We're exploring the Five Key Elements of Formation and looking at the key element of time. You've been asking some great questions, and one of the most popular is:

"How do we find the time to recreate these immersive cultures of formation?"

We tackle your insightful question from a few different angles. We also attempt to lower our stress and tension by suggesting you've most likely already created these types of communities!

Neuroscience and discipleship?! Recent studies and research on brain functioning shed light on how our hearts are genuinely formed. And there's far more to our spiritual formation than church events and Bible studies. Time, as it turns out, is a critical factor. But time doing what and with whom?

In this introduction to Season 3, we review the last two seasons and get prepped to explore the difference between genuine New Testament spiritual formation and what many of us actually experience today. Let's dig into the Formation Gap!!

Season 2 ends by asking some critical questions about modern Christianity: how has post-modernism impacted our faith and our churches?  How has it impacted our discipleship?  Brian digs into three primary concerns: the disproportionate elevation of the intellect, the devaluation of the individual, and the loss of an integrated view of ourselves and reality.  

Lastly, we discuss a potential criticism of Heartview - the habit of uncovering our hidden ideas and desires.  Doesn't it focus too much on the self?  Isn't it just Christian navel-gazing?

As always you can find out more about the Soil and Roots podcast by visiting www.soilandroots.org.

We're wrapping up Season 2 (the Discipleship Dilemma) with these last two episodes that tie things together.

Why is Heartview so vital for Christians, and why are we sometimes reluctant to engage in it?

Finally, to further illustrate just how important discipleship is, we take a brief trip through the last 2,000 years of the development of Western thought.  Based on some new ground-breaking work of leading Christian thinkers, we explore just how radically different our cultural assumptions are now compared to any previous age.  

These "Ideas in the Air" are driving Western culture deeper and deeper into despair, yet the ever-growing Kingdom of Light invites us to hope, life, and healing.  

To access the free visual aids mentioned in this episode, go to the Resources tab at www.soilandroots.org.  

Money!

The last of our Heartview Indicators, how we treat and view money points us to the hidden ideas and desires in our hearts. When it comes to money, we tend to fall into one of two camps: Wardens and Wingers.

Let’s explore both tendencies, how we determine which we are, and how our hearts may heal so that we treat money as a tool, not a tyrant.

How does time help us determine the hidden ideas, the desires, and the stories in our hearts?

We are creatures who are made for - and long for - intimacy and relationships.  And our longings can only be filled in the context of time, something the modern Christian struggles to embrace. 

As we explore the Discipleship Dilemma, let's talk about another indicator of the hidden ideas in our hearts: our words.

What do our words tell us about the secrets in our spirits?  As it turns out, they tell us plenty about the inner recesses of our roots and soil. Today we explore three facets of our words: the volume of words we use, the words we use instinctually, and the words we don't use.  Though talk is cheap, we can nonetheless dig beneath the surface with God and trusted friends to uncover our hearts by studying what we do and don't say.  

If you need a great visual aid, check out the Heartview picture on the Resources tab on the site. 

As we continue to learn the practice of Heartview, let's talk about our relationships!

God has placed us into four relationships: with Him, with others, with ourselves, and with creation and culture.  Navigating these relationships can be tricky, but what if there is more going on in our hearts than we initially realize?  What if our origin stories have a large impact on our ability to develop and maintain healthy relationships today - including how we relate to God?  Brian explores the fascinating world of Attachment Theory and how it provides a signpost pointing back to the desires and ideas in our hearts.  

As we continue our exploration of the Discipleship Dilemma, let's talk about our behavior.

What can our behaviors tell us about the ideas and desires in our hearts? As we seek to become mature disciples of Jesus, we seek to understand why we behave the way we do - and that includes more than spiritual behaviors that score us points with other Christians.  

As we explore, we discover that one of the best examples of spiritual formation today isn't actually from the kingdom of light, though we can learn some lessons from it.