Abstract
Spiritual formation is the Spirit-directed process of forming pupils of Jesus into His image. Willard (2002; 2005) and Wright (2012) provide effective guidance for the spiritual growth process and place spiritual disciplines at the heart of change. Porter (2023) expresses the need for followers of Jesus to embody the spiritual disciplines and for those communicating about the process to do so in actionable ways. The current paper takes up this call by presenting psychological theories of motivation and behavior that can be seen in Jesus’ teaching of the spiritual disciplines in the Sermon on the Mount and that Christian leaders and teachers should use when teaching the disciplines to increase the likelihood that their students will embody the practices. Initial empirical support for using the Reasoned Action Approach when teaching meditation is highlighted. The paper concludes with practical suggestions for using both theories when teaching and communicating about the spiritual disciplines.
Introduction
What is Spiritual Formation?
The New Testament is clear that to be a follower, learner, or disciple of Jesus, is to be changed in such a way that the person’s nature or character is like that of Jesus himself (see Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:28, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 4:19). This experience and process of spiritual development has come to be known as spiritual formation. Scholars have formally defined spiritual formation in various ways: The ever-increasing capacity to live a spiritual life from the heart (Nouwen 2006); The process by which the human spirit or will is given a definite “form” or character (Willard 2002); A process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others (Mulholland 1993); the reality of being conformed to the image or likeness of Jesus (Porter 2023). For the purposes of this paper, I will use the following definition for Christian spiritual formation-the Spirit-driven process of the human spirit and heart being formed into the likeness, image, nature, or character of Christ.
Models of Spiritual Formation
Useful models to aid apprentices of Jesus in the process of spiritual formation have been formulated and articulated in books and articles. Willard’s (2002; 2005) Vision Intention Means (VIM) model presents a 3-step process involving “Vision” specifically the vision of an individual’s life in the Kingdom of God, “Intention” which is intending to live out the vision of life in the Kingdom of God in accordance with the example and teachings of Jesus, and “Means” which are the spiritual disciplines or practices that enable someone to live out their intention of the Kingdom vision (Willard 2002, 2005).
Wright (2012) presents a similar model developed from Aristotle’s teaching on character formation that begins with envisioning an individual’s purpose or “Telos”. The second step in this process is determining the character traits or virtues that would enable the person to live out their purpose or “Telos”. Once these virtues have been determined, the third and final step is to practice or train these virtues until they become habit or a more natural part of the individual’s character. To facilitate the virtue formation process, Wright (2012) articulates the “Virtuous Circle”, which includes Scripture, stories, exemplars, community, and practices or spiritual disciplines. While each aspect of the “Virtuous Circle” is interconnected with the others, the components can each be thought of as “Means” for growth or spiritual disciplines (Wright 2012).
The Call to Teach for Embodying
While useful models for spiritual formation have been established and involve clear descriptions of the “Means”, “Practices” or spiritual disciplines for growth, Christian leaders and teachers are charged with teaching and communicating about the disciplines to followers of Jesus under their care with little to no guidance on how to do so in a way that increases the likelihood that their hearers will integrate the practices into their daily lives. As Porter (2023) points out, Paul writes to the church in Ephesus that God has given his people apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to help them grow towards spiritual maturity. Porter (2023) goes on to note that the future of spiritual formation and developing in Christlikeness depends on people moving beyond understanding the ways and means of formation in Christ to embodiment of the ways and means for transformation. The call to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers then is to teach the spiritual disciplines in a way that better enables Christ followers to embody the spiritual disciplines.
To aid Christian leaders and teachers in teaching and communicating about the spiritual disciplines in ways the facilitate embodiment, I present two psychological theories that can be used as frameworks for lesson development. While the models of spiritual formation previously presented emphasize the importance of spiritual disciplines in the process of growth, psychological theories of motivation and behavior can inform Christian leaders and teachers about how to teach the disciplines in a way that increases the likelihood of their hearers engaging and embodying the disciplines. What follows includes descriptions of psychological theories of motivation and behavior and their components along with a case study on Jesus’ teaching of disciplines in the Sermon on the Mount through the lens of these theories. I conclude with practical guidance for Christian leaders and teachers to use these theories by way of answering questions when preparing lessons on spiritual disciplines to teach for embodying the practices that form the human spirit in Christlikeness.
Psychological Theories of Motivation and Behavior
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is considered a prominent psychological theory of intrinsic motivation. The theory is based on the understanding that humans have three main psychological needs that when met increase intrinsic motivation to engage behaviors (Deci and Ryan 2000) and has empirical support for its utility (Gillison et al. 2019; Sheeran et al. 2020). The first psychological need is autonomy. When individuals are provided with a level autonomy to engage a behavior, according to SDT, their intrinsic motivation increases. An example of providing autonomy would be when a small group leader asks the members which book of the Bible they would prefer to study during their meetings. The second psychological need is competence. Competence refers to an individual’s sense of their ability to successfully execute a behavior. When people feel they have a sense of mastery over a behavior, their intrinsic motivation to carry-out that behavior increases. An example of competence would be a new Christian becoming able to successfully navigate the Old Testament and New Testament books during sermons and lessons. The third psychological need in SDT is relatedness. Relatedness refers to an individual feeling a sense of belonging or connectedness to others when engaging a behavior or that by carrying-out a behavior, it would enhance their relationships. An example of this would be a Christian joining a prayer group with other members of their church. A fourth factor not originally included as a construct in SDT but later regarded as a psychological need within the theory is Purpose (Weinstein, Ryan, and Deci 2012). Purpose as a motivational factor and psychological need is the idea that a behavior helps an individual move closer to their life aim or primary goal (Weinstein, Ryan, and Deci 2012). An example of this would be practicing solitude and silence because of a belief in the practices helping the person developing Christlike humility.
The Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) is a psychological behavior theory that helps understand and change behavior (Fishbein and Ajzen 2010) and has empirical support for its utility (McEachan et al. 2016; Steinmetz et al. 2016). The theory purports that the main determinant of a behavior is an individual’s intention to engage the behavior. An example of the intention behavior link would be a person intending to fast on a Friday which is unlikely to happen without the intention. A person’s intention to use a behavior is influenced by three factors: Attitude, perceived norm, and perceived behavioral control. An individual’s attitude towards a behavior involves their belief that the behavior is enjoyable and useful. An example of this would be attending a class on the book of Ephesians because a person enjoys the instructor and recognizes how it helps them become more Christlike. Perceived norm regarding a behavior is the belief that the person “ought” to engage the behavior and that other people like them use the behavior. An example of this would be a person teaching others about Jesus because their minister encourages it and members of their small group regularly talk about students they are teaching. Perceived behavioral control refers to a person’s sense of control over and belief that they can successfully execute the behavior. An example of this would be practicing meditation because the person believes they can effectively deal with distractions.
It is worth noting the points of convergence between SDT and RAA as previous work has done (Hagger and Chatzisarantis 2009). Both theories have a social component (SDT’s “Relatedness” and RAA’s “Perceived Norm”) and behavioral control component (SDT’s “Competence” and RAA’s “Perceived Behavioral Control”). RAA’s “Attitude” component connects well with SDT’s “Purpose” component because if an individual believes the behavior, they are engaging in better enables them to live out their purpose, their attitude will almost certainly be more positive about the behavior. It is also likely that if a person has the right degree of behavioral autonomy, their attitude will be more positive about the behavior.
Jesus Teaching for Embodying the Spiritual Disciplines Through the Lens of SDT and RAA
With a better understanding of SDT and RAA in view, it is important to ask if Jesus, our Teacher, centuries earlier, taught in a way that resembles what psychological science today suggests are important factors to use when communicating about behaviors for hearers to engage them. Upon close examination of the Sermon on the Mount we see Jesus, quite clearly, using ideas and strategies that resemble constructs found in SDT and RAA when teaching about the spiritual disciplines of giving, prayer and fasting. In what follows, Jesus’ teaching of these three spiritual disciplines in the Sermon on the Mount are examined through the lens of SDT and RAA.
Before the Sermon on the Mount is explored, it should be pointed out here that Jesus’ teaching not only involved verbal communication, but modeling and demonstrating as well. Jesus invited the Disciples into following Him (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20) which involved intimate relationship with Him most certainly involving the “Relatedness” component of SDT. Jesus taught by way of modeling and demonstrating but also, as we will see, through explaining with verbal communication. While the next section focuses primarily on Jesus’ teaching using verbal communication, it should be kept in mind that He also teaches these concepts through modeling and demonstrating.
The “Purpose” component is a central theme as Jesus teaches the spiritual disciplines of giving, prayer, and fasting (and central to Willard’s (2002; 2005) and Wright’s (2012) model of spiritual formation). In fact, as an overview, Jesus begins his portion of teaching on the disciplines in the Sermon on the Mount with the instruction of being careful not to practice the disciplines for the purpose of impressing people which will lead to not impressing the Father (Mathew 6:1). He repeats this theme while teaching on each of the disciplines saying three times if practiced for the purpose of pleasing others, you will have no reward from the Father (Matthew 6:2,5,16), but if practiced for the purpose of relating to and connecting with the Father, his followers will be rewarded by the Father (Matthew 6: 4,6,18). This teaching connects to the “Relatedness” component of SDT in that when spiritual disciplines are practiced with the right purpose, better relationship with the Father will be established. Jesus is also fostering a sense of “Relatedness” by teaching his followers in community with one another (Matthew 5:1-2) so that when they practice the disciplines in the way he is teaching, they will experience a greater sense of belonging to one another. By Jesus teaching the way these disciplines should be practiced, he is building his pupils sense of “Competence.” Specifically, he instructs his pupils to not practice the disciplines in certain ways (Matthew 6: 2,5,7,16), and gives clear instructions to practice them in certain ways (Matthew 6: 3,6,9-13,17). Finally, Jesus, although giving clear directives about how to and how not to practice the disciplines, he also leaves room for “Autonomy” by not demanding his followers engage the disciplines at certain times, for certain lengths of time, in specific places, or in more detailed ways.
The most striking RAA components in Jesus’ teaching on the spiritual disciplines in the Sermon on the Mount are “Attitude” and “Perceived Norm.” Jesus is particularly concerned with breaking down his students’ perception that the way hypocrites give (Matthew 6:2), pray (Matthew 6:5), and fast (Matthew 6:16) and the way the pagans pray (Matthew 6:7) is normative and the way they ought to pray. He sees that both religious (Matthew 6:5) and non-religious (Matthew 6:7) prayer norms are incorrect and need to be addressed. Jesus lays before his pupils what should be normative for his followers as they learn together (Matthew 6:3-4, 6, 9-13, 17-18) and how they ought to practice these disciplines in the eyes of the Father and his Son. Jesus also makes clear that their “Attitude” towards the three disciplines should be about practicing them in a way that leads to reward from God, one of which being greater connection to him and is foundational to their purpose in life (Matthew 6:4, 6:18). Finally, he increases their spiritual discipline “Self-Efficacy” for prayer specifically by not only instructing his followers how to pray, but by giving them words to use when they pray (Matthew 6:9-13).
Empirical Research on RAA and Meditation
Jesus incorporating components of psychological theories into his teaching of the spiritual disciplines for embodiment is enough to guide Christian leaders and teachers when teaching the disciplines to their congregations. It is, however, worth noting at this point, before moving on to practical applications and recommendations, emerging empirical research on meditation using RAA and its effectiveness when teaching for embodying.
Several recent studies have been conducted to gain a better understanding of the influences on individuals’ meditation behavior using a high school sample (Erbe et al. 2019, 2020) cadets at a military institution sample (Erbe et al., 2022; Erbe et al., 2023a), a university sample that included faculty (Lederer and Middlestadt 2014), and a representative sample of U.S. adults (Lam et al., 2023). Each study used a generic and not strictly religious/spiritual definition of meditation that included a quiet secluded location, comfortable posture, a focal point for the mind on the breath and/or other points such as a word or phrase. Each study identified specific beliefs associated with RAA components and that each component predicted intention and behavior. More recent, initial work found that when using RAA components to create classroom meditation interventions for first year cadets at the United States Military Academy, their outside of class meditation was greater than control groups (Erbe et al., 2023b). This intervention involved an instructor (Perceived Norm) playing a 3-5 minute guided meditation from the Healthy Minds app (Perceived Behavioral Control) for cadets to experience at the beginning of class (Perceived Norm) with some information in the class about the benefits of meditation (Attitude). These studies provide initial evidence that when meditation interventions are designed using RAA as a framework, it can increase behavior acquisition or embodiment of the practice.
Practical Suggestions for Teaching for Embodying
Given Jesus’ teaching methods, SDT’s standing in psychological science, and RAA’s empirical support for understanding and increasing meditation behavior, Christian leaders and teachers should consider using SDT and RAA when teaching their congregations about the spiritual disciplines so that their congregations are more likely to embody the disciplines. Simple and straightforward questions using SDT and RAA components can be used as guides when designing lessons on the disciplines. Here, I offer several example questions related to each of SDT’s and RAA’s theoretical components along with tools, guides and references that leaders and communities can easily adopt. I follow these questions with a sample approach to teaching meditation in a congregation.
It should be noted, as mentioned previously, that Jesus invited His disciples into relationship with Him, and it is this relationship that provides an essential context for effectively teaching the spiritual disciplines. This relational context also included opportunities for modelling and demonstrating various disciplines. These aspects of Jesus’ teaching methods certainly involve aspects of the psychological theories reviewed (“Relatedness”, “Perceived Norm”, “Competence”, “Perceived Behavioral Control”, etc.). The following section provides suggestions for how to communicate lessons on the disciplines.
SDT and RAA Guiding Questions and Practical Suggestions
To use SDT’s “Purpose” and RAA’s “Attitude” component, a teacher can ask How does this spiritual discipline help a follower of Jesus develop a closer connection to God and become more like Him? This question also uses the “Relatedness” component of SDT and can be used with another “Relatedness” question such as How can this discipline be practiced with other disciples and how does it help the person develop closer relationships with others? Continuing with the social dimension, the “Perceived Norm” component of RAA can be addressed with What religious and non-religious norms and purposes for using this discipline need to be identified and diminished or strengthened? SDT’s “Competence” and RAA’s “Perceived Behavioral Control” components along with SDT’s “Autonomy” component can be addressed with the following question At what level of competence and self-efficacy are my students starting with and how can I incrementally build their understanding of and belief in their ability to execute the discipline while also providing a degree of autonomy?
Teaching Disciplines for Embodying Using SDT and RAA Guiding Questions
Here I provide an example of responses to the previously mentioned guiding questions that could be used when developing lessons on the disciplines along with practical suggestions followed by a specific example using Christian meditation. Meditation was chosen as the example spiritual discipline because of its primacy in the Scriptures as a means for spiritual formation (see Joshua 1:7-9 and Psalm 1:1-3). Also, scholars have pointed to the centrality of attention regulation being foundational in spiritual formation (Porter 2023; Wright 2012) and character formation (James 1890) and meditation trains this human capacity. Further, the RAA has been applied to meditation and has initially been shown to increase meditation behavior in interventions based on the theory (Erbe et al., 2023b). How does this spiritual discipline help a follower of Jesus develop a closer connection to God and become more like Him? (Attitude, Purpose)
While it may seem obvious that the spiritual disciplines help Christians develop closeness with God and become more like Him, it can be difficult to explain yet important to provide motivation. Foster’s (1978) work on the disciplines can be a helpful place to start when looking for answers with other references also able to provide assistance (see Mulholland 1993; Willard 2002). If practicing in a small group, allowing members to note and discuss their progress gives “evidence” of the disciplines working in the members’ personal lives and the lives of those around them.
Christian writers have offered excellent descriptions of meditation as a formative discipline. Here Nouwen (2006, 91) gives a helpful explanation:
“To meditate means to “let the word descend from our minds into our hearts.” Meditation means chewing on the word and incorporating it into our lives. It is the discipline by which we let the written word of God become a personal word for us, anchored in the center of our being.”
Merton (1960, 52-53), the Trappist Monk and scholar, provides another helpful description:
“To meditate is to exercise the mind in serious reflection. Reflection involves not only the mind but also the heart, and indeed our whole being. In fact, study is not spiritually fruitful unless it leads to come kind of meditation. In meditation we strive to absorb what we have already taken in. We consider the principles we have learned and we apply them to our own lives.”
Finally, Willard (1998, 8) offers a different explanation:
“In study (Scripture memorization or meditation), our mind takes on the order in the object studied, and that order invariably forms the mind itself and thereby the soul and the life arising out of it.
Thus the law of God kept before the mind brings the order of God into our mind and soul. The soul is “restored” as the law becomes the routine pattern of inward life and outward action. We are integrated into the movements of the eternal kingdom.”
Taken together, meditation on the Scriptures trains the faculty of keeping the Word and nature of God before the mind absorbing them into the heart and thus forms the Spirit. How can this discipline be practiced with other disciples and how does it help the person develop closer relationships with others? (Relatedness, Perceived Norm)
Jesus practiced disciplines with His disciples (see Matthew 26) and Christian leaders should follow this example. While His example influences the relatedness construct in SDT and perceived norm in RAA, practicing disciplines in a small group will almost certainly impact these same constructs. Willard’s (2002) “Renovation of the Heart” discusses transforming the social dimension of life along with the spiritual disciplines that are particularly useful toward this end.
For meditation specifically, brief, guided meditations can be integrated into lessons and sermons, small group settings, or anytime Christ’s community is learning together. Small groups that focus specifically on the discipline of meditation can be formed with Christian leaders and teachers leading or participating in these groups. It can also be shared that meditation can help individuals grow in their empathy, compassion, and prosocial behavior (Luberto et al. 2018). What religious and non-religious norms and purposes for using this discipline need to be identified and changed? (Perceived Norm)
Jesus regularly practiced the disciplines (Luke 5:16) setting an example for His disciples to follow. He also practiced the disciplines with His followers (see Matthew 26) as mentioned previously which almost certainly influenced their Perceived Norms. Christian leaders can follow this same example while also creating small groups to practice the disciplines and allowing leaders and church members to talk about their experience with the disciplines.
The Barna Group, a Christian research organization, provides statistics about spiritual disciplines and opportunities to learn more about gathering local data (https://www.barna.com/services/custom-research/). The Christian Life Profile Assessment (CLPA) tool (Frazee 2005) is an example of an assessment that can be given to local congregations as a means of assessing the extent to which spiritual disciplines are practiced by members. Finally, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) provides statistics for practices similar to spiritual disciplines such as fasting, prayer, and meditation (https://www.nccih.nih.gov/).
Meditation use has increased dramatically in the United States over the past several years (Clarke et al. 2018). Popular forms include mindfulness, transcendental, loving-kindness and spiritual. While these forms have their utility, the various types should be explained to Christians, and it should also be mentioned that what makes meditation “Christian” or “Spiritual” is the intention of being closer to God and formed by him. At what level of competence and self-efficacy are my students starting with and how can I incrementally build their understanding of and belief in their ability to execute the discipline while also providing a degree of autonomy? (Perceived Behavioral Control, Competence, Autonomy)
Jesus was with His disciples day in and day out which allowed Him to know their competence and self-efficacy as it related to spiritual disciplines and where they still needed development. This informed the way he taught and verbally communicated about the disciplines (see Matthew 6 and Luke 11) but it also provided Him with opportunities to model and demonstrate the disciplines (John 17) along with encouraging their practice (Matthew 26:41). Creating small groups of Christians that focus on spiritual disciplines allows leaders and teachers opportunities to get to know their students and influence them according to their needs. Meeting consistently allows members to practice the disciplines consistently and build their competence and self-efficacy by discussing their struggles with one another while getting feedback and positive encouragement from others which has been shown to build competence (Taylor, Ntoumanis, and Standage 2008).
Many individuals identify barriers of meditation being time and space (Erbe et al. 2020; Erbe et al. 2022; Lederer and Middlestadt 2014) while others say they cannot “clear their mind”. To combat the time and space barrier, it should be emphasized that intentionality and planning are important tools here along with integrating meditation into other habituated daily activities such as morning prayer, lunch breaks, or evening reading. To strike the directive yet providing autonomy balance, Nouwen (1981, 21) provides a good example while teaching about solitude (an important context for effective meditation): “The very first thing we need to do is to set apart a time and a place to be with God and Him alone. The concrete shape of this discipline of solitude will be different for each person depending on individual character, ministerial task, and milieu. But a real discipline never remains vague or general. It is as concrete and specific as daily life itself.” Meditation specific guidance can be allowing Christians to select a verse or an aspect of God’s character of their choosing to focus on for a short time and build up to incrementally longer periods of time. Several Christian meditation apps can be helpful to suggest such as “Encounter”, “Abide”, or “Pause”.
Conclusion
Useful models of spiritual formation place spiritual disciplines at the heart of growth (Willard 2002, 2005; Wright 2012). If followers of Jesus are to conform to his character and nature, they must embody the disciplines (Porter 2023), and Christian leaders and teachers must adopt ways of teaching about the disciplines to better enable their congregations to do so. Psychological theories of motivation (SDT) and behavior (RAA) can be used to help design lessons on the spiritual disciplines that increase the likelihood of students adopting the practices. Jesus taught the disciplines in the Sermon on the Mount in a way that connects with components of SDT and RAA and initial research on RAA and meditation suggests it is a useful theory for meditation acquisition. Questions derived from SDT and RAA components can be used when developing lessons on the spiritual disciplines that are meant to better enable students of Jesus to embody the practices. It is toward this end that all Christian leaders and teachers should strive if we are to help those entrusted to our care grow into the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).
Footnotes
Author’s Note
These views are those of the authors and do not reflect the position of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
