Not everyone thinks it is necessary to believe in God in order to have a spiritual life. An American survey showed, according to Newsweek (28/11/94), that 26% of Americans believe that they ‘get a sense of the sacred during sex’. This is the phenomenon of secular spirituality, a concept that has undoubtedly been helped by the fact that ‘spirituality’ has no single, clear, unambiguous meaning. The Director of Theology and Public Policy, Brian Edgar discusses Spirituality (1,500 words) and the way it is necessary to go beyond much of the ‘self-serve’ spirituality which exists to an authentically Christian spirituality focussed on God as Father, Son and Spirit. Also see the two articles on the Holy Spirit (or the Spirit of God) and the Trinity.
The great varieties of spirituality which exist are discussed by Philip Johnson who has been sharing the Gospel of Christ with people of alternative faiths for the past 20 years. He is founder of New Age Mission, and trains ministers, church workers and Christian people to share their faith with new age people. In Reaching New Age Seekers (2,300 words)he shows that New age is not a monolithic movement where everyone believes the same things. It is a very eclectic and highly individualistic movement which offers Christians a marvellous opportunity to share the gospel. Christians must be willing to leave the comfort zones of the churches and go into the marketplace.
Rikki Watts, Associate Professor of New Testament at Regent College, asks What does it means to be saved? He says that we have hung on to the word and lost the meaning! It is all about being in the image of God – its about being fully human! (3,200 words - download as a pdf file)
