Falling In Love With Faith: Growing In Faith Through Spiritual Practice

Hello Fall! It is the transition into the season where we fall in love with everything pumpkin spice, fall colors and beautiful falling leaves. Summer trips wrap up. Everyone tries to squeeze in the last part of summer during the Labor Day weekend. Once Labor Day passes, it is time to get down to business. The business of getting everyone back on track with work, school and after school activity schedules. Life transitions from fun and sun to regular disciplined routines.

While it may be somewhat easy to get back on track with Back to School and work, there may something a little more challenging to find the rhythm to. For some, there may be a longing for something with deeper meaning that takes more discipline. For others, it may be the desire to adopt something new as they transition into fall. Whether new or old, adopting spiritual practices as a way to grow in faith can be an important addition to the fall season.

“For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to seek and a time to lose.” (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 NRSV)

Faith Under Fire

There may be those who would argue whether there is a necessity to adopting spiritual practices or disciplines, especially Christian spiritual practices. There is the debate between the “religious” and “spiritual”. Spiritual describes those seeking or experiencing a connection with a greater reality. Religious means belonging to a group with specific doctrines or rituals. According to Christopher Schelin, Assistant Professor of Practical and Political Theologies at Starr King School of Ministry, “Spiritual but not religious are independent seekers, many of whom pray, meditate, do yoga and other spiritual practices outside of the confines of a particular tradition.”

“Spiritual describes those seeking or experiencing a connection with a greater reality. Religious means belonging to a group with specific doctrines or rituals.”

Church attendance can be seen as a spiritual practice within the Christian faith. However, the Christian church in the West has seen a decline in church attendance as people are choosing to disconnect from religious institutions. According to a survey from the APA, 51.8% of respondents left their faith due to intellectual reasons or outgrowing their faith. In an already declining market, church attendance suffers an increased decline during the summer months. According to church growth researcher, Thom Rainer, in an article found in The Christian Post, states the typical church experiences a 20% decline in the summer. Carey Nieuwhof, Church Leadership Strategist, states there has been a decline from 34% to 28% over the past 2 years of people who attend church 1-2 times per month.

There are several reasons why people have chosen to leave the faith or limit their engagement in religion and church. As society experiences cultural shifts, people do not feel as obligated to attend church. The guilt factor which once caused people to consistently attend worship services no longer exists. The busyness of life is another reason that complicates faith practices. People have busier schedules with work and family responsibilities. Additionally, as people do better in life, becoming more affluent, they do not see the importance of maintaining faith practices. With the many challenges within the area of faith, for those who desire to make it lifestyle, it requires intentionality and purpose.

Why Is Faith Important?

Before adopting or resuming any faith tradition or practice, it is important to define our why. Why is faith important in general? Why is faith important to us individually or personally? One of the reasons for lack of engagement in faith practices for some people is because they do not see the benefit in it. Therefore it is important to search within to determine the why for adopting this practice.

“To me, finding my faith, right now where I’m at, is putting all of my trust in something bigger than myself and living for something bigger than myself and trying to do that through service.” (Noor Tagouri, Muslim Storyteller)

Regardless of why people have chosen to take a break or previously have walked away from the faith, it is never too late to return to the faith. Fall is a perfect time to return or incorporate faith into the season. As we are adopting and adjusting to new schedules and routines, incorporating spiritual disciplines or practices is a great start to the faith journey.

What is a Spiritual Practice?

The definition of a spiritual practice or spiritual discipline is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual development. The goal is to move as an individual towards the goal of growing in faith. Faith being, in the belief, trust and loyalty to God as Source and in relationship with Jesus Christ.

Types of Spiritual Practice

Many of us have been introduced to various spiritual practices if we have been raised in a faith tradition. Spiritual practices or disciplines can be neglected or disregarded when we have been taught how to do things but fail to embrace the why. For some, spiritual practice or disciplines have seemed more like a punishment rather than something to be embraced as benefit for our spiritual, emotional and mental well-being. For others, spiritual practices or disciplines may be completely new. Regardless of your entry point, there are a host of different practices to consider:

Bible Study and Reading: Dedicating time to reading and meditating on scriptures and other spiritual material such as devotionals.
Prayer: Setting aside time to communicate with God.
Fasting: Being intentional to give up something with the goal of humbling oneself and drawing closer to God. Examples of fasts could be from food, television or social media.
Journaling: Spending time recording your thoughts, prayers requests and answers, and other insights revealed along the faith journey.
Fellowship: Spending time with others who share your faith for discipleship, encouragement, support and accountability.
Service: Experiencing God through serving and blessing others.

As you can see there are many ways to adopt and practice spiritual disciplines. It is a practice that requires discipline. The more intentionality we put towards participating and learning, the more we will grow in our faith and practice. Ultimately, the goal is to grow in faith and build a healthy, fruitful relationship with God.

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