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Spiritual formation (or transformation) has almost as many different definitions as the number of those who study it. There is a certain diversity to it, and much of it is influenced by one’s upbringing, life experiences, education, and personal beliefs. However, as Christians, our ultimate aim is to conform to as we are transformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29; 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2). With this in mind, we have attempted to adopt a definition that is unapologetically centered on the Bible alone but broad enough to accommodate for the diversity of expression within the Christian faith.
We define Spiritual Formation as:
A process that begins with the understanding that each person is a sinner separated from God. It accounts for one's individual design, life experiences, and Christ encounters that lead them into a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Biblical spiritual formation recognizes that the Holy Spirit uses one's unique design and experiences to transform them into the image of Jesus Christ. Biblical spiritual formation describes the complete process that encompasses the recognition of one's sin, repentance of that sin, and the redemption, regeneration, and sanctification of the saint.
Each of our lives is a journey composed of unique experiences that transform and mold us into who we are. Some experiences are good; others can be devastating. Regardless, they all impact us in some way.
The Christian Church emphasizes discipleship of the believer and rightfully so, as the making of disciples forms the commission of Christ to his bride. However, the Church often perceives discipleship in a vacuum, not realizing that discipleship is a small component of spiritual formation and is, in fact, informed by one’s life experiences—their journey. Faithfully making disciples requires that we recognize each person’s unique experiences and life make-up, then work through those experiences together to grow each of us to the maturity levels God desires for us.
We cannot divorce discipleship from one’s spiritual formation—both impact the other significantly. Our experiences affect how we see and relate to God and others. They influence our spiritual growth and relationships. We understand this, and we have sought to develop resources that help seekers encounter God, Christ-followers to experience the abundant life Jesus has promised, and everyone to continue progressing through their personal journeys regardless of where they may be.
We believe that the Bible is evidently clear on spiritual formation, and everything we teach is in accordance with it. Our aim and purpose are to assist every individual, whether a Christ-follower or yet to become one, to encounter the God of the Bible and to walk in the joy and purpose he offers through understanding identity, experiencing emotional healing, and receiving spiritual freedom.
Please visit our parent website to view our Statement of Faith and our theological position on fundamental beliefs. Regarding spiritual formation, we hold to the following three truths.
The Bible teaches us that all of us, regardless of our beliefs, are spiritual beings.
Seeking and understanding spiritual things doesn’t happen when we become Christians. As believers, Jesus and his message are simply what we have found to be the way and the truth, and how to progress through the spiritual journey as God originally intended. However, the formation process begins the moment we are conceived.
Biblical spiritual formation is the process one undergoes as they grow closer to Christ and transform into his image. Transformation is a product of intimacy. It involves the processes of surrendering and sanctification.
In summary, biblical spiritual formation describes the factors—the events and experiences—that lead one to come to know Christ and influence their personal sanctification process as they seek intimacy with God and community with others.
The concept of spiritual formation was reintroduced by Richard Foster through his book The Celebration of Discipline, released in the late 70s. It was further popularized by the likes of Dallas Willard. With its reintroduction, these and other evangelicals encouraged the Church to return to some of the beneficial disciplines lost through the ages. These disciplines included solitude, contemplative prayer, and fasting. In a world that has been highly industrialized and left with little margin, such practices should be viewed as a welcomed change.
To be precise, however, spiritual formation has its roots in Roman Catholicism. In their tradition, Catholics believed that one grew closer to Christ and exhibited more of his love through the practice of certain disciplines. While this understanding was correct in its onset (even Jesus demonstrated such practices as prayer, and the Bible encourages meditation on its words), the practices, in time, became more rote tradition and lost their underlying meaning. Additionally, such practices became syncretistic and were eventually mixed with Eastern religious thought.
Today, thanks to the voices of Foster, Willard, and others, spiritual disciplines have been revived in evangelical circles. However, in some cases, these disciplines have been misused for personal gain. What started as a movement to encourage greater intimacy with God and further Christ-likeness in the believer has become a demonic entryway to New Age Christianity, fostering mystical practices within the local church expression, such as yoga, energy healings, unbiblical lyrics in worship, prophetic speaking, and self-glorification. In essence, the adapted movement teaches an erroneous belief that following prescribed spiritual disciplines can lead to a mystical encounter with the divine. To be clear, this modern form of the movement teaches Christianity as a form of mysticism.
We seek to be very clear in differentiating spiritual formation and its influence in personal discipleship versus today’s adaptation of the spiritual formation movement. The former, we believe, is biblical and demonstrated by Christ and early Church leaders. The latter, however, emphasizes teachings that we believe are of critical error. While not an exhaustive list or examination of each item listed, some of these errors are highlighted.
The modern movement prioritizes disciplines over biblical truth. These practices include solitude, contemplation, and journaling. While these activities inherently aren’t bad—they can actually be quite good—without a proper understanding of biblical truths, the individual is prone to neglect adequate, exegetical Bible study. Therefore, any spiritual nourishment and “growth” are rooted in self-absorption, not God’s word. The Bible must be the foundation for spiritual growth, and any disciplines must remain simply external expressions of the truths contained therein.
It stresses Eastern and New Age contemplative practices, like meditation for emptying oneself. Adherents of the movement liken this to prayer. However, engaging in such practices can leave one open to unbiblical, if not demonic, influence. The Bible teaches that prayer is an engagement of worship involving the fullness of an individual, not the emptying of them. Biblical prayer is an expression of love and requires the involvement of all faculties—heart, mind, body, and soul. Furthermore, biblical spiritual formation is not void of an individual’s being, but the denying, submission, and conforming of it to the image of Jesus Christ. In short, biblical spiritual formation is not the emptying of an individual but their surrender and submission.
With its heavy emphasis on disciplines, the current movement transforms the means into the goals themselves. In other words, the movement idolizes the religious practices and creates a substitute for an authentic relationship with God. The practitioner’s objective is to properly execute the disciplines rather than leveraging such disciplines to pursue the heart of God. In such cases, the worship becomes another form of “rules taught by men.” Environments that subscribe to the movement place unhealthy emphasis on the worship “experience” rather than genuine transformation. Instead, they believe that a good experience equates to spiritual growth, when this could not be further from the truth.
Unhealthy prioritization of disciplines subvertly undermines the biblical teaching of unmerited grace. Instead, this prioritization elevates the works of the individual. As such, it grossly misrepresents true spiritual formation and its resulting maturity. By focusing heavily on practicing disciplines, an individual can incorrectly believe they are growing in their faith when, in reality, they are growing in spiritual bondage. To the contrary, biblical spiritual formation teaches that we encounter God through his grace alone, despite personal adherence to and satisfactory performance of spiritual disciplines.
We believe the teachings and the theological position of today’s mainstream movement are heretical, directly conflicting with what the Bible teaches concerning the relationship we are to pursue with God and the practice and use of spiritual disciplines. While God can most certainly be encountered through employing various disciplines, it is a revealing of himself that he chooses to bestow upon us through his grace and the work of the Holy Spirit. Any revelation of God must align with the teachings of the Bible. Furthermore, it is solely a work of the Holy Spirit and has very little, if any, dependence on the works of humanity. Ultimately, God reveals himself when and how he chooses to whomever he decides to do so.
In the end, our primary concern is with our life experiences for the purpose of examining how they have formed our beliefs regarding the Bible, Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, along with how those beliefs are lived out as disciples. This site is dedicated to approaching spiritual formation through the lens of the Bible, as we believe God’s Word is the final, inerrant source of truth and authority.
