What is Spiritual Formation?
Spiritual formation refers to the intentional process of cultivating a deeper relationship with God through disciplined practices that aim to transform the inner person. Within the Christian tradition, it is “the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will.” This process involves strengthening one’s faith and connection with God through various activities such as prayer, meditation, and scripture reading.
The term encompasses both a general approach to spiritual growth and a specific movement within contemporary Christianity. From a Christian standpoint, some state that it is identical with sanctification as understood as a progressive and gradual process of maturation, often referred to as “being conformed to the image of Christ,” being made holy, or the formation of virtue and character. Unlike salvation, which is viewed as an act of grace through faith, spiritual formation comes after salvation and is a byproduct of faith, grace, and work.
There are numerous definitions of spiritual formation and no definitive depiction due to the breadth of the concept and the numerous perspectives from which religious persons may approach it. A group of spiritual formation leaders and writers in 2009 defined it as the “process of being shaped by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, filled with love for God and the world.”
Origins & Lineage
Spiritual formation is the term with the longest history, dating back to early monastic practices. The term spiritual formation was first used in Roman Catholic institutions and religious communities to describe training for those pursuing religious vows.
The historical roots trace to the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Christian hermits and ascetics who emerged in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. The Desert Fathers movement began around 270 CE with Saint Anthony the Great, often regarded as the father of Christian monasticism. Antony the Great (c. 251–356 CE) is often considered the father of Christian monasticism. Another was the cenobitic life, communities of monks and nuns in Upper Egypt formed by Pachomius the Great. These early ascetics retreated to the Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian deserts to pursue solitude, prayer, and contemplative disciplines.
Historically rooted in Roman Catholic traditions, it encompasses both formal training for individuals pursuing religious vows and personal practices for laypeople who seek to fulfill their spiritual responsibilities following baptism. The term has evolved to include a broader movement that gained traction in the 1970s, emphasizing individual interpretation and personal spirituality alongside communal practices.
In its modern form, the movement began in 1978, when Richard Foster wrote what has become the perennially standard text on the spiritual disciplines, Celebration of Discipline. In 1988, Richard Foster asked Dallas Willard and others to join him in forming a spiritual formation ministry called Renovaré (Latin for “to renew”). Dallas Willard, who served as a philosophy professor at the University of Southern California for 40 years, was one of the most important pioneers in the spiritual formation movement among evangelicals and mainline Protestants.
How It’s Practiced
Spiritual formation centers on the practice of spiritual disciplines—intentional activities that create space for inner transformation. Historically the spiritual disciplines are divided into three areas: inward, outward and corporate.
Inward disciplines focus on private spiritual practices: prayer, Scripture reading, meditation, silence, fasting, and journaling. Outward disciplines address behavioral and social dimensions: solitude, acts of service and mercy, simplicity, and stewardship. Corporate disciplines involve community: corporate worship, confession, accountability, celebration, and spiritual direction.
Some proponents of spiritual formation have expressed it as the practice of spiritual disciplines such as Lectio Divina where there is a strong emphasis on prayer, meditation, and contemplation on God’s word derived from the bible. Practices such as labyrinth walking, contemplative prayer and Lectio Divina – the traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer – are good, but they do not necessarily result in formation.
The disciplines are a way of ordering life around values, practices and relationships that keep practitioners open and available to God for the work of spiritual transformation. Though the various spiritual disciples are not salvific nor do they make a person spiritually superior, they do create the conditions in which grace may flow more freely.
Spiritual Formation Today
Contemporary seekers encounter spiritual formation through diverse channels. Spiritual formation may involve structured programs offered by churches or seminaries, as well as informal approaches that include working with spiritual advisors or participating in retreats. Seminary courses, spiritual direction training programs, and certification programs have proliferated since the 1990s.
Retreat centers offer immersive experiences in silence, solitude, and contemplative prayer. Churches integrate formation groups, guided study of classic texts like Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ or The Confessions of Augustine, and rule-of-life workshops. Online courses, podcasts, and communities provide accessible entry points. Organizations like Renovaré continue to teach formation practices across denominational lines.
Spiritual formation has become a hot topic in Christian theology. Over the past half-century, a cottage industry in evangelicalism has emerged around practices, habits, and intentional patterns of discipleship—often traced, symbolically, to the publication of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline in 1978.
Common Misconceptions
It’s not exclusively about practices. The tendency today is to think of spiritual formation exclusively in terms of practices of one kind or another, but then we think that this is the way and begin to think that anyone not doing lectio is not experiencing spiritual formation. The disciplines are means, not ends.
It’s not self-improvement. While renewed attention to formation is a welcome corrective to “thin” discipleship, it has also generated conceptual fog. Many contemporary models of formation appear more like psychological self-help or therapeutic habit-stacking than distinctively Christian sanctification.
It’s not works-righteousness. Spiritual formation can make the spiritual life into a matter of works, not grace, in which one’s efforts and experience are what count, not the saving and sanctifying activity of the triune God. Critics worry it borders on Pelagianism—the heresy that humans can earn salvation through effort. Practitioners counter that disciplines are cooperative acts with the Holy Spirit, not substitutes for grace.
It’s not equivalent to salvation. While salvation is an act of grace through faith, which requires no work on your own to obtain it, spiritual formation comes after salvation and is a byproduct of faith, grace, and work.
It’s not a singular tradition. There are actually quite a number of different streams of the spiritual formation movement including disciplines, mystical/contemplative, psychological, and relational/inter-personal.
How to Begin
Start with a classic text. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline (1978) remains the standard introduction, outlining twelve core disciplines. Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines (1988) offers philosophical depth. Adele Calhoun’s Spiritual Disciplines Handbook catalogs 75 practices with brief introductions.
Engage a single practice. Begin with daily silence (five minutes), lectio divina (sacred reading of Scripture), or an examination of conscience (reviewing the day each evening). Consistency matters more than intensity.
Seek community. Formation thrives in relationship. Join a spiritual formation group, find a spiritual director, or gather friends for shared rule-of-life experiments.
Attend a retreat. Many retreat centers offer introductory weekends in contemplative prayer, Ignatian discernment, or monastic rhythms. Extended silence often catalyzes insight.