Although I grew up in a Christian home and within a community of believers, it took me until I was 19 to become keenly aware of God’s love for me. I responded to Christ’s call to follow him. Did I fully realize the demands of the journey on which I was embarking? Absolutely not (although I thought I did). I firmly believe, however, that God readily and lovingly accepts our first steps on the pilgrim-journey, no matter what our age or stage in life.
With all of my 19-year-old understanding, I placed my life into God’s care and keeping. It was later that I came to a more complete realization that God’s desire is not just to “stamp us saved,” but to grow us up into the likeness of Jesus Christ. This process of becoming like Jesus is what I have grown to have a passion for. --Bruce Erickson
What is Spiritual Formation?
Dallas Willard (author of The Divine Conspiracy and Renovation of the Heart) defines spiritual formation as character formation. Everyone gets a spiritual formation. It's like education. Everyone gets an education; it's just a matter of which one you get.
Spiritual formation in a Christian tradition answers a specific human question: What kind of person am I going to be? It is the process of establishing the character of Christ in the person. That's all it is. You are taking on the character of Christ in a process of discipleship to Him under the direction of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. It isn't anything new, because Christians have been in this business forever. They haven't always called it spiritual formation, but the term itself goes way back.
At LBF we are striving to become a vibrant community of life-long learning...a community that regularly sees the transforming power of Jesus at work in the lives of children, youth, and adults. Through seminars, classes, small groups, resources, retreats, events, and individual spiritual direction, we aim to develop leaders who are growing deeper in Christ and further in mission. Christian formation is the responsibility of the whole church. It is our continuing journey of being transformed by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, experiencing and expressing love for God and others.
