Navigating the Journey
This program has been designed to serve as a guide for those choosing to cultivate virtues of Christian living in their everyday lives. Each virtue offers flexible resources, providing a variety of activities for individual and/or group use. You are encouraged to adapt and arrange the growth activities in ways that work best for you.
Each virtue includes the following components:
♦ a description of the virtue
♦ related biblical references
♦ historical context
♦ a theological framework
♦ a variety of growth activities for individual and group use
♦ prayers
♦ additional resources for further investigation
The growth process for cultivating a virtue involves three key phases that often will overlap or dovetail as we develop habitual patterns of thinking, choosing, acting, and reflecting:
♦ Awareness: The process of gaining and clarifying knowledge about a virtue.
♦ Belief: The process of exploring one’s personal opinions, adapting them, and acquiring new perspectives of understanding for a given virtue.
♦ Commitment: The process of choosing a strategy or making a plan to test our understanding by putting the virtue into daily practice.
The Activities Section at the end of each virtue is designed to assist you with each of these three phases.
The educational dimension of the process emerges as participants reflect on the experiences of practicing the virtue. Often this will result in a new or expanded awareness and the cycle begins again at a deeper level. The more we practice and reflect upon our practice, the more likely that the virtue will become a habit. The deeper the habit, the more transparent we become in our service to others, and the love of God shines through us—rather than the reflection of our personal agendas—onto other people in the name of Christ.
It often takes a lot of slow to grow. As you work through these virtues, be patient with yourself and others. Lasting growth usually happens in smaller steps rather than by leaps and bounds. Also helpful is the support of a spiritual friend or group to whom you can be accountable with your commitment to the process of a healthy lifestyle change.
The time one commits to the exploration and practice of this material will be highly individual. One person may want to work on a portion of a particular virtue, and may choose to work on more of it at a later time. Another person may want to work completely through each of the virtues before going to another one. No matter what plan you choose, give yourself plenty of time with the material and the exercises. The goal is to grow faithfully in a daily practice rather than to complete a chapter or finish the entire program within any given time frame. Once a virtue is cultivated, we as disciples can never over-practice it along our Christian journey.