In spring 2010, Pip n Jay's Sunday evening teaching was focused on spiritual disciplines. What are they, and why does God tell us to keep them? How can they help us follow Jesus and make a difference in the world?
The disciplines is a potentially scary name for a totally non-scary bunch of practices that can help us in our journey following Jesus, worshipping God, filled with His new life.
They’re not a burden, or a cause of stress. They’re a source of goodness, a means that God uses to transform us, renew us, refresh us and refocus us.
They shouldn’t be too hard to do, to the extent that you may be doing some of them already without even knowing it. How cool is that?
What do they do?
They change our character. For example, you might be stingy and selfish, and God might use one of the disciplines to help free your heart, so that you become more generous.
This would be a good thing.
So how do they work?
Imagine that there’s someone paying an enormous amount of money into your bank account each month. A vast amount, and it’s just sitting there getting bigger and bigger. You’re getting richer and richer, but you’re not doing anything with it. You need a way to access it. So the bank give you a card that you can use at shops. They put cash machines all across the city so you can take cash out when you need it. They tell you that you can withdraw it at the bank itself, or transfer it by phone, or via internet banking. You can use cheques, bankers’ drafts or BACS. And then you’re rolling.
The disciplines are a bit like a way of accessing all the transforming power that God has stored up for us. As we put the disciplines in place in our lives, we are changed by God in good ways.
This is a good thing.
Ok. What do I have to do?
Just spend some time doing them. Maybe find some friends and try them out together*.
You may need to learn a bit more about them, and why they’re a good idea, so there are links to resources further down this page.
*Don’t try solitude out together. That’s not really the idea.
This seems a lot like working to please God. Is that right?
No. They may seem like a way to earn God’s favour, a way to get on his good side (oo, did you fast for three days? God will be so pleased!), but that’s not how God works. God gives this kind of transformation and renewal freely and willingly. There is no cost, no price. If you want to get clean, step under a shower. If you want to get washed clean by God, step under the discipline shower. Yes, it involves a choice to step under, but the shower will do the rest of the work.
I’d like to read a book to help me get going, what should I start with?
This is a great book. It’s simple, friendly, not very threatening, encouraging, funny and gentle. It might change your life, and it will probably make you a cup of tea and bring you a biscuit at the same time.
Teaching 
