Defining The Points of the Spiritual Journey - a review of "Spiritual Waypoints"

As church leaders have studied evangelism and discipleship, we have regularly noticed patterns of growth.  That is, people tend to grow through various spiritual "stages."  Similar to the stages described by developmental psychologists, these stages form a kind of guide by which spiritual progress/growth might be measured.  But even at the very outset, we struggle with that, don't we?  How exactly does one "measure" spiritual growth?  And yet, every pastor can think of many who, with good intentions, refused to submit to some kind of process and drifted from faith.

John Wesley described a series of "stages" during his ministry in the 18th Century.  His students described it as an "order of salvation."  To many people, this seemed too rigid.  How can unique individuals be expected to pass through a one-size-fits-all approach to growth?  After all, the Apostle Paul wrote that we each receive varying measures (or mixtures) of grace.  In Wesleyan studies, contemporary scholars have suggested that Wesley did not prescribe an "order" of salvation, but rather described a common "way" of salvation.

In the 20th Century, many church leaders have offered revised versions of their observations. Wesleyan scholar Bob Whitesel offers his version in his book, Spiritual Waypoints: Helping Others Navigate the Journey.  From an scholarly perspective, Whitesel recognizes two of the most popular "orders of salvation" offered in the 20th century.  James Engel and Robert Norton offered a series of 14 "stages of spiritual decision."  Most of the stages focused on the deepening awareness taking place in a person before the moment of new birth, or spiritual decision to personally follow Jesus.  Robert Clinton later suggested a series of stages, and focused his stages more on the process of growth after the new birth.  In this volume, Bob Whitesel combines the 2 into one scale of 17 stages, or, as he calls them, Waypoints.
This is where this book is most helpful.  Whitesel effectively shares a comprehensive descriptive process of spiritual growth, both before and after "conversion."  This is sorely needed in our churches and especially in our evangelistic training of future ministers.  His writing is accessible to lay readers as well as undergraduate students.  (It might be a bit too simple for graduate students in anything beyond an introductory course).  He purposefully uses personal stories of many well-know evangelical leaders.  Every chapter includes suggestions for how to help the spiritual seekers who live at the waypoint being discussed.

Whitesel's goal, however, is not to merely combine 2 simple, yet incomplete scales into one comphrehensive scale.  He also attempts to change the view away from inflexible "steps" or "stages" and towards a more flexible process.  He suggests that the older scales tend to be more modern, but that a post-modern understanding of process and story is now required.  He suggests the metaphor of a journey and then uses the imagery of a waypoint as a general indicator of where a traveler is in relation to other points of the entire journey.  I appreciate his attempt, but I am not sure he entirely succeeded.  A postmodern narrative approach is a unique philosophy, and doesn't blend well with a more rationalistic classification of distinct stages.
I can appreciate the author's motivation for writing this volume.  He shares a disturbing story of a personal friend who was converted but later left the church because the church (and evangelicals in general) is "too narrow" and works with "evangelistic nearsightedness" by focusing only on evangelism and neglecting ministry to the poor.  Fifteen years later, the author heard similar opinions as he interviewed people to discover why they don't attend church.  His discoveries led to this book.  He writes, "I am observing a growing criticism that the evangelical church is fixated upon the conversion encounter, and not the process that leads up to it or follows it."  In this book, he suggests a comprehensive process.

In the end, Whitesel offers a good starting point for understanding the process of evangelism and discipleship.  I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about evangelism, and for churches who want to improve their evangelistic ministry.