Where the Spiritual Formation Movement Goes Wrong
At twelve years old, I sat in my room to admire my neatly typed and printed checklist: the God Girl Checklist. I finally found it—a list of habits, characteristics, and tasks to do to make me the best Christian I could be. After reading a thick, hardcover book for teen girls on how to be a “God girl,” I developed this checklist that I kept tucked away in my desk drawer.
As I grew up, I eventually saw the silliness of having a checklist, but I still carried along with me this idea of rituals, habits, and practices that I believed were essential for my sanctification (growth in holiness). Many of these would fall under the category of spiritual formation.
If you attended a Christian college like me, you probably had a class on spiritual formation. Many Christian “influencers” are becoming spiritual directors or touting the wonders of spiritual formation. Books are being recommended and published throughout the Christian market on spiritual disciplines. Spiritual formation is trending in churches. We’re exhorted to seek solitude, journal towards holiness, go on nature walks to connect with God, and take extended periods of silence to listen and clear our minds. Do all these practices and more, they say, to grow closer to God and be holy.
Dear reader, please hear this question in the kindest, gentlest tone: Are these items of spiritual formation or spiritual discipline any different from my twelve-year-old “God Girl” checklist? Do they both miss the same theological and even practical mark that the Bible lays out for us?
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