In Part 1 of “Christian Spiritual Formation in the Local Church,” we reflected on some of Dallas’s final words about spiritual formation in the local congregation. Dallas believed that we were coming into a time “when many churches and Christians who are in leadership positions will be able to say it’s all about discipleship and transformation into Christlikeness.”

In Part 2 and Part 3 of this series, we posed several questions to five Christian leaders who have thought deeply about formation in the local congregation. We heard from Ruth Haley Barton (The Transforming Center), Diane J. Chandler (Regent Divinity School), Siang Yang Tan (Fuller Theological Seminary), Judy Ten Elshof (Talbot School of Theology), and James C. Wilhoit (Wheaton College).

For Part 4, we posed two final questions to these leaders:
(1) What are some of the best practices when it comes to implementing spiritual formation in the local church?
(2) If a leader could do only one thing in their local church community, what would you recommend?

Click below to read their insightful responses.