Spiritual Disciplines to Nurture Your Public Witness

There is concern across the Church today that Christians are being shaped more by political or partisan ideology than Christian identity. As various sources vie for our attention, we must remember that our identity in Christ is primary. Being formed in Christ is essential not only for our own discipleship, but for our public witness as we engage the world around us. 

This is what prompted us to ask Steve Eng from the NAE to help us understand how spiritual formation should inform our public engagement. Eng shared how practicing spiritual disciplines can help us cultivate a non-anxious presence and foster hope rather than fear as we enter the public square. 

Here are five disciplines he shared that you can practice to help shape your public witness. 

Meditate On Scripture 

Meditating on scripture is one way we can resist false identities being foisted upon us and be reminded of our true identity. The key is to explore the breadth of scripture, finding God’s redemptive story across the entirety of the Bible. This practice helps us remember and be re-formed by Christ, allowing us to engage publicly with discernment, humility, and hope. 

Some starting points for scriptural meditation: Psalm 34:4, Josh 1:9, 1 Tim 1:7, Heb 13:6 

Worship 

When we look at the early church in Acts 2, we see a community of faith actively engaging the culture around them. This engagement stemmed from their fellowship as together they identified with Christ and sought to live out the mission of God.  

Likewise, when we come together in worship we also find our identity in and declare our allegiance to Christ. This is true for us not only as individuals, but as the entire body of Christ living out the mission of God as we interact with the culture around us. 

Confession and Repentance 

It can be easy at times to find errors in the culture around us without recognizing the places where we fall short. Confession and repentance require an honest overview of ourselves at an individual level, and the Church at a corporate level. This process allows us to nurture humility, begin healing, and move toward right relationship with God and others. When we know we too are sinners, it helps us to listen better, to seek common ground, and to engage our opponents with grace. 

Action 

Understanding action as a spiritual discipline reminds us that we are shaped into Christlikeness through our action. As we engage the public square, action includes not only acts of service or charity, but the ways we advocate for the public good of society. Christians are particularly called to prioritize those on the margins, rather than advocating policies that build bigger barns for ourselves.  

Loving Our Enemies 

Christians are called to love our enemies – a call not often answered in our world today. Loving our enemies requires spiritual, relational, and emotional maturity. It also requires us to lean into our discomfort in order to be in proximity with our enemies. This allows us to not only have our eyes opened to the experiences of others around us, but to the transformation we can experience through these interactions. In this way we are able to participate with God in transforming ourselves as we transform the world.