I just finished Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.  I thought by the cover that this would be another generic spiritual formation book there’s at least 3 really helpful components to this book that made this a good read for me and why it could be a great resource for you.First, he approaches spiritual formation with a view of diversity and the reality that we all are wired to naturally pursue God in ways consistent with our own makeup.  On the other side of the coin, all of us naturally neglect aspects of experiencing God and growing that are needed for us to become whole people and experience God more fully in our lives and through us.  Mulholland has some helpful content using the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator to illustrate some of this and if you’re familiar with that, this is some good stuff to think about your own spiritual development as well as the development of any that you may serve as a mentor or leader of.Second, there’s some helpful content anchored in the history of the Church that provides a holistic and also flexible paradigm of the spiritual maturing process.  I won’t get into details much but he draws on some helpful resources, some old, some new.  He also provides a very helpful integrated paradigm between personal and social formation.  This is important since many that are drawn to the spiritual formation subculture are in search of a more personalized or private or inward spirituality.  Mulholland provides a pretty healthy and integrated paradigm in my opinion.Third, I think Mulholland provides a helpful way of looking at the Spirit-filled life that is more helpful for long-term discipleship than some other models or explanations I’ve seen.  My ministry is famous for a brief explanation for Spirit-filled living which is pretty helpful, but it lacks some of the context and depth of understanding for long-term and holistic discipleship.  Again, that’s my opinion.  It’s a very helpful start for young Christians, but Mulholland’s explanation integrates an understanding of the spiritual disciplines in a way that shows how important the disciplines are for Spirit filled living, but without reinforcing a works righteousness or performance oriented spirituality.  I liked it and it’s got me thinking about how I would try to communicate the Spirit-filled life in a discipleship setting to a new Christian in a more holistic way that would help lead towards increased life change and transformation.There’s a lot here I liked and enjoyed when I wasn’t expecting it.  I know I’ll come back to this as a resource.  I’ll post a couple reflections on a couple excerpts shortly.

Tagged as: Book Review, identity, leadership