Our Approach to Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation is the process by which God deepens our love for him. Our growing love for God naturally leads us into joyful mission – worshiping in community, loving others, engaging the culture, and making disciples. By his grace, God nurtures our love for him as he reveals himself – most clearly in the gospel and more broadly in every aspect of life. This growth especially takes place through regular, formative rhythms that shape our hearts and minds: engaging with Scripture and prayer, living in Christian community, participating in corporate worship, and being rooted in sound doctrine.

Eric Reeves Portrait

Eric Reeves

ELDER, PASTOR: SPIRITUAL FORMATION

  • Our spiritual formation as Christians is most fundamentally the growth of our love for God (ie Dt 6:4-5; Mt 22:34-40). 
  • Our deepest loves govern how we live (ie Gen 3:6; Lk 6:45; Rom 13:9; Gal 5:14; 1 Tim 6:10; 2 Jn 1:6; James 2:8).
  • Our loves are always a response to something we deem desirable in the objects of our love. As such, our love for God is always a response to his initiation, without which we would never love him (ie Rom 6:15-23; Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:19).
  • Our love for God grows as the Holy Spirit reveals more of the glory of God to us, finding its greatest expression in the person and work of Jesus (the Gospel) (ie Jn 15:26, 16:13-15; 2 Cor 3:18; Col 1:15; 1 Jn 4:9-10).
  • The Spirit commonly communicates more of Jesus to us through regular rhythms of Bible Intake and Prayer, Corporate Worship, Christian Community and Doctrinal Formation (ie Acts 2:42-47; 2 Tim 3:16; Heb 13:16; Col 3:1-17; Rom 12:1).

Adam and Eve were created very good and with rightly ordered loves – they loved the right things in the right order. They enjoyed fulfillment of their loves in the Garden of Eden (literally, the Garden of Pleasure).

Their love of God was fulfilled by God’s intimate presence. Adam’s love for a partner was fulfilled in Eve. Their love of good work was fulfilled in their tending of the garden.

However, tragically their rightly ordered loves became disordered (loving the wrong things or the right things but in the wrong order). Their lives of holiness and perfect communion with God were shattered by sin, resulting in alienation.

The introduction of disordered loves (by the Serpent) and the living out of disordered loves (the Fall) spread disordered loves to every human ever born thereafter (total depravity).

Only by God’s initiation and saving work can a human heart ever love him and thus begin to have rightly ordered loves (a lifelong process). This means every human action before saving grace is most deeply motivated by a disordered love and thus unable to please God (we are born as enemies of God and spiritually dead).

Because every action we take and every decision we make is always governed by our most deeply held loves, we are never free to choose something contrary to those deepest loves. Therefore, we are always a slave to our loves, from birth to death.

Christ-bought freedom is the grace to act in accordance with loves that are being rightly ordered by the Spirit (the process of sanctification). Because of Jesus, no longer are we slaves only to loves that lead to death (the human condition), but we are freed to loves that lead to life (work of the Spirit)!

The eternal hope of the Christian is fully enjoying God forever by having loves that are wholly rightly ordered, similar to Adam and Eve at creation but most ultimately like Jesus (being conformed into the image of the Son). This is the ultimate Christian prize that begins imperfectly at conversion, grows over the course of the Christian life, and finds fulfillment in eternity – restored perfect communion with God himself forever!

The Christian life is NOT primarily about doing more of the right things and less of the wrong things, but about growing in enjoyment of God himself, which shapes our loves which govern our actions.

Focusing primarily upon OUR behavior, OUR feelings, OUR thoughts, OUR struggles is counter-productive – it takes our focus off of the only One to whom our hearts respond with a growing right love and thus obedience.

Intentionally being attentive to the Spirit is absolutely crucial. This requires us to slow down and make head and heart space. It is his job to communicate to us Jesus – the clearest expression of the very thing to which our hearts most greatly respond with a growing love for God!

It is possible to idolize good things rather than using them as means to a greater end – ie Bible, prayer, service, community, common grace gifts, etc. For example, it is possible to make becoming a better student of the Bible or a person who regularly prays as the goal rather than becoming a student of the Bible and a person who regularly prays as ways to more deeply know and love God.

Our formation includes both  individual essential rhythms (ie times of personal Bible intake, prayer, doctrinal formation) and gathered essential rhythms (ie corporate worship, Christian community and times of group Bible intake, prayer and doctrinal formation).

Not “feeling the right emotions / motives” should not paralyze us from engaging in the rhythms, but motivate us to engage with the hope that the rhythm by God’s grace will shape our emotions / motives in the right way.

We should not expect deep formation if we engage in the rhythms sporadically at best. We should also not expect deep formation instantaneously.

Busyness / constant activity / always producing are formidable enemies of our formation. Sabbath is a gift God gives us in the battle. In our formation we are not primary producers but receivers.

Spiritual Formation in Practice

Our role in our spiritual formation is to regularly place ourselves in spaces God commonly uses to show us more of himself. Like we might look out a window to see the rays of the sun, we intentionally gaze at these “windows of God’s grace” regularly, anticipating God graciously showing us more of himself.

While there are various “angles” to gaze at each window, each rhythm is unique and vital to a healthy Christian’s formation and is best enjoyed if engaged in regularly.

The rhythms include –

BIBLE INTAKE AND PRAYER

CORPORATE WORSHIP

 CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

DOCTRINAL FORMATION

Bible Intake and Prayer

The Bible is the clearest and primary way God reveals himself. Prayer is the primary way we communicate with him.

We enjoy the freedom to explore various ways to engage with Scripture and to pray as long as the main point of seeing more of God is kept central – read / listen, read broadly / read for depth, pray aloud / pray silently, sit / walk, write prayers / sing prayers, use the Psalms / compose your own, etc.

In addition to your own rhythms, below are some additional opportunities to enjoy God through Bible intake and prayer.

Please join me on July 12 for a guided retreat away from the noise and busyness of life to intentionally create space in our minds and hearts to enjoy God and be attentive to his voice.

Contact me for more information.

Email Eric

If you are interested in exploring various ways of enjoying God, consider joining us this summer as we go through David Mathis’ short book Habits of Grace.

We’ll both discuss the content as well as debrief our own personal experiments of enjoying God in biblical ways, some of which may be new to you.

We’ll meet July 2, July 16, July 30 and August 20.

Contact me for more information.

Email Eric

Christian Community

This sort of biblical fellowship has a depth of relationship where you both give and receive things like deep encouragement, the sharing of burdens, confessing and warning of sin, and prayer. This requires us to be known and to know others.

The Spirit communicates Jesus to us in relationships with others not just like us (ie gender, season of life, maturity, etc.) as well as even deeper relationships that tend to be a very small inner-circle of those of our same gender producing the deepest levels of trust by God’s grace (where we can even receive a rebuke as a gift!).

Below are some ways to build Christian Community at The Town Church.

Townships Logo

Townships

We believe regular and intentional Christian community is an essential means God uses to reveal himself to us and to grow our love of him. A Township is an expression of this community, consisting of a committed small group of people earnestly desiring these very things.

Find a Township

The Town Kids

Believing that the Gospel transforms everything, The Town Kids exists to partner with parents in faithfully teaching the Gospel and demonstrating the love of Christ to every child. Our hope is to raise a generation who knows Christ deeply, loves Him wholeheartedly, and proclaims His truth boldly.

We offer The Town Kids for children 3 months through 5 years every Sunday in both gatherings, and The Town Kids Elementary is offered for K-5th grades on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month.

More Info

Lauren Kemp

DIRECTOR: THE TOWN KIDS

The Town Youth

The Town Youth is a group specifically designed for middle and high school students (6th-12th grade). In this group, students experience a place where they can explore God with peers and grow in their personal relationship with Christ. Students are guided by a group of adults who have a passion for seeing the gospel transform the lives of adolescents.

The Town Youth studies the Bible and builds relationships; living out the gospel in community.

If you have any questions, please contact Betty Horiuchi.

Betty Horiuchi

DIRECTOR: YOUTH AND COLLEGE

The Town College

The Town College exists as a place for college students to experience the transformative power of the gospel, deepen their love for the Lord, and learn to plant roots in the local church. It can be easy to feel out of place in college, so we want to cultivate a Christ-centered community of peers while encouraging them to seek discipleship and serve within the church.

This ministry is not exclusive to college students. Anyone who is college-aged is welcome to all events and to join us in glorifying our good God.

This fall, The Town College is studying the book of Ecclesiastes. For questions or more information contact Betty Horiuchi.

Betty Horiuchi

DIRECTOR: YOUTH AND COLLEGE

Women's Ministry Logo

The Town Women

The Town Women exists to see the wonderful news of the gospel transform women - to see women grow in their knowledge and love for God and His Word through Bible study, prayer and connection with other women.

The Women's Bible study will begin on February 5th. This spring, we will be studying the book of James. For more information, please email: Liz@thetownchurch.org

Liz McGeehan Portrait

Liz McGeehan

DIRECTOR: WOMEN'S MINISTRY

The Town Men

Christian men need each other! Our desire is to grow in love for God and each other. This ministry is led by a small team of men.

Some of its current rhythms include:

  • Men's Monthly Gathering (third Saturday of the month during the school year)
  • Young Fathers (meets third Monday evening of the month)
  • Various small discipleship groups
  • Annual retreats

For more information, send us an email.

Corporate Worship

There is something utterly unique about corporate worship not replicated in small groups, classes, or times of personal devotion. Worship is both a means (grows our love for God) as well as an end (this is what we were made to do!).

In corporate worship we give, we receive. We participate, we are led. We encourage each other, we are encouraged by each other. We receive more of God, we respond with worship. We worship with others not like us. We celebrate the ordinances. The Spirit simply moves.

Sunday Gatherings

We gather together at 8:30 and 10:30am for Bible reading, prayer and songs guided by a gospel-centric liturgy. We typically teach through books of the Bible in a straight-forward and understandable way.

We celebrate the Lord's Supper each week. This is an open opportunity for anyone who confesses Jesus as their Lord.

We offer The Town Kids for ages 3 months through 5 years (pre-K) every Sunday. Elementary classes for Kindergarten through 5th grade meet on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month during the school year. To learn more about The Town Kids, click here.

There is abundant parking in the shopping center around our building, but we do ask that parking directly in front of the nearby restaurants is avoided.

Doctrinal Formation

We all believe something about God. Doctrinal formation is all about those beliefs becoming more and more accurate to who the biblical God truly is. We use our minds well to know God better SO THAT we love him more deeply over time.

We stock many vetted and recommended books to show us more of the glorious character of God in our church library.

Many of the suggested donations are at a discount.

Throughout the year we offer various settings to think well about God and glean from others.

For the latest offerings and what is in the works, contact me.

Email Eric