Spiritual Friendship: Learning to Be Friends with God and One Another

Resources for Application

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friend Germanus, and various spiritual mentors. These conversations are still read by thousands of believers every year with great spiritual reward. 20 (3) Matteo Ricci (d. 1610), one of the first Christian missionaries to China, believed deeply in the importance of friendship and spiritual conversations

between friends. The first book he wrote in Chinese was called, On Friendship , and it has remained popular in China ever since. 21

(4) The Puritans took spiritual conversations about God and Scripture seriously. 22 They would often set times to talk with one another about their souls and their friendship with God. These conversations would take place between friends, pastors and members of their congregation, small groups of pastors, husbands and wives, and parents and children. Today, friends can practice the art of spiritual conversation with just as much profit as previous generations. They can set times to meet with friends for a walk or meal to talk about the state of their souls, their mutual friendship with Jesus, and things they are hearing in Scripture. Consider setting regular times to talk with spiritual friends about these matters. You could set a daily time (perhaps easiest for families or those living together), a weekly time for 20 John Cassian, John Cassian: The Conferences , ed. Boniface Ramsey, Ancient Christian Writers 57 (New York: Paulist, 1997); See also Cassian, Institutes and Conferences in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. 21 Matteo Ricci, On Friendship: One Hundred Maxims for a Chinese Prince , trans. Timothy Billings, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009 [orig. 1595]). 22 Joanne J. Jung, The Lost Discipline of Conversation: Surprising Lessons in Spiritual Formation Drawn from the English Puritans (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018).