The Path to Spiritual Growth
Richard Foster

Richard Foster has written much on the spiritual disciplines and their practice. I read this book every year to remind me of the things I should be doing to grow spiritually. It is always a great refresher. He has also written on other topics like the desert fathers.

Foster begins by explaining what the classical disciplines of the Christian life are. It was impactful for him to say that every Christian should be practising spiritual disciplines, not just spiritual Giants or masters.  He describes how to practice and apply the spiritual disciplines to our lives without making them hard and fast rules. They are meant for spiritual transformation. We will find this happening as we practice them.

He starts with the inward disciplines, with meditation. He explains what it is, why we do it, and how to do it. The next discipline he expounds upon is prayer. This is the most Central of all disciplines. Next covers the discipline of prayer. He focuses specifically on intercessory prayer. But he gives general thoughts as well.

The fourth discipline Foster addresses is fasting. He describes the types of fast that happened in the Bible. He also talks about the reasons for fasting. The most important part of this chapter is the practical instructions he gives for how to fast, as most people are unaware how to safely practice fasting today.

Next, he comes to the discipline of study. Many people think they know how to study but do not. He covers studying variable and nonverbal forms such as books, nature, people, culture, and ourselves. Then he moves to study the Bible.

In part two of the book, he discusses the outward disciplines. He begins with the discipline of simplicity. He notes that it must be an inward reality that works outward. Simplicity covers speech, materialism, and wealth and poverty. The Bible challenges the cultural norms we have today. He concludes by discussing several attitudes that lead to simplicity.

Next, he deals with the spiritual discipline of solitude. He contrast solitude with loneliness. He moves to speaking about the discipline of silence because the two are tied together. He describes what silence is and isn’t.

Next, Foster defines and describes the often misunderstood discipline of submission. He explains that there is a surprising freedom that comes from learning how to submit to others. Jesus is our chief example. Living the crucified life is our goal. He gives a Biblical framework for mutual submission. He moves on next to the discipline of service. He contrasts superficial service with genuine and biblical service. Service best highlights the quality and character of humility.

Part three concerns corporate disciplines. It begins with the discipline of confession. Confession is a corporate discipline because we must sometimes confess to one another. I love this quote,” Freedom begets freedom.” It is a powerful expression that encompasses this chapter. He gives good counsel on how to confess to others. We must also word how to receive confession from others

The next community discipline he covers is worship. He describes the forms of worship, the object of our worship the priority of worship, preparation for worship, and the leader of worship

The next discipline Foster approaches is guidance. He categorizes guidance under the corporate disciplines because the personal discipline of guidance is often stressed and he wants to bring attention to the corporate nature of this discipline.

He begins by giving a Biblical history of corporate guidance. He describes guidance as listening for the mind of the spirit rather than some human form of autocratic governments. He then shares models of corporate guidance.

Foster also explains the corporate discipline of celebration. He says that joy is the foundation and center of the Christian life. We have so many reasons to be joyful and to celebrate what God is doing among us. He gives some practices for how to celebrate with joy.

This book is a classic on the spiritual disciplines for good reason. Richard Foster teaches us well how to expand our spiritual repertoire with the disciplines. I love diving into this book every year because I always notice something they did not notice before. It is a timeless approach to spiritual disciplines.

I recommend this book to anyone who needs a fresh perspective on spiritual disciplines. You cannot go wrong with Foster’s perennial work here. He will challenge you to think about them differently and to try them in different ways.