Martine Audéoud, Ph.D. – Bakke Graduate University (www.bgu.edu)
Martine.audeoud@bgu.edu
Nita Kotiuga, DTL – Bakke Graduate University
Nita.kotiuga@bgu.edu
Martine Audéoud served over 30 years in Africa and Haiti. She has relocated to France and serves now as BGU's Associate Academic Dean. Her passion is to serve global Christian leaders to become increasingly empowered transformational leaders for Christ’s kingdom, serving Him creatively and joyfully. She is an ordained pastor and has served with the Mennonite Missions Network for many years.
Nita Kotiuga started her ministry and training experience with her involvement with
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) She worked with IVCF at two colleges and at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada for about six years. She completed her training as a Spiritual Director with the Ignatian Spirituality Center in Montreal and completed her doctoral degree with BGU. She is a pastor at Westview Bible Church in Montreal.
Ignatian Spirituality has crossed time and geographical boundaries. In particular, Ignatius’ Exercises produced men[1] who, through developing a very personal relationship with God, were also able to:
The first part of this article reviews the main characteristics of the Ignatian Exercises and seeks to demonstrate how they address the following two perspectives on Leadership:
The second part of this article represents an analysis of a practical pilot study. An Ignatian-based devotional guide is presented that aims at supporting Christian leaders working cross-culturally. A small pilot experience done with two groups of graduate-level Christian leaders in two different cross-cultural experiences who have used this Ignatian-based devotional guide will be examined. This study seeks to affirm that Ignatian spirituality can prove to be a vital element of the equipment of cross-cultural Christian leaders and to make recommendations for further use of Ignatian spirituality in training cross-cultural leaders.
Ignatian Spirituality has crossed time, Catholic, Protestant, and geographical boundaries. In particular, Ignatius’ Exercises produced men[2] who, through developing a very personal relationship with God, were also able to:
The first part of this article reviews the main characteristics of the Ignatian Exercises and seeks to demonstrate how they address calling-based Leadership and reflective leadership within a cross-cultural perspective[3].
The second part of this article summarizes the reflection on a practical pilot study. An Ignatian-based devotional guide will be presented that aims at supporting Christian leaders working cross-culturally. Then a small pilot experience done with two groups of Christian leaders in two different cross-cultural experiences who have used this Ignatian-based devotional guide will be studied. Our hope is to affirm that Ignatian spirituality can prove to be a vital element of the equipment of cross-cultural Christian leaders and to make recommendations for further use of Ignatian spirituality in training cross-cultural leaders.
The Exercises are a process developed by Ignatius of Loyola some 450 years ago to create disciples who would be willing to go anywhere, to serve and develop disciples who love God, and seek the betterment of humanity to follow Christ’s example. As Stanley wrote, “St. Ignatius repeatedly directs attention to the good
news value of the invitation to follow Jesus on his journey through this world to the Cross, as the unique way to salvation” (Stanley 1984: 30).
Today, the Exercises equip the Christian to effectively influence in public, private, profit or not-for-profit organizations affecting communities, cities, and countries. Within a global and transcultural world and in the image of a countercultural Christ, we are invited “to risk joining him in a countercultural movement where God is Abba and disciples are brothers and sisters who forgive debts and share their daily bread” (Modras 2004: 293). A powerful example is the current Pope, a Jesuit who demonstrated by his words and actions that the five elements of Christ-Centered Civic Renewal (White and Spees 2017), city, church, spirituality, leadership, development, are key to changing our world.
These are special days prior to the beginning of the Exercises preparing the directee-leader (the leader who is doing the Exercises) for the Exercises. The goal of these days is to ensure that we are fully assured of God’s love for us since God’s love is not limited by our free will. This love is intimate and continually communicative, wooing us toward a God who calls us to a life of meaning. As love is an intrinsic (for lack of a better word) characteristic of our missional God, it is so important that the directee-leader becomes secure, fully immersed, baptized into God’s fullness of love, as David Bosch expounded so well: “It is missio Dei. It is trinitarian. It is mediating the love of God the Father who is the Parent of all people,
whoever and wherever they may be” (Bosch 1991: 493-494).
The First Week of the Exercises focuses on reflecting on sin: our personal sin, communal sin, and global sin. We sin as individuals by choosing to act or not act when we are called to respond in any given situation. We also live in communities where people may only care for themselves and may not seek the greater good of the cities, provinces, states, or countries within which they dwell. We are also a part of a country that may choose the security of its citizens over the welfare of the whole world, or even the security of a particular group over the welfare of another group of its citizens. This is sinful. How will the Christian leader respond?
The directee-leader also learns how to use the Examen as a life-long skill. The
Examen has five points to it: (1) to give thanks to God for all the goodness received; (2) to know and then get rid of our sins; (3) to examine our soul for thoughts, words, and deeds over the day; (4) to ask God for forgiveness; (5) to repent and turn away from such sins (Puhl 1951: 23).
Reflective Leadership is expressed within the First Week Exercises when the directee-leader takes the time to reflect on what his or her experience was with the Scriptures given for reflection. Within the Examen, the directee-leader considers how events of the day have been filled with the presence of God and which ones felt empty of the presence of God. As meaningful reflection is given to the various moments of the day and to the thoughts, words, and actions of the day, the directeeleader can then partner with God first, and then with others to invite God into the places of work, worship, or home, thus giving new meaning to them, embedded in the triune expression of God’s love. This reflection is crucial for the directee-leader in a transcultural context as it will help him/her to reframe experiences in the light of divine love that will transcend specific contextual limitations.
The purpose of the Second Week is for the directee-leader to encounter the humanity of Jesus. The focus is on how Jesus lived on earth as a human being who was divinely created, and on how he listened and obeyed God. Contemplations and meditations begin with the Annunciation and end just before the Last Supper.
Time is spent on the Two Standards which is an expression of where we find our identity: Jesus’ standard or the world’s standard. It compels the directee-leader to examine the origins of his or her values. Directee-leaders will look at the standards by which they live, in the light of God’s standards. They will enter into conversation [4] with biblical characters, but also with representatives of the cultures from whom they are learning. Taking the time to reflect on a countercultural Christ, “opening our eyes to new horizons of grace… allows us to extend our hands to people we once dismissed as outsiders and discover in them, perhaps to our wonderment, kindred spirits.” (Modras 2004: 306).
Calling-Based Leadership is the model we see in Christ in the Second Week
Exercises. As the directee-leader encounters Jesus through the contemplations, he or she will reflect on his or her own “unique role as a called instrument of Christ’s transforming work in and above world cultures.”[5] He or she will identify with a character and may even become a character in the story while yet still retaining their own personhood.
During this Week, the directee-leader enters into the Passion and the Crucifixion of Christ. It is crucial that the directee-leader be able to sit with Christ, be with him in his suffering and crucifixion, thus anchoring their identity in Christ, which will move them to engage within the situation. This ability will later become a blessing to those who are suffering, need help, compassion, and the presence of someone who will not turn away from them. The directee-leader reflects deeply on what God has done to remedy the consequences of our sin through Christ’s death. As a consequence of their commitment to Christ, there will be suffering and persecution within an extremely wide variety of contexts and situations. As stated in a Lausanne
Occasional Paper, “suffering and persecution are inevitable for those who follow the
Lord Jesus. They can bring blessing in terms of sanctification, and sometimes open the way for revival.”[6]
By not withholding the gift that God has given, the leader gives of himself or herself and benefits all. Directee-leaders are called to give their best for others and seek replenishment from God instead of turning to others for comfort or even walking away from God.
A key contemplation in the Fourth Week is the Contemplation to Attain Love
(Tetlow 2000: 172). Two key points here are that love is action, and that love works itself out in mutual sharing. The directee-leaders see God, who created and redeemed all of humanity, calling them to acknowledge that all the beauty in the world mirrors His beauty. This contemplation further invites them to totally surrender to Christ to become free from and free for (Lowney 2013: 111). When they are free from the ties that hinder them from loving wholeheartedly, then they are free to love freely, generously, and as completely as they can.
Directee-leaders now live from the Resurrection and are called to live for Him. It means that they focus on what needs to be done, who needs to be cared for, spoken for, defended, blessed, etc. They are now pursuing shalom because they seek to reconcile others with God and this world.
Like Jesus, who never squandered an opportunity, Ignatian spirituality teaches to seize opportunities to give of oneself. It serves as a basis to calling-based and reflective leadership by providing a solid foundation and a solid basis for leaders to radiate shalom, especially when they work cross-culturally.
It now behooves us to reflect on some of the non-negotiable aspects of the spirituality exercised by a missional leader. The purpose of developing one’s spirituality, as a leader, is not only to enhance one’s own quality of relationship with
God. Yes, a leader’s scope of influence depends indeed on the leader’s intimacy with God and ability to hear God’s voice. However, while in this posture, the leader will not live in a bubble nor be disconnected from the outside reality, and especially not disconnected from what Noble refers as the other (Noble 2018) that they were called to (Ibid.: 181).
The other is not a kind of problem to be overcome in mission, but a constant reminder of all the good that God has done and of the need to tread carefully with the other because she or he bears the image of God. When the other draws near, God draws near to them, and we are on holy ground (Ibid.: 177).
Every single encounter with the other is a missional event where God’s presence needs to be acknowledged. The missional leader will thus be open to
God’s movement through the other to increase their understanding of God. Thus, God himself reveals himself through the other and leaders need to reflect on what they are learning about God through that other, what they are learning about themselves, what they are learning about their mission, what they are learning about the context in which the other is encountered and where their mission is exercised.
For that to happen more thoroughly and more effectively, the silence and the structure of the Ignatian Exercises can prove a helpful way to enhance one’s understanding. This outflow of the development of one’s understanding of how Christ dealt with the other in his context and will certainly encourage the missional leader to acknowledge and validate the context of the other. This is why it is so important for leaders to reflect on their spirituality within the context of their missional action.
Modras (Modras 2004: 306) emphasizes this aspect of the importance of the other in what he calls Ignatian humanism: “Opening our eyes to new horizons of grace, it allows us to extend our hands to people we once dismissed as outsiders and discover in them, perhaps to our wonderment, kindred spirits.” Grace will draw the leader to develop a counter-cultural step towards the other in “new ways of thinking and living” (Kraybill 2018: 19) As a consequence, in Kraybill’s steps, the leader will need to “ask why things are the way they are” (Ibid.: 20) while reflecting on how culture shaped Christ’s life and message as well. Therefore, the spiritual leader
needs to take time to reflect on their personal worldview and that of the other encountered. The following question needs to be wrestled with: What does a loving God mean for me in my cultural make-up and within my worldview? What does the same question mean in the other’s cultural make-up and within his or her worldview? How can the answers to these questions be reconciled? How did Jesus Christ reconcile the answers to these questions?
Part of the answer is found in Noble’s analysis of Bevans and Schroeder’s in their book Constants in Context (Noble 2018: 65). Noble shows how both authors “argue that mission has two major tasks at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It must be dialogical and it must be prophetic” (Ibid). As such, missional leadership involves emulating a missional God who not only “is”, but “comes” to the world with the logos, the Word. By and through incarnation and inhabitation, Christ has experienced in full how to “serve and to give his life” (Mark 10:42-45). Likewise, God’s missional leaders are called to develop an incarnational spirituality that spells out to them how to connect most intimately with the other as a way of life and of communication. The spirit of servant leadership that leaders are so much encouraged to develop through the power of the Holy Spirit will teach them (John 14:26). This teaching will most often take place through the other in the measure as the missional leader “is being genuinely teachable.” (Bosch 2011: 647). As part of this teaching of the Holy Spirit, the missional leader can find release of control and trust in God, the other, and the will to become vulnerable – even unto death. (Araujo, Lederleinter, and Mischke 2019: 322). Time spent in silence listening with our heart (Mischke 2015: 319)not only to God’s Word in periods of silence, prayer, and Scripture reading, but also to the context and culture that the missional leader is called to will definitely bring more understanding, but also more trust and more honor in relationships. That kind of listening will become a catalyst for mission (Ibid.: 320).
Encounter with God, with the other, and with context and culture through the power of the Holy Spirit are, therefore, key ingredients of a missional leader’s fruitful spirituality. Before arriving to the analysis of our case study, some specific elements of spirituality in African and Asian contexts will be very briefly reviewed.
Perspectives on Ignatian Spirituality in an African context:
Since several African people participated in the pilot experiences, some reflections on the characteristics of spirituality in an African context are needed.
These cultures tend to be more community-oriented; families fulfill many needs, including the need for community because families are so large. “Faith and spirituality are usually far barely individual. Rather, they are an expression of communal beliefs and experience. They also tend to be informal and spontaneous—not easily packaged into hour-long therapy-style sessions” (Matsaneng 2010: 54). Chatting with members of a large family allows for an individual to learn from various interactions. “Inevitably, the family will get to know the story either from the director or directee—in most cases from the director (Ibid). And Matsaneng continues: “It is a widespread feeling among many African peoples that human beings should not—or can not— approach God alone or directly but must do so through the mediation of special people or other beings” (Ibid.: 56) – in this case, the director.
Not only do African people thrive in communal settings. Those who are extraverted also benefit from processing life with more than one person. For such persons, group spiritual direction in a small group context, with everyone having time to share what they experienced during the week, is a viable option.
Within a cross-cultural context, one must be aware of the religious and general culture of the other person. Worldviews characterized by Shame or Honor, Fear or Power, Guilt or Innocence will affect the directee/director’s relationships as well.
Asian culture is so diverse as well that “spiritual directors should see each person’s uniqueness “like no other” and approach the directee with sympathy, empathy, and “interpathy,” which allows spiritual directors to have “a progressively deeper experience of psychological-spiritual bonding with people who come in all their uniqueness” (Lee 2008: 194). The uniqueness of specific Asian cultures was affirmed by Cornish (Cornish: 2016) in her research. She demonstrated the need for developing a constructive narrative theological approach to the Spiritual Exercises that would help the directees do connect more powerfully to their own stories (Ibid.:
252. See also p. 272). She states further:
A practical theology of reflexive praxis in relation to vulnerable migrants in and from Asia would be incarnational, starting from complex, plural and multidimensional experience. It would be holistic, considering motivations, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values and practices, embracing the transcendent dimension of experience. It would be dialogical, placing faith sources in conversation with experience and with one another. It would place the experiences of different groups in conversation with one another and would explore the interaction of different dimensions of experience. Finally, it would be transformative, seeking more faithful practice that transforms realities and faith traditions (Ibid.: 264).
An older, but still current, analysis regarding spirituality in Asia is found in Jean Danielou’s review (Danielou 1962: 40): “Asia is like an immense monastery, merely waiting to put its aspirations at the service of the true God.” He then reflects on how
“The Hindus are striving towards the contemplation of this formless God” (Ibid. :40-
41). People groups and religious contexts in that region are very prone to spiritual reflections and ascetism, with a detachment from material and symbolistic elements that can be a difficult time to fathom for outsiders. For such people groups, the Spiritual Exercises prove a powerful and superior way to attain more knowledge of and intimacy with God.
Much more could be discussed on the need for contextualized approaches of
Ignatian spirituality to empower more directee-leaders more powerfully. The need for “leaders requires ongoing formation for self-awareness and holistic reflexivity – and training in critical thinking and facilitating corporate reflexive practices” (Cornish 2016:
290).
Bakke Graduate University requires each graduate and post-graduate student to participate in at least one urban immersion. Participants come from all over the globe for eight to ten days to have a peek at what God is doing in one specific city to bring about His shalom. Thus, beside presentations from recognized leaders, participants also go and visit businesses, both for-profit and non-profit organizations, to gain another understanding of how God is at work in these cities. These past twelve months, two groups of cross-cultural leaders met in two very different cities: Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Pittsburgh (USA). In previous city immersions, group devotional times were organized. However, in these last two immersions, Dr. Kotiuga, BGU’s Director of Spiritual Formation, created a devotional booklet based on Ignatian spirituality approaches[7]. Through a devotional guide, each day, she presented a biblical selection and invited participants to respond to three questions as they are journaling and then sharing their thoughts: (1) What is one part of the reading which stood out to you for yourself? (2) How do you feel about it? (3) How would you like to respond to what God is saying to you? This approach leads participants to grapple with the Biblical text itself and to draw strength and focus from God’s word while reflecting on their own emotions and possible responses. The biblical texts chosen were quite diverse in genre, focus, time and context: prayers, stories of Christ’s life, parables, etc. Then in the evenings, the Examen-focused questions led the participants to reflect on and seek answers to the following questions:
A survey was sent to these two groups of leaders to answer the following four questions to assess in what ways participants felt that the guide helped them to enter their cross-cultural day with a Christ-centered focus.
Although the survey was sent out weeks after the immersion experience, 38% of the immersion participants responded. 68% of the respondents wrote that the guide helped them to reflect on their God-given call on their lives. A very encouraging participant quote demonstrates the interaction of reflection and calling:
I began making connections with my calling and the process God was taking me through. Reinforced how my relationship with Jesus is the most important in my walk into my full purpose. I could feel how much He loved and cared for me through the reading of the Word. This made me want to learn more about my calling and understand it in terms of the Kingdom of God.
Other participants were less specific, and three didn’t think that the guide helped them in their reflections on their calling, without giving more specific reasons. From an instructor’s perspective, this might be explained by the lack of specific focus in the guide on the need to reflect on one’s calling.
The second question about worldview assessment through this devotional meditation got much more attention from the participants. Most students concurred that the reflection helped them to reframe their worldviews within a broader perspective. One participant wrote: “As I read the daily Scriptures, the Holy Spirit gave me revelation of the specific meaning and application of the Scriptures into my life. For example, Luke 19:18-34 allowed me to re-articulate my view about poverty alleviation in the specific contexts where God has positioned me.” They felt that they could reshape their worldviews with a stronger biblical basis with the help of these reflections. “The devotional guide supported me in understanding what my view was in various areas and then I could think of that viewpoint in a larger context. I could rearticulate the viewpoint using scripture to explain my thinking.” On the other hand, a student mentioned the need to be briefed beforehand about the development of these devotionals.
The third question aimed at finding out if the devotional helped participants in facing their new cultural environment more meaningfully. Most participants reflected generally on the impact of the devotional guide on their lives. “I personally had never approached scripture reading in this manner. Therefore, I feel like the devotional opened up a new avenue for me to experience God's word to me in a fresh way. The Scriptures can truly become alive through Ignatian (spirituality).” Participants confirmed over again that the devotional made the Scriptures come alive in new ways, as God was “revealing His purpose for us in that second/minute and in the further future.”
And when asked if this devotional should be used in other immersion experiences, an overwhelming ‘yes’ was offered: “It is the best way to begin the day and to get the right perspective that God wants us to maintain during the day...” or
“The exercises like the contemplation activity allowed for stretching of certain skill sets something underused. Critical and creative thinking was required for the exercises. Those skills always need to be sharpened, and this is a great structured approach in getting it done.” Finally, a participant recommended that this devotional guide be contextualized to reflect the majority world worldview.
These comments were also accompanied by some excellent suggestions that were communicated in this set of answers as well as in the last one. There were recommendations to give more time to do these devotions, to prepare the framework of these devotions ahead of time as well as adding “variety in the questions and more time. Perhaps having the students do a devotional on their own time and allow for them to share responses during discussion. I felt it could have been more interactive.
I would have personally enjoyed hearing some of the responses from my peers.”
When leaders faced with the challenges of their responsibilities and decisionmaking processes, Ignatian Spiritual Exercises provide them with a framework that will help them develop reflectivity within their calling. He or she must desire to hear from God no matter what is happening around. Whether in a meeting where the discussion becomes heated or facing an unforeseen financial crisis, the ability to hear God will enable the leader to bring in God’s perspective, calm, and peace. It will provide insights to defuse such situations and step back. A reflective leader will want to listen with one ear to the person talking and with one ear to God for discernment insight (Sbanotto, Gingrich, and Gingrich 2016: 217). Then, at the end of the day, the leader is invited to use the Examen to revisit with God the events of the day so that he/she can draw closer to God. Thus, God’s shalom will fill the workplace while the leader will grow into leading with increasing congruence with God’s calling on his/her life and leadership.
As we reflect on these two experiences of the use of Ignatian spirituality, we can make a few recommendations for future uses. First, it would be necessary for each participating leader to identify their specific inclinations from a cultural perspective and from a personal perspective. The use of the Ignatian Exercises should thus be discussed with the director and adjusted to the personal needs of the directee.
Second, group debriefing might be needed for some leaders, but perhaps not for all. Such communal debrief would actually help create a shared story that would be greater than the individual reflections put side by side. During the two experiments described here above, people worked individually with either a contemplation or a meditation and did not debrief afterwards. Group debriefing may be considered for future opportunities. Dipple asked so appropriately whether the need for a primary individual spirituality was captive of the individualistic nature of our Western culture while reminding us: “There is no Christian spirituality without community. No community, no spirituality. Our personal spirituality is lived out in community” (Dipple
2017: 23).[8]
Thirdly, we are suggesting that the devotional guide used in the pilot study be revisited and reviewed by leaders coming from a variety of cultures. This review would need, amongst others, to explore a more narrative-orientation in the way the questions are asked or answers are expected. This would help to connect more closely God’s narrative to the directee’s personal narrative.
Finally, we cannot end these reflections without reminding ourselves that spiritual formation in a missional context is not an end in itself. Its goal is to develop Christlikeness. And as Willard posited, “Christlikeness of the inner-being is not a human attainment. It is finally, a gift of grace” (Willard 2002: 23). Increased Christlikeness will look like Nouwen’s portrait of a mature leader (Nouwen 1992:
173):
I leave you with the image of the leader with outstretched hands, who chooses a life of downward mobility. It is the image of the praying leader, the vulnerable leader, and the trusting leader. May that image fill your hearts with hope, courage, and confidence as you anticipate the next century.
References Cited
Araujo, Alex, Lederleinter, Mary, and Mischke, Werner. 2008. To Catch the Wind.
https://sailingfriends.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/to-catch-the-wind-shortfinal.pdf accessed June 17, 2019.
Bosch, David, J.1991.Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Cornish, Sandra, J. 2016. How Catholic social teaching and Ignatian spirituality interact within the praxis of the Jesuit conference Asia Pacific Social Apostolate network in relation to vulnerable migrants in and from Asia (Doctoral thesis, Australian Catholic University). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4226/66/5a9db4213360d.
Daniélou, Jean. 1962. The Salvation of the Nations. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Downloaded from
https://ia802604.us.archive.org/11/items/salvationofthena012968mbp/salvationo fthena012968mbp.pdf.
Dipple, Bruce. 2017. “Spirituality and the Missionary Call” in John Amalraj, Geoffrey
W. Han, William D. Taylor: Spirituality in Mission: Embracing the Lifelong Journey.” Pasadena, CA: William Cary Library.
KangHang, Lee. 2008. Christian Spiritual Direction in the Confucian Culture: A Korean Perspective. Available at http://journals.sfu.ca/rpfs/index.php/rpfs/article/viewFile/166/165.
Kraybill, Donald, B. 2018. The Upside-Down Kingdom. Harrisonbourg, VA: Herald Press.
Lowney, Chris. 2013. Pope Francis. Chicago, IL: Loyola Press.
Matsaneng. Puleng. 2010. Spiritual Direction in Africa: A Need for a Different Approach? 49/3, 54. Downloaded from www.theway.org.uk/Back/493Matsaneng.pdf.
Mischke, Werner. 2015. The Global Gospel: Achieving Missional Impact in Our Multicultural World. Scottsdale, AZ: Mission One.
Modras, Ronald. 2004. Ignatian Humanism. Chicago, IL: Loyola Press.
Noble, Tim. 2018. Mission from the Perspective of the Other: Drawing Together on Holy Ground. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.
Nouwen, Henry.1992. In the Name of Jesus. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company.
Puhl, Louis. 1951. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Chicago: Loyola Press.
Sbanotto, Elisabeth, A. N., Gingrich, Heather, D., and Gingrich, Fred, C. 2016. Skills for Effective Counseling: A Faith-Based Integration. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.
Stanley, David, M. 1984. “Contemporary Gospel-Criticism and the 'Mysteries of the
Life of our Lord’ in the Spiritual Exercises,” in Ignatian Spirituality in a Secular
Age, ed. George P. Schner. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Tetlow, Joseph. A. 2000. Choosing Christ in the World: Directing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatus Loyola According to Annotations Eighteen and Nineteen: A Handbook. St Louis, MO: The Institute of Jesuit Sources.
White, Randy and Spees H. 2017. Out of Nazareth: Christ-Centered Civic Transformation in Unlikely Places. Skyforest, CA: Bakke University Press.
Willard, Dallas. 2002. Renovation of the Heart. Collorado Springs, CO: NavPress
APPENDIX 1
Sample Devotional Guide
Pittsburgh City Immersion
This is not your academic journal. It is your spiritual journal in which you will record what God has been showing you personally. You many include some parts of this in your academic journal but most will be of a personal nature.
Purpose: To actively use my imagination to enter a scene and personally experience it so that The Word is spoken to me in my context.
Methodology:
(putting down your books, pulling out your chair, hanging your jackets are all distractions).
Purpose: To reflect on Scripture with an open heart, to increase my faith, and respond to God with a generous heart.
Methodology: This is a reflective process which engages the mind.
Purpose: To become aware of the Holy Spirit’s working in one’s life and then to cooperatively respond.
Methodology:
Welcome thoughts
Luke 13:29
“And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at the table in the kingdom of God.”
We are starting a journey together. What happens during our time in Pittsburgh will have a profound impact on how you see what God is doing around the world, and what he is calling forth in you. Our time together is academic, but the end product will be a spiritual formation. Our devotional times together will help you hear from God about what he is saying to you individually. Your experience here will be of high dissonance and low structure in how you are going to process what you are experiencing. So our times together are meant to focus us on what God is saying to each of us. What is he calling forth? With those thoughts in mind, this is my prayer for you as we begin this journey together. I invite you to close your eyes and listen to what God is saying to you. Pay attention to how the words affect you.
Morning Devotional
Meditation
Ephesians 1:18-21
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Now I invite you to write:
Examen (afternoon or evening)
We begin our reflection time by inviting the Lord to speak to us:
Father we seek the way you see the world. We have experienced much today and ask you to help us process the day. We ask you for clarity and an eager heart so that we may worship you more and serve each other better. Amen.
Here are some questions we will be considering every day:
What are some events that stood out to me today?
In which moments did I sense God’s presence? God is present at all times but we are not always aware of Him.
In which moments did I not sense God’s presence? God does not leave us, but sometimes we don’t know where he is.
Is there some unrest in me as a result of today? As I bring my unrest to God what do I want to say?
We close with this prayer:
My soul glorifies you my God,
My spirit rejoices in you my Saviour! For you have blessed me lavishly And make me ready to respond.
You shatter my little world
And let me be poor before you.
You take from me all my plans
And give me more than I can hope for or ask.
You give me opportunities and the ability
to become free and to burst throughmy boundaries.
You give the strength to be daring,
To build on you alone, for you show
Yourself as the ever greater One in my life.
You have made known to me this –
It is in my being servant
That it becomes possible
For your realm to break through
Here and now.[11]
Morning Devotional
Meditation
This is the day that the Lord has given us to see his world through his eyes. Let us be attentive to him today. Today will be a Scripture meditation. You will engage your 5 senses as you read. Let’s turn Psalm 63 into your prayer for the day:
David wrote this when he was in the Desert of Judah.
6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.
9 Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. 10 They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
11 But the king [I] will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
Read it again slowly and have participants hang onto a verse and then write down what that verse means to them for today. Time of silent prayer Now I invite you to write:
Examen (afternoon or evening)
We begin our reflection time by inviting the Lord to speak to us:
Father we seek the way you see the world. We have experienced much today and ask you to help us process the day. We ask you for clarity and an eager heart so that we may worship you more and serve each other better. Amen
What are some events that stood out to me today?
In which moments did I sense God’s presence? God is present at all times but we are not always aware of Him.
In which moments did I not sense God’s presence? God does not leave us but sometimes we don’t know where he is.
Is there some unrest in me as a result of today? As I bring my unrest to God what do I want to say?
Morning Devotion
Contemplation
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard ( Matthew 20)
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with
my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Read it again slowly and have participants hang onto a verse and then write down what that verse means to them for today. Time of silent prayer Now I invite you to write:
Examen (afternoon or evening)
We begin our reflection time by inviting the Lord to speak to us:
Father we seek the way you see the world. We have experienced much today and ask you to help us process the day. We ask you for clarity and an eager heart so that we may worship you more and serve each other better. Amen
What are some events that stood out to me today?
In which moments did I sense God’s presence? God is present at all times but we are not always aware of Him.
In which moments did I not sense God’s presence? God does not leave us but sometimes we don’t know where he is.
Is there some unrest in me as a result of today? As I bring my unrest to God what do I want to say?
Morning Devotional
Contemplation
Mark 8:22-26
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go intothe village.”
Question:
Read it again slowly and have participants hang onto a verse and then write down what that verse means to them for today. Time of silent prayer.
Now I invite you to write:
Examen (afternoon or evening)
We begin our reflection time by inviting the Lord to speak to us:
Father we seek the way you see the world. We have experienced much today and ask you to help us process the day. We ask you for clarity and an eager heart so that we may worship you more and serve each other better. Amen
What are some events that stood out to me today?
In which moments did I sense God’s presence? God is present at all times but we are not always aware of Him.
In which moments did I not sense God’s presence? God does not leave us, but sometimes we don’t know where he is.
Is there some unrest in me as a result of today? As I bring my unrest to God what do I want to say?
Morning Devotional
Meditation
Isaiah 43:1-5
But now, this is what the LORD says - he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Read it again slowly and have participants hang onto a verse and then write down what that verse means to them for today. Time of silent prayer.
Now I invite you to write:
Examen (afternoon or evening)
We begin our reflection time by inviting the Lord to speak to us:
Father we seek the way you see the world. We have experienced much today and ask you to help us process the day. We ask you for clarity and an eager heart so that we may worship you more and serve each other better. Amen
What are some events that stood out to me today?
In which moments did I sense God’s presence? God is present at all times but we are not always aware of Him.
In which moments did I not sense God’s presence? God does not leave us but sometimes we don’t know where he is.
Is there some unrest in me as a result of today? As I bring my unrest to God what do I want to say?
Morning Devotional
Contemplation
Luke 18:18-34The Rich and the Kingdom of God
Questions:
Read it again slowly and have people hang onto a verse and then write down what that verse means to them for today. Time of silent prayer.
Now I invite you to write:
Examen (afternoon or evening)
We begin our reflection time by inviting the Lord to speak to us:
Father we seek the way you see the world. We have experienced much today and ask you to help us process the day. We ask you for clarity and an eager heart so that we may worship you more and serve each other better. Amen
What are some events that stood out to me today?
In which moments did I sense God’s presence? God is present at all times but we are not always aware of Him.
In which moments did I not sense God’s presence? God does not leave us but sometimes we don’t know where he is.
Is there some unrest in me as a result of today? As I bring my unrest to God what do I want to say?
As I leave the City Immersion, God this is what has truly moved me closer to you:
[1] Ignatius focused heavily on men, but eventually addressed both males and females, and all adult age groups.
[2] Ignatius focused heavily on men, but eventually addressed both males and females, and all adult age groups.
[3] To respect the scope of this presentation, these two transformational leadership perspectives have been singled out of the eight perspectives that Bakke Graduate University, a global Christian university focuses on: calling-based leadership, incarnational leadership, reflective leadership, servant leadership, contextual leadership, global leadership, shalom leadership, and prophetic leadership (https://www.bgu.edu/about/eight-transformational-leadership-perspectives-taught-bgu/).
[4] The Jesuit Thirty-fourth General Congregation defined dialogue as a “spiritual conversation of equal partners that opens human beings to the core of their identity” (Modras 2004: 302).
[5] https://www.bgu.edu/about/eight-transformational-leadership-perspectives-taught-bgu/
[6] LOP 32. https://www.lausanne.org/content/persecuted-church-lop-32#4a
[7] See Appendix 1.
[8] The quote is from Paul Bendor-Samuel (2009). “Organizational Spirituality: A journey in Growing”. Connections. 8.1:23, 23.
[9] Ibid, p. 35-38
[10] Timothy M. Gallagher, 2008. Meditation and Contemplation, New York, NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 27-34.
[11] Adapted from Ana StPaul, 2019. A Magnificat From a Magnificat in a German rendition.
