Utilizing Personal and Corporate Spiritual Disciplines to Foster Emotional Health at West Hickory Baptist Church, Hickory, North Carolina

Abstract

This ministry project was designed to help a group of members at West Hickory Baptist Church grow in emotional health through the practice of select biblical spiritual disciplines. Chapter 1 explains the ministry context and rationale of the project. The chapter also lays out the purpose and goals for the project, defines key terms used in the project, and chapter 1 explains the methodology used in the project’s implementation. Chapter 2 describes the connection in Scripture between spiritual disciplines and emotional health. The overarching passage for the whole curriculum, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, is explained and then other passages are discussed in relation to each of the disciplines covered in the project curriculum: Psalm 1 (Bible meditation), Philippians 4:1-7 (prayer), Psalm 40 (worship), and 2 Corinthians 8:1-6 (giving). Chapter 3 considers evangelical approaches to the spiritual disciplines and emotional health. After defining the key terms of “evangelical,” “spiritual disciplines,” and “emotional health,” evangelical approaches from the last forty years, when the study of spiritual disciplines became prominent in evangelicalism, is the focus of this chapter. The works of key teachers in the areas of spiritual disciplines and emotional health are considered. Chapter 4 is about the implementation of the project. The chapter describes how the curriculum was developed, implemented, and evaluated. Chapter 5 is an evaluation of the project’s purpose and goals, along with personal and theological reflections on the project.