The Critical Journey

Ever wonder why your spiritual life doesn’t always feel “up and to the right”? In this episode of Practicing the Practices, we introduce The Critical Journey — a framework for spiritual growth that explains the stages of faith, why you sometimes feel stuck, and how God is inviting you into a deeper walk with Him.

Stage 1 of the Critical Journey is all about awakening to God’s presence — whether through conversion, wonder, or curiosity. We’ll explore what this first step looks like, why it matters, and a practical way you can reflect on and share your own story of recognizing God.

Faith deepens when we learn from others, belong to a community, and are shaped by teaching and practice. In this episode, we talk about Stage 2: The Life of Discipleship, and introduce a practice to help you root yourself more deeply in Scripture and community.

Stage 3 is when we pour ourselves into serving God, our church, and our world. But it’s also a season where we can overwork, overcommit, and tie our identity to what we produce. We explore Stage 3: The Productive Life and give you a practice to keep your soul rested and grounded in God’s grace.

Stage 4 is often called The Journey Inward — it is about moving toward a deeper encounter with God. This is the season where we begin to ask harder questions, wrestle with our motives, and allow God to reveal what’s beneath the surface of our faith. In this episode of Practicing the Practices, we’ll explore the beauty and challenge of this inward turn, and why it’s essential for maturing in Christ.

Have you ever felt like you’ve hit a wall in your faith — where prayer feels empty, God feels silent, and nothing seems to work the way it used to? This is what Janet Hagberg and Robert Guelich call The Wall, a pivotal moment in Stage 4 of the Critical Journey. In this episode, we unpack why The Wall shows up, what God might be doing in this season, and how you can lean into it instead of walking away.

On the other side of The Wall is a deeper, freer life with God. Stage 5 is all about living out of inner freedom, not performance or striving. We explore what this stage looks like and share a practice for loving others from a place of abundance rather than obligation

Stage 6 is the culmination of the Critical Journey — a life marked by humility, simplicity, and overflowing love. In this episode, we talk about what it looks like to become a person who naturally radiates the love of Jesus. We’ll offer a few final thoughts about next steps for walking with Jesus in every season of faith.