The first goal of this project was to assess knowledge and practice of certain spiritual disciplines, with emphasis on biblical meditation, among a select group of MWBC members. This goal was considered to be met when I distributed and collected surveys and provided an assessment of the spiritual discipline practice current among the population of the class. Each participant’s survey was recorded according to their select PIN and their agreement to participate in the pre- and post-testing phase. I was successful in meeting this goal as will be shown through the following explanation.
Spiritual Disciplines Assessment
During the first meeting, I introduced the topic of the course and proceeded to explain the need to assess, by means of survey, the knowledge and practice of
participants concerning spiritual disciplines and specifically biblical meditation.
Participants were given a ten-minute period to complete the preliminary survey.1 This survey included a section of five questions related to general practice of spiritual
1See appendix 3.
disciplines. These five questions were not included in the post-survey, but were useful in gleaning some information that proved fruitful for the background of this study.
An insightful correlation was discovered pertaining to the scores of questions 3 and 5. Question 3 asked if participants perceive they are adequately trained or educated by the church for the use of spiritual disciplines; the findings reveal a low score of 46 percent. However, question 5 asked if participants believe their corporate worship is impacted, whether positively or negatively, by their use of personal spiritual disciplines;
80 percent responded yes.
This preliminary assessment showed what I assumed to be true of my congregation: a lack of education and encouragement in personal spiritual discipline effects the worship of the congregation. This also proves a helpful indicator as to what I assumed in the creation of this project; participants will see greater propensity to practice their faith as they are trained in the spiritual discipline of biblical meditation. Projects of this nature may serve as a solution to the problem of church members’ lack of desire to read the Bible and keep regular devotional practices. Further testing could be beneficial in addressing the corporate worship aspect of personal spiritual disciplines.
As mentioned above, the pre-survey included a section for assessing the participant’s current practice of and attitude toward the spiritual disciplines. Aside from this spiritual disciplines assessment, the majority of the pre-survey was identical to the post-survey. Twenty questions in the survey provided preliminary data concerning participants’ perceptions and frequency patterns in biblical meditation. The following sections provide an assessment of the pre-survey data.
Pre-Survey Perceptions of Biblical Meditation
Due to the fifteen questions under the category of perceptions concerning meditation, I will display only the three questions that found the largest percentage point growth. I will separate this assessment into two sections. The first section will analyze the participants’ understanding of biblical meditation. The second section will analyze the participants’ personal practice of meditation. The participants’ pre-survey results show there was in fact a need for increased knowledge in biblical meditation.
Table 1. Pre-survey perceptions related to understanding Perceptions Strongly
Disagree Disagree Disagree
Somewhat Agree
Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree I have been
formally
instructed in the personal spiritual discipline of biblical meditation.
3 5 3 0 4 1
I could define and explain biblical meditation to another Christian.
2 5 3 6 0 0
I could explain to someone else how to use the Bible for meditation.
5 3 3 3 2 0
Table 1 demonstrates a perceived lack of knowledge of biblical meditation among the project’s participants. The three questions displayed in this table are meant to be triangulated. When asked if participants were trained in biblical meditation they scored 50 percent. When asked if they could define what biblical meditation is they only
scored 47 percent. Lastly, when asked if they could explain biblical meditation to someone else they produced a score of only 44 percent. These scores reveal that even if some participants believed they were trained in biblical meditation, they were unlikely to be able to define or explain the spiritual discipline adequately.
Table 2. Pre-survey perceptions related to personal practice Perceptions Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Disagree Somewhat
Agree Somewhat
Agree Strongly Agree I am frequently
convicted of sin and led to repentance through my personal intake of Scripture.
1 0 3 1 10 1
I often find myself
contemplating God’s activity in creation during my day.
0 2 1 9 2 2
I am confident in my ability to use multiple methods for meditating on God’s Word and Works.
2 6 4 1 3 0
Table 2 examines questions related to personal practice of biblical meditation.
The question regarding the use of Scripture for the conviction of sin required participants to think through how they think about the Bible as they are reading it. This question produced a healthy score of 73 percent. Participants were then asked if they find themselves contemplating God’s activity in their lives, which yielded a score of 68 percent. Lastly, participants produced a score of 47 percent when asked if they were
confident in their ability to make use of multiple means of meditation. This score is not surprising based on assessing table 1 because practice necessitates the utilization and synthesis of previously obtained knowledge.
Combining these two tables shows participants had a concern for devotional experiences in communion with God, but were unaware of the means and methods for those experiences. Over the whole section of perceptions, participants made use of their Bible, but in no structured or regular way. Taking this data with the consideration of the spiritual disciplines assessment, participants demonstrated a lack of education in their spiritual disciplines that impacts their experience of both corporate worship and their personal devotional life.
Pre-Survey Frequency of Biblical Meditation
The spiritual disciplines assessment indicated the average participant in the course was practicing spiritual disciplines to some degree. The pre-survey frequency questionnaire provided a deeper gleaning of these practices. Table 3 records three of the scores related to frequency of biblical meditation type practices.
Table 3. Pre-survey frequency of biblical meditation Frequency 0 times
per week
1 time per week
2 times per week
3 times per week
4 times per week
5+ times per week I read and
meditate on Scripture.
2 2 3 7 0 2
I share experiences of my spiritual life with others.
2 6 1 4 1 2
I spend more than three minutes meditating on a specific verse or Christian doctrine.
3 3 6 2 2 0
Through this pre-survey, participants revealed percentage scores indicating they did not place a high value on meditating over Scripture (a score of 57 percent) and they are not prone to share spiritual experiences with others (a score of 48 percent).
Participants were unlikely to spend more than three minutes meditating on a specific verse or particular doctrine (a score of 47 percent). These scores are not unreasonable for these particular individuals given what was revealed in the perceptions section of the pre- survey. What those frequencies reveal is the need for meditation practices to be
encouraged among the people. The pre-survey helped to ensure the course and the accompanying guidebook would truly be of use for those participants who desired to grow in their faith by learning and practicing the discipline of biblical meditation.