pat loughery

My current class with BGU is Research Bridge, and it helps us to focus our thesis down to something manageable. Winn Griffin is our professor. This assignment helps us to focus on describing the problem that our thesis is meant to address. It was entertaining to do, and I’m looking forward to continuing to refine this.

Part 1: Describe your target audience

My target audience is Christians in Western culture, both followers and leaders, who find themselves frustrated with their progress in spiritual growth and who are curious about the spiritual formation practices throughout history.

Part 2: Describe the problem you are looking to address

Contemporary western culture is lived at a rapid pace. Busyness is normal and often celebrated, and meanwhile many Christians find themselves plateaued in their spiritual formation. At the same time, Christians rarely look outside their own faith traditions for examples worthy to learn from, and often think that for all practical purposes, Christian history began when their denomination or movement was born. As a result, a wealth of Christian story and practices lies just outside their grasp.

Part 3: A thirty-word focus statement (this had three steps, which I’ll not repeat here)

I am studying the historical practices of spiritual formation because I want to discover whether there are historically rooted disciplines that help my reader understand how to be spiritually formed in contemporary culture.

Part 4: Write a 350-500 word narrative, i.e., create characters who talk to each other, and write a scenario that puts your problem statement in view.

The fourth member of the group pulled up his chair and put his coffee on the table.

“Sorry I’m late again. I had a counseling appointment that ran long.”

“No problem, Bob. We’re used to it by now,” Denise teased.

“So what’s new?” Bob asked his friends.

Ramon was the first to answer. “Nothing new. I hate my job, Denise’s kids are as happy to be in school as she is for them to be done with summer, and Marta’s swamped writing her dissertation. Does that about cover it?”

The group of friends snickered. Blunt, but accurate.

Denise decided to fess up. “I don’t want to be so happy my kids are back in school, but at least I get some time to myself before it’s time to chauffer them to all their activities. I’m running on fumes these days. And look, I know this is our spiritual support group, and I’m supposed to say I’m doing great, I have my Bible study time and my quiet time, but I don’t even know where to begin. I basically just look at my Bible when Bob’s about to preach. Sorry, Bob.”

“Same for me too, Bob.,” Ramon volunteered. “Six days a week I’m awake at 6, home by 6 or 7, just in time to have dinner and put the kids to bed. I feel like my spiritual life is on hold until my job gives me more time.”

Bob looked at Marta and raised an eyebrow. “You? Are you plugged in?”

Marta stared back at Bob. “Believe it or not, I’m fine. I could use more time in the day, but I’ve gotten a nice rhythm.”

The group shared an awkward silence.

Bob cleared his throat. “Fact is, I’m there too, gang. Pretty much the only time I pray is when I know my sermon prep isn’t working or the person I’m counseling asks for it, and if it weren’t for that Sunday sermon I’d crack my Bible open maybe once every couple of weeks. This schedule I’m keeping now – it’s squeezing out every bit of free time I have, and as much as I try to change that, I’m dying. I know I tell you guys the standard thing – wake up early, read what your daily devotional says, memorize the verse of he day, do your prayers, and your life will be fine – but I’ve got to admit this: I’m in ‘do as I say, not as I do’ mode on that one.”

Marta looked up. “Bob, those things you teach us to do – they’re good, we know that. But what if there are other ways too? What if we can learn from the ways that Christians have practiced their faith in other times? If our pat answers aren’t working, can we look beyond what isn’t working for our own lives the way we want it to? I mean, even if we look before the Reformation – Brother Lawrence, St. Benedict, the Celtic Christians, the desert fathers?”