Telling Our Story: Spiritual Formation Committee
Please note that this blog post was shared in 2020. The rosters of the committees have (likely) changed since this was published, but the goals of each committee remain!
There’s a running joke among the City Church staff that when you ask Harrison, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, under which Leadership Committee a team a task or event should fall that he will always say, “Well, it’s really Spiritual Formation.”
While that can’t always be true in a day-to-day, actually-getting-things-done sense, it’s never not true when you think about the church broadly.
Pretty much everything that happens at City Church does come down to—or at least touches on—spiritual formation. When the staff or leadership plans an event, a Bible study, or a devotional, we work hard to ask and answer the question of how it contributes to the spiritual formation of the congregation—how does it help our church family grow closer to Christ and help them be more like him? We find support for this approach all over the Bible. For example, Ephesians 4:15-16 states, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Or look at 2 Peter 3:18 which says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
But how does that play out practically in the life of City Church?
That’s where the Spiritual Formation Committee comes in. While the idea of spiritual formation is broad, Meg Haden, our Director of Women’s Ministry and the chair of the Spiritual Committee, nails it down when she says, “The Spiritual Formation Committee envisions, implements, and supports City Church programming to foster growth in Christ-likeness that we would love God and others with head, heart, and body.” The Committee does so by focusing in on three areas: Men’s and Women’s Ministry; Nursery and Children’s Ministry; and Worship.
Anne-Stewart Freeman, a long-time member of the Women’s Retreat Team and a current member of the Spiritual Formation Committee helps explain these focus areas well. She says, “…what we choose to focus on and the ways we grow together matter. That’s where the work of the Spiritual Formation Committee comes in—we focus on improving what we already have in place in the way of spiritual formation…while also looking for new ways to encourage our church body and encourage spiritual growth and flourishing.”
Joining Meg and Anne-Stewart in this work are Stefan Kling, Harrison Ford, Jim Pulizzi, Jennifer Murphy, Adam Bailey, Brianne Pryor, and Liz Thomson—a group that includes staff, leadership, and volunteers who are deeply invested in life at City Church.
As Haden points out, the work of the Spiritual Formation Committee is deeply relational. She states, “At City Church, our spiritual growth is often facilitated through relationship and connection. We hope that all our growth and understanding of God's grace leads us to deeper love for one another, love for the world, and willingness to follow God in all of life.”
It’s the relational, connection-based nature of spiritual formation, however, that presents some challenges for the Committee in the time of Covid. However, Haden shares that the Spiritual Committee hopes to “be open to the challenges and changes posed by the coronavirus and respond with grace, creativity, and thoughtfulness.” In the coming months, they are working towards offering “a variety of environments, resources, and opportunities for on-going faith formation and spiritual growth activities,” says Haden.
Doing so, adds Freeman, is all about the team tuning into the City Church family’s varied and valid needs right now. She says, “While it may be not be possible to meet each person’s specific need or circumstance all the time, I hope we will continue to keep the pulse on what our church needs and envision new ways to include and encourage those who might feel lonely, disengaged, or spiritually drained. I also hope that everything we do will maintain a kingdom focus. Our spiritual growth is not just for us, but also for the world around us. The more we are formed into the image of Christ, the more we can share His love with our neighbors.”
For more information on the Spiritual Formation Committee, please contact Meg Haden at (meg@citychurchrva.com).