In discipleship, we need less education theory and more neuro-socio-emotional practice.
Focusing on education assumes that discipleship is primarily about learning information. But discipleship is about transformation.
And the transformation of the person—as the best relational and affective neuroscience is showing—comes through our embodied socio-emotional relationships.
This transformation simultaneously rewire our neural pathways (in us) while opening new spiritual pathways (toward God and others).
For too long we have emphasized a left-brain, top-down, logical-linear-linguistic approach to discipleship that has failed to address the anxiety and idols of our culture (see the church’s failure to address the rising mental health crisis, continuing racial prejudice, and mixing of faith and nationalism).
Instead, we need to recover a more right-brained, bottom-up, socio-emotional-embodied approach to discipleship that integrated spiritual disciplines and relational practices.
Check out the EMBODIED FAITH PODCAST for more about the intersection of neuroscience, spiritual formation, and faith (or get new episodes emailed to you).