Photo illustration by Jessamyn Rubio

Phyllis Tickle, who promotes the keeping of the fixed-hour prayers of the church in her book series “The Divine Hours,” also points away from the Reformers’ strictly intellectual approach. “The theology is patent in Christianity itself. The Lord says come to me with your minds as well as your hearts, and what I think is happening is a correction back from thinking too much from the head.”

Indeed, the foundation for such practices is present throughout the Bible. It is foremost in what Jesus called the first and greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Advocates of spiritual practices say that ignoring this commandment results in an incomplete experience of God, which should be one of the whole person, heart, soul and mind.

The writings of the Apostle Paul are the theological cornerstone of such practices. His letters are full of references to letting the Holy Spirit in, to allowing the Spirit of God to move within one’s life -- the ultimate goal.

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God,” Paul writes to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:12-14). And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

“Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually.”

‘We speak not of ourselves, but of Christ’

“Paul says ‘think on these things,’ and that is what I do,” said Campolo, who is the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, an organization that develops schools and social programs.

His spiritual practices begin with centering prayer in the morning and end with the prayer of examen at night. The 73-year-old Campolo credits this discipline with allowing him to keep a schedule that includes 400 speaking appearances a year.

“I feel a distinct rush that results in an aliveness and enthusiasm and a burst of spiritual energy,” Campolo said. “When Jesus spoke, he spoke as one having authority. That was a spiritual quality of his being, and Christian leaders, if they are going to speak with authority, they have to access spiritual practices that will infuse them with an authority beyond themselves. We speak not of ourselves, but of Christ, and that depends on the extent to which we allow Christ to be in us at one time.”

In addition to strengthening an individual’s spiritual life, Christian spiritual practices have the potential to build up the community and identity of the church.

Elisabeth Koenig, a professor of ascetical theology at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, emphasizes the literal meaning of the word “practice” -- the repeated performance of a task or action regularly over time.

“Practices help us to develop an explicit, strong sense of personal identity we can return to when the going gets rough,” said Koenig, who teaches courses in Christian spiritual practices.

When performed by a group -- a congregation, members of a ministry or other body -- they also can establish a communal identity. Koenig likens this to the way a sports team functions.

“Both spiritual practices and sports involve the development of higher and higher degrees of complex action and interaction. And when people cooperate together in ways that are more intricate and complex, they also grow a new, stronger sense of communal identity,” she said.

Slowing down, opening up

Like Campolo, Wallis knows the rejuvenation -- both physical and spiritual -- that comes from daily spiritual discipline. Ironically, this energy comes from the fact that the practices slow him down.

“The problem with most leaders is our schedule,” Wallis said. “For me, it is incoming fire all day long. Even my taxicab rides are scheduled with interviews. Nothing ever stops, but something has to slow you down, and for me that is prayer.

“Prayer is not talking, it is listening. So when I pray, it just refreshes and relaxes and calms me and I start breathing again and I empty my mind and begin to focus on the deeper things. And things come to me -- some of my best ideas.”