Addressing the Elephant in the Church
On this podcast, we talk at length with Shane Kuester about discipleship and spiritual formation within the church.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of "Spiritual Formation" programs being instituted in, what are commonly understood to be, seeker sensitive churches.  Let's be honest, large churches have taken a beating lately for surface level messages, an emphasis in form over substance, and defining growth in terms of campuses and not discipleship.  In response, churches look to be starting programs aimed around spiritual formation.  In my opinion, it's a good move, but misses the bullseye in a couple of key areas.
Discipleship Must Be Central
Bringing spiritual formation into the church is not an easy task.  For too long, congregants have been given the message that only God working in their life can bring about change.  Accordingly, congregations faithfully attend Sunday services with the hope that they will be mysteriously made into the image of Christ.

Rightly done, emphasizing Christian spiritual formation is the right direction because it acknowledges that, while God does work and act in our lives, it happens as a collaborative effort with us, not in spite of us.  Put simply, God will not change anyone who is not willing to orient their whole life toward Him.  We are to be co-laborers with God in bringing the reality of the Kingdom of God to the world.

While I am encouraged that these church programs are beginning to see that congregants need to be an active part of their own spiritual growth, spiritual formation should be central to every endeavor in the church.

As I've watched these spiritual formation programs pop up in large churches, they were not central - but rather additional programs that congregants could choose from among the Dave Ramsey seminars or Wednesday evening services.  It seems that the "corporate structuring" of spiritual formation means that it will be placed along side other programs that the church has run.  For example:

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If anything comes through in this episode of our podcast, I hope it is that spiritual formation is not the kind of thing that can be set apart from other ministries - it's not a typical program.  It's something that needs to be the heart; the very center of everything that the church does.  If a church chooses to have programs, consider how much it would change church culture if a newly started spiritual formation program looked like this:

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In this first episode, we aimed to answer some of the questions about where we stand on the issue of Discipleship and how it fits into the lives of Christians.  While there are more questions that lie ahead, bringing clarity to this topic is the first step.  We look forward to hearing your thoughts about discipleship.  Does your church have a spiritual formation program?  Are you satisfied with the way discipleship is handled in your local congregation?  Let us know what you think, and thanks for listening!