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such as those utilizing the Taizé model or traditional liturgies [BD, 172-175].
In his discussion of the social and communal context of spiritual formation,
Demarest gives specific attention to a wide range of spiritual helpers who work together in the
ministry of soul care and spiritual formation.
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He speaks specifically of those who can provide
spiritual friendship, spiritual guidance, spiritual mentoring and spiritual direction [BD, 188-216].
These soul care ministries form a continuum that range from the more informal, unstructured and
reciprocal (spiritual friendship) to the more formal, structured, and one-directional (spiritual
direction) [BD, 195]. Demarests primary focus is on spiritual mentoring and direction, giving
specific guidelines for these practices [BD, 204-210]. Demarest speaks specifically and
appreciatively of redemptive counselors as well. (Ibid., 220-252). Thus while neither Demarest
nor Willard lay great stress on the mutual encouragement and exhortation that are to characterize
the body of Christ in our mutual pursuit of spiritual transformation (e.g. Heb 3:12-14; 10:24-25),
that works the words and truths of God into our souls. . . . Both disciplines should be staples in
the Christians spiritual diet. Meditation without contemplation can become dry and ponderous.
Contemplation without meditation may lack the surety of biblical rootedness. ,,Meditation is the
act of turning our attention from the things of the world to the things of God, but contemplation
involves turning our attention from the things of God to attend to God himself." [BD, 164].
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Demarest contrasts these kind of soul care ministries with more traditional evangelical
models of discipleship which focus more "on gaining information (knowing) and acquiring skills
(doing), rather than cultivating the inner life (being)." In those discipleship models "crucial
issues of the soul are overlooked." [BD, 190.]