We have reached the end of our series on stages of faith, this week talking about the final stage, union, with the Promised Land as a picture of life in God on God’s terms. In this episode, Ruth emphasizes that God is not in a hurry: the transformation that happens on the journey and the presence and goodness of God matter more than arriving, as seen in wilderness lessons like Sabbath, manna, instruction, sin, confession, and forgiveness. Understanding stages helps individuals welcome awareness, endure dark nights without panicking, and take next steps; it also helps communities support people appropriately, diagnose gaps in ministry offerings, and lead invitationally without coercion.  Ruth ends the episode with another reading of Teilhard de Chardin’s “Patient Trust,” inviting us to view this poem through a new lens in light of all we’ve learned about the stages of faith.

In this season, titled Journeying Through Stages of Faith in the Family of God, we will be exploring the stages of faith as a model for our own growth and our ability to support our communities in their growth. Looking through the lens of faith and human development, as well as biblical stories, Ruth will share four distinct stages of faith and provide listeners with support for themselves as well as thoughts on how leaders can more wisely resource individuals and communities as they navigate these different stages of the journey.

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Listen to other episodes from Season 30 Access past podcast seasons

Mentioned in this episode:

• Leading a Transforming Community by Ruth Haley Barton
• Invitation to a Journey by Robert Mulholland
•  The Critical Journey by Janet Hagberg and Robert Guelich
• The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation by Fr. Thomas Keating
• Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Question for Meaning by James Fowler

Music Credit:

• Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist
• Dusk from Music in Solitude

We’re on Substack! On the Journey with the Transforming Center is our home for “reflection, conversation, and connection with our transforming community.”  It includes thoughtful reflections from Ruth Haley Barton and the Transforming Center team, as well as alumni and friends of the Transforming Center, occasional special video teachings and guided practices, and space to interact with our content and respond with how God is working in your life through the posts. This is also where you find all of our podcast patron content! There are free and paid tiers. We’d love for you to join us over on Substack.

Support the podcast!  This season on Substack,we will do more work naming and describing each of the stages that we talk about, talking about what’s needed during those stages, and providing a couple of key questions that you can think about as a community, as it has to do with that particular stage of faith. Become a paid member of Substack today to receive these practices and so much more!

The Transforming Center board and staff have been prayerfully discerning significant questions about our ministry’s future. We have been asking what faithfulness requires in this season, whether our current organizational model is sustainable, and how the work of strengthening the souls of pastors and leaders and the congregations and organizations they serve might best be carried forward. If you’d like to know more about this pivotal season for the Transforming Center please visit our website https://transformingcenter.org/a-pivotal-moment/.

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