This wonderful, unusual book was written by a good friend and mentor - George Miley. While it certainly can be profitably read solo, it is best suited for a community setting. We love to read it “George Miley style” - which means a small group, seated in a circle, and each person in turns reads one of the numbered paragraphs. A pause for reflection, and the willingness to let that sentence become a springboard to heart-opening discussion, always leads to live-giving conversation. To actually finish the chapter in one go, becomes rare!
The topics George has chosen to cover come from his extensive history in Christian ministry, interlaced with his wide-ranging reading of others who write in the area of formation. Dallas Willard has especially informed George’s thinking and writing. If you find Willard hard to digest, George’s book may be very helpful - to use Amy’s wonderful analogy for George, it’s like he has taken all the mixed up coins in a book such as Renovation of the Heart, and run them through his orderly coin-sorting-machine mind, so that they come out neatly packaged and easily understood.
These topics include those you may expect …
8 Spiritual Practices
11 Prayer
20 Learning How to Forgive
… as well as some that are perhaps unexpected, but important and helpful:
10 How to spend Time in Solitude
19 Sexuality
22 Honoring your Father and Mother
And for us, chapter 21, The Ministry of Reconciliation, shows the connection between spiritual formation (our 3rd and central “activity” at Christ the Reconciler”) and reconciliation (our 2nd and titular activity) - so this will be a special chapter of a special book for our community, forever.
George Miley with Churchill at the Ancient Wells retreat in 2011