Spiritual FormationWhat Is Spiritual Formation?

There are many different definitions of spiritual formation. A definition that describes our approach comes from Dallas Willard, who describes spiritual formation in the tradition of Jesus Christ as “the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will. It is being formed (really, transformed) in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ.”

Spiritual formation is not something that we do to ourselves for ourselves, but something we allow God to do in us and for us as we yield ourselves to the work of God’s transforming grace in us, and also in the world around us.

We believe that as a church we are called to support all who come our way however we can, on their individual faith journeys. We believe the ultimate goal for each one of us, no matter our stage of faith, is to continually grow, transform, and to become more and more like Christ. We do this mostly by engaging the practices that Christ himself demonstrated as our role model, and surrendering to God’s work in our lives. So whether you are new to faith or established in faith, we hope to encourage you and guide you in continuing to grow.

We strongly encourage the practice of spiritual disciplines as a way of putting ourselves in a posture to be able to receive God’s grace. Spiritual disciplines are practices and behaviors that we adopt in order to open ourselves up to God and to nurture spiritual growth. They transform our inner being and are manifested in our outward behavior. They enable us to come before God and become transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ.

The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun is a book we would highly recommend.

The spiritual disciplines we recommend vary depending on the stage you are in your faith journey, as well as your natural spiritual style. If you would like to find out more about your natural spiritual style, try taking this this quiz and then visit our Nine Sacred Pathways page.