A Christian Guide to Spirituality: Foundations for Disciples

Spirituality is lived belief. When we pray, worship, or reach out to our neighbors, we live out our beliefs. Our beliefs structure our spirituality like skin stretched over the bones of our bodies.

These beliefs start with faith in God the Father through Jesus Christ as revealed through the Holy Spirit in scripture, in the church, and in daily life. Our Trinitarian theology orders our beliefs. Without a coherent theology, we lose our identity in space and time having no map or compass to guide us on our way. In the end, we focus on ourselves, not God.

Christian spirituality starts with God, not with us.

A Christian Guide to Spirituality takes the form of 50 daily devotions. Each topic is treated with a scriptural reference, reflection, prayer, and questions for discussion. Occasionally, references are provided for further study. The first four chapters (Introduction, Apostle’s Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Commandments) cover 40 days making them suitable as a Lenten study. Ten additional days focus on the spiritual disciplines and a short conclusion. Fifty days of study allow an Easter study running through Pentecost.

Reading A Christian Guide to Spirituality will help readers understand Christian spirituality better and nurture their faith. There is no such thing as quality time with the Lord; there is only time. The living God speaks to us in many ways, but especially through scripture. These three sources cited (Apostle’s Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and Ten Commandments) are commonly called the “rule of faith” (regula fidei) and were utilized for nearly two millennia as a means to apprentice the faith. These sources are the heart of the confessions of most Christian faith communities and denominations.

Hear the words; walk the steps; experience the joy!

Author Stephen W. Hiemstra (MDiv, PhD) is a slave of Christ, husband, father, tentmaker, economist, and writer. He lives with Maryam, his wife of thirty years, in Centreville, VA and they have three grown children.

Foreword written by Neal D. Presa, past Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

This book might be classified appropriately in spirituality, Christian living, devotion, faith, religion, and theology.

What people are saying...

You have my blessing. It's book that needed to be written. It will do a lot of good.
- Peter John Kreeft, Boston College

Stephen provides a helpful, accessible guide using the classic catechetical structure of the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
- David A. Currie, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

This is a book for those who want to understand how best to have a living faith and an ever deepening devotional and experiential knowledge of God.
- Stephen Macchia, Pierce Center for Disciple-Building

Author Stephen W. Hiemstra (MDiv, PhD) is a slave of Christ, husband, father, tentmaker, economist, and writer. He lives with Maryam, his wife of thirty years, in Centreville, VA and they have three grown children.

Stephen has been an active writer spanning both his career as an economist and a pastor. As an economist of 27 years in 5 federal agencies, he published numerous government studies, magazine articles, and book reviews. He has maintained a personal website since the 1990s and he has been active in social media. A Christian Guide to Spirituality is his first published book.

Stephen is currently a second career tentmaker dividing his time equally between Hispanic ministry and blogging under a theme of "online pastor". As a hospital chaplain intern, he worked in the emergency department, a psychiatric unit, and an Alzheimer's unit. He is an elder in Centreville Presbyterian Church.

He has masters of divinity (MDiv, 2013) from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. His doctorate (PhD, 1985) is in agricultural economics from Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI. Although a U.S. citizen, Stephen has lived both in Puerto Rico and Germany and is conversational in both Spanish and German.