I just got a free copy of Off-Road Disciplines in the mail today in exchange for reviewing it on my blog. The review will come, but I wanted to share Earl Creps insightful critique (upon which he constructs an alternative, missional approach to the disciplines) of spiritual disciplines. Does this turn you on or off?
He writes: “the average leader that I know thinks of the spiritual disciplines in terms of prayer and Bible reading. These two pillars of spiritual growth entail several dilemmas:
Scarcity: despite their benefits they are not practiced enough.
Practicality: these two disciplines tend to operate in isolation from real life, serving as the national anthem before the ball game starts whenever we go to work.
Performance: they cannot be correlated to ministry “success” in any consistent way
Character: …too many bad people who pray and read their Bibles rigorously are unchanged by their efforts.
Mission: churches are filled with people who are committed to prayer and Scripture but have no concern for mission.
