Milestones In Spiritual Maturity — Vol. I

Introduction

by Joseph McRae Mellichamp

Rae is Professor Emeritus (Management) at the University of Alabama and is a National Representative for Faculty Commons.

Few things in the university are as distressing as the sight of a professor who has received tenure and subsequently stopped producing. For such a person, there is simply no creative output in research, no enthusiasm for teaching and no interest in service activities. It quickly becomes apparent to all—colleagues, students, and family members—that the individual is merely marking time. The spark is gone; the dreams of having an influence on the discipline have faded. The motivation of challenging young minds to expand and to learn has dwindled. The desire to serve colleagues in the university and people in the community has died. It is truly sad to see a professor in such a condition.

Spiritual Tenure Letdown

Unfortunately, Christian professors face a similar danger in the Christian life. It is what we might call a “spiritual tenure” letdown.

At some point in the lives of many Christians there is a period of intense spiritual growth. They fall in love with the Lord Jesus. They gain a new appreciation for His Word; they read it with new understanding and delight. They want to see Him change their lives. They have an enthusiasm to see family members, friends, neighbors and acquaintances have a similar encounter with the Master. They are committed to walking with the Lord and growing in their relationship with Him.

While no one wants to slip spiritually, we often do;

and then we sometimes find ourselves in the spiritual doldrums.

After a while, however, they hit a spiritual plateau. The excitement can wear off. When this happens, there seems to be nowhere to go and nothing to do on this spiritual journey but to maintain the status quo. Other pursuits seem more demanding, more urgent, more important. While no one wants to slip spiritually, we often do; and then we sometimes find ourselves in the spiritual doldrums.

For some, this can happen as early as the college or university years. For others, it can occur after graduate school or when family demands begin to surface. Spiritual growth stalls and the excitement diminishes; there seems to be no way to return to the spiritual high. On the other hand, there are some who never seem to experience a spiritual slump. They continue to walk closely with the Lord as they develop personally and experience a fruitful relationship with Him.

Personal Spiritual Assessment

Whether you are growing in your spiritual journey or in a spiritual slump, it is useful to take time to conduct a personal spiritual assessment—to determine where you are in your walk—and to define where you would like to go. We designed the material to help you evaluate where you are in this respect and to give you input and direction in how to develop further as a maturing Christian professor. We hope this material will set you on track for your next spiritual promotion when you hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

You may want to think of this material as a spiritual post-tenure review. As in all tenure reviews, it can be unsettling to see the efforts of the past years spread out before you in living color. But, such a review can be tremendously valuable in leading any of us as Christians in the right direction so we can be more effective for the glory of God.

Scripture has much to say about spiritual maturity. Once we have experienced spiritual birth, the Bible speaks of an ongoing spiritual transformation which God seeks to bring to pass in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. He will utilize His Word in conjunction with other Christians and our life experiences to reshape us. The goal of this ongoing transformation (or sanctification, as the Bible calls it) is described by three words in the New Testament which are used as synonyms: “spiritually mature,” “complete,” and “perfect” (Hebrews 6:1, Colossians 1:28, James 1:2-4). The exact meaning of these terms is ultimately defined in a beautiful word picture, namely the life and character of Jesus into whose likeness we are being conformed (Romans 8:29). While this spiritual transformation will not be completed until we see Jesus Christ face to face (1 John 3:2), we are repeatedly admonished to cooperate with God’s work of sanctification in our lives.

This material has been uniquely designed to address the special challenges

and opportunities that Christian faculty face

The desire of Faculty Commons in developing this manual is to encourage you and to provide direction for you as you continue your journey toward a more intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a greater measure of personal maturity. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28). This material has been uniquely designed to address the special challenges and opportunities that Christian faculty face as well as addressing issues of spiritual growth that are common to all Christians. Christian Leadership Ministries is also committed to fostering faith-communities on campuses where like-minded academics can make this journey together.

It’s not “By the numbers”

In any project of this type, there is a very real danger of communicating a “by the numbers” mentality. In other words, it is not our intention to communicate that if you will simply check off all the different items in this manual, Faculty Commons (or someone) will certify you as an official “Christian Professor.” There is also the danger of using activities to measure spiritual character. For example, one might spend two hours every day studying God’s Word; from an activity standpoint, this would appear to be a good thing. But if one is simply checking boxes and has a cold heart toward the Lord in spite of spending a large amount of time in the Scripture, this activity will not result in spiritual growth. Jesus had much to say to the Pharisees who did all the right things with the wrong motives: “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me’ ” (Mark 7:6).

As we stated, spiritual maturity is ultimately the work of God accomplished in Christian believers by His Holy Spirit, through His Word, through His people, and through life experiences. Our intention in developing these materials is similar to that of the Apostle Paul who admonished Timothy to “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7). In this manual, we have attempted to identify various materials, books, activities and experiences which, if engaged in with the right motives, will enable us as Christian professors to cooperate with the Lord in the sanctification process. These resources will, in fact, help us to discipline ourselves for godliness. Finally in this regard, be assured that we do not hold this to be a “be all, end all” list; one could certainly grow spiritually and never undertake any recommendation put forth in this volume. And we would never suggest that someone is not growing spiritually simply because he or she has not checked off some particular item herein.

Special Thanks

A number of individuals participated in developing this material. Dr. Rae Mellichamp, emeritus professor of management science at the University of Alabama, served as overall editor for the project; conceived the curriculum framework; wrote the sections not otherwise attributed below; and developed the assessment instrument found in the Appendix. Dr. Walter Bradley, professor of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University, wrote the section on motivation and made substantive editorial suggestions. Dr. John Walkup, emeritus professor of electrical engineering at Texas Tech University, wrote the section on the professional life. Dr. Philip Bishop, professor of human performance studies at the University of Alabama, wrote the section on the physical life. Dr. Robert Brooks, professor of finance at the University of Alabama wrote the section on financial affairs. Rich McGee, staff with  Faculty Commons, wrote the section on worldview. In addition, insightful editorial recommendations were made by Dr. Larry Caillouet, professor of communications at Western Kentucky University; Dr. Jim Stock, professor of marketing at the University of South Florida; Dr. Byron Johnson, Baylor University; Dr. Terry Pickett, emeritus professor of German at the University of Alabama; and Mike Duggins, at that time national director of Christian Leadership Ministries/Faculty Commons.

Once the original draft was prepared, the manual was sent to the entire staff of Faculty Commons  for review. These individuals were encouraged to make suggestions on the curriculum which they did with typical enthusiasm. Then each of the field staff and several of the headquarters staff in Dallas were encouraged to ask one or more professors to review the manual and present their feedback. Thus, in this phase of development, we were able to get input from over 30 professors from a diverse spectrum of perspectives—with representation from a broad cross-section of disciplines, regions of the country, both genders, and minority groups. Faculty Commons convened a task force chaired by Rich McGee and which included Dave DeHuff, Bill Hager, Charlie Mack, and Joe Mulvihill to consolidate these suggestions for final editing.

This manual has years of conceptual development and four years of writing invested in it. We hope that it will benefit thousands of Christian professors and academic staff. In a very real sense, we intend for this to be a living document. We will revise and modify it as we hear back from you who actually work through some or all of it, and we will add to it as we learn more of what it really means to grow as a Christian professor.

(c) 2009 Faculty Commons