Living Waters: An Invitation to Contemplative Spirituality for the Quail Springs Church of Christ

163 Pages·2016·2.06 MB·English

Abilene Christian University
Digital Commons @ ACU
Doctor of Ministry Project/Teses Doctor of Ministry
2005
Living Waters: An Invitation to Contemplative
Spirituality for the Quail Springs Church of Christ
Wyat E. Fenno
ABSTRACT
This project addressed an acknowledged need for ministry action to promote and
facilitate communal spiritual formation in the present and future life of the Quail Springs
Church of Christ. The focus of the project was to present a model of contemplative
spirituality determined to be accessible to the ministry context at Quail Springs. In
addressing the problem of community fragmentation at Quail Springs, this model was
offered as a means of grace to deepen faith and strengthen relationships in church life at
Quail Springs. A pilot group of six women and six men served as the working group for
this project. The process and procedure of an eight-session ministry intervention taught
that Christian spirituality is a “lived experience” and that the goal of Christian spirituality
is to live and participate in the life and activity of God.
The results of this study indicate that the pilot group eagerly embraced this model
and found it accessible to the ministry context at Quail Springs. The experience of group
members proved that the model functioned as a means of grace to facilitate individual as
well as communal spiritual formation. The thesis concludes with implications and
suggestions related to how this model can have a continuing impact on fostering spiritual
formation in the future life of the Quail Springs Church of Christ.
LIVING WATERS:
AN INVITATION TO CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY
FOR THE QUAIL SPRINGS CHURCH OF CHRIST
A Thesis
Presented to
The Faculty of the Graduate School
Abilene Christian University
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Ministry
by
Wyatt E. Fenno
April 2005
This thesis, directed and approved by the candidate’s committee, has been
accepted by the Graduate Council of Abilene Christian University in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree.
Doctor of Ministry
___________________________________
Date
___________________________________
Thesis Committee
___________________________________
Chair
___________________________________
___________________________________
To the pilot group, for bearing witness
that the living waters we tasted together
truly make a difference and enable us
to live and participate in the life of God
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank my advisors, Fred Aquino and David Wray, for their support,
affirmation, and encouragement. I am thankful that Fred is a teacher and that it is not just
something he does. Fred’s support has emboldened my confidence and strengthened my
faith. I appreciate David’s willingness to spend time with me whether under an old oak
tree or elsewhere. The remembrance of moments with David inspires me as I consider
how I have been blessed by being in the presence of this godly man. I want to thank
Charles Siburt. Charles was God’s witness who befriended and encouraged me at a
critical time in my ministry life. Since then, Charles has continued to be a source of
encouragement and ministry support. I value his love and friendship.
I express my gratitude to each member of the pilot group. They inspired me by the
way they eagerly embraced the invitation to contemplative spirituality. I was encouraged
in observing how they were spiritually shaped and transformed by the project. I am
especially thankful to George Faulk and Trey Finley for the significant roles they played
in the process and procedure of the ministry intervention.
I want to thank Paul Varner and Monema Stephens for proofreading the
manuscript. They provided an invaluable service to me by sacrificing much of their
personal time. I am thankful for their willingness to take a personal interest in me and to
share their own thoughts and ideas along the way. I also thank Carolyn Thompson for her
expertise in the final editing of the thesis.
I am grateful to my fellow ministers, the office staff, and the elders of the Quail
Springs Church of Christ for their support and encouragement as I worked toward
completion of this project. I am especially thankful for the support of my ministry
assistant, Madonna Hayes, and her husband, Fred.
I thank God for my precious wife and best friend, Thu. Without her love and
support, this would have never happened. I also want to express appreciation to my two
sons, Taylor and Timothy, and my daughter, Tiana. My children have never known a time
when I was not going to school. I am thankful for their willingness to wait as I often had
to take time away from them to complete my doctoral work.
Finally, I want to thank those special people, past and present, some now asleep in
the arms of Jesus, whose lived experience of Christian spirituality encouraged me to
pursue God and the life of ministry. I stand on their shoulders. But by the grace of God, I
am what I am.
My hope is that the fruit of this ministry experience lives beyond me in the hearts
of pilot group members. By God’s grace, I trust that what has been initiated will continue
to create access to streams of living water for the present and future life of the Quail
Springs Church of Christ.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Title of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Ministry Setting Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Origin and Growth History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Significant Ministry Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Present Ministry Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Problem and Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Basic Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Delimitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
II. THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Goal of Christian Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Role of Contemplative Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Creating Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Imaging Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The “One Another” Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
III. METHODOLOGY AND EVALUATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
IV. RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Faulk’s Report: Independent Expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Finley’s Notes: Participant as Observer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Personal Narratives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND FUTURE ACTIONS . . . . . . . . . . 102
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Future Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
VI. WORKS CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
VII. APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
A. Family of God at Quail Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
B. Rule of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
C. The “One Another” Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
D. The Importance of “Story” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
E. Seeing God in Your Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
F. An Untold Story: Group Process as a Pilgrimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
G. A Theological Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
H. The Lived Experience of Christian Spirituality: The Journey . . . . . . . . 129
I. Taking Time to Be “Holy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
J. Some Benefits of Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
K. Creating “Space”: Silence and Solitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
L. The Shield of St. Patrick (paraphrased) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
M. Lectio Divine Brochure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
N. The Mountain Survival Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
O. Some Basic Assumptions about Spiritual Discernment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
P. Liturgical Actions: The Rehearsal of Our Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Q. The Lived Experience of Christian Spirituality:
Collaborating with God in Our Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
R. George Faulk Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
S. Trey Finley Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152