Friends in Formation

Host James Catford, co-host Richella Parham, and guest contributor Grace Pouch discuss listener questions on discerning God’s voice, the temptation to judge others, and best practices for shepherding children’s spiritual formation.

Kicking off the relaunch of Friends In Formation, James, Richella—and new host Tiana Spencer—discuss three listener questions: how to stop measuring your spiritual life by the world's standards, why genuine adult friendship feels so rare (and how to find it), and how to break free from the overwhelm of too many books and courses.

The final episode of this season of Friends in Formation covers listener questions on why spiritual formation "clicks" at certain ages, whether we should pray the prayer "Disturb me, Lord" (Sir Frances Drake), and knowing when to take a break from something.

Want to Sug­gest a Question?
To sub­mit a ques­tion for James, Richel­la, and Nate to con­sid­er dis­cussing on Friends in For­ma­tion, email friends@​renovare.​org.

Listener questions guide our hosts into a fruitful discussion about moving from theory to practice in the discipline of Sabbath, exploring historic Christian writers both inside and outside of your own tradition, and learning to pray for others.
Three listener questions—
I've become a John Mark Comer fan, thanks to your recommendation of his book, The Ruthless Elimination Hurry, on one of your earliest podcasts over the past year or two. That book and some other resources of his have piqued my interest in practicing Sabbath. Could each of you share what your Sabbath looks like—the practical aspects of it. When? How long? What do you do? I want to take this from an idea to a habit and would love to hear how y'all do this. I love the podcast. It always inspires me to draw closer to Jesus. Thanks.

I’ve been a Protestant Christian many years. I'm definitely not averse to spiritual wisdom from believers in other traditions. I've had a spiritual director for about six years, and she always points me to resources by Roman Catholics. It kind of bothers me that it seems that there is relatively little by Protestants on deep spiritual formation. Is it just my lack of knowledge or are Protestants much less likely to explore these sorts of issues? I feel almost guilty to be reading all these things outside of my tradition. Do Protestants not care about the issues that Roman Catholic writers address?

Hi friends. How do you pray for one? I hear people talk about the power of prayer, and I'm interested in going deeper in prayer, but I've wondered how specific I should be in my prayer request, and how do I know whether I should trust someone with my prayer request?

Resources:
The Ruthless Elimination Hurry, by John Mark Comer

Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians, by James G Lawson

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, by William Law - 158pp

Hearing God, by Dallas Willard

Spiritual Classics, Richard Foster and Emilie Griffin

Devotional Classics, Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith

Other writers recommended on this episode:Martin Luther

John Wesley

Corrie ten Boom

Catherine Marshall

Frank Laubach

Thomas Kelly

John Ortberg

James Brian Smith

Nathan Foster

Richella Parham

James Catford

John Bunyan

Louisa May Alcott