certainly understanding the Bible assists our spiritual maturity but does it define it? Can one be less Biblically literacy but still very mature? [You can test yourself here. Incidentally, the highest my students scored on the 100 question test was 82!] Does Biblical literacy equate to theological understanding? What about the historic perspective? Three Church History classes sure opened my eyes to areas where I lacked understanding.
And what about beyond knowledge? What portion of spiritual maturity is defined by simply "doing the stuff"? If so, which stuff is the "mature" stuff? Is the ability to lead someone to salvation more important than being an prayer intercessor? If you understand that you should share and serve, is that enough to equal being spiritually mature?
I'm certain that the debate can go on and on. Here are some of the things Barna discovered:
1. Most Christians equate spiritual maturity with following the rules.
2. Most Christians are not sure what their church expects in terms of spiritual maturity.
3. Most Christians offer one-dimensional views of personal spiritual maturity.
You can read the full article here.
I think that I will keep musing on this topic this week. I'd love to hear from you if you have an opinion, especially on the following question:
How does Living Water define a “healthy, spiritually mature" follower of Jesus?