The Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement

The purpose of this supplemental issue of the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care is to reflect on the past, attend to the present, and lean into the future of the Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement. The central conviction of this project is that God’s people cooperate better with the movement of God’s Spirit in our local times and places as we broaden our perspective and attend to the Spirit’s work across time and place. The Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement is an ongoing movement of God’s people to faithfully respond to the movement of God’s Spirit.

Persons turn to “movement” language when the character of a social setting changes over time and at least some of the causes of those changes are understood as deliberate. For example, the increased concern for and protection of the natural environment in the U.S. beginning in the 1970s did not emerge out of thin air. There were identifiable leaders, strategic meetings, coordinated efforts, and organizational developments that helped bring about shifts in public awareness of the environment. There was no single organization, group, or agreed-upon set of initiatives, but there was definitely a heightened sensitivity to and widening emphasis on environmental care. This period of increased social consciousness regarding the environment is commonly referred to as the modern “environmental movement.”Some see the first Earth Day in 1970 as the symbolic beginning of the modern environmental movement. For example, Adam Rome, The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation (Hill and Wang, 2013). Conceptualizing it as a social reform movement allows those interested to attend to the conditions, sensitivities, and decisions that contributed to the shifts and discern what might further the movement’s ends.

When it comes to Christian spiritual formation in the U.S. and Canada, many have turned to “movement” language because the character of Protestant spiritual life and growth changed over the last fifty years, and at least some causes of those changes were deliberate.

First, what has changed? While more details will emerge in this supplemental issue, it is evident that there has been a heightened emphasis on and increased receptivity to Christian spiritual formation among Protestants in the U.S. and Canada beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the present.For this description of the movement, see Keas Keasler and Steve L. Porter, “Tracing the Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement: A Social-Historical Analysis,” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 19, S1 (2026), 11–35. This article is linked below. In the early 1970s, the terms ‘spiritual formation,’ ‘spiritual discipline,’ and ‘spiritual theology’ were uncommon in Protestant Christianity. Practices such as spiritual direction, lectio divina, and contemplative prayer were unheard of. There were zero graduate-level degree programs in spiritual formation at Protestant schools.For some of the history of the rise of spiritual formation in academic contexts, see David Setran and Jim Wilhoit, “Christian Education and Spiritual Formation: Recent History and Future Prospects,” Christian Education Journal 17:3 (2020): 530–546. In many quarters, there was a noticeable disconnect between a gospel of forgiveness of sins and ongoing conformity to Christ. Bumper stickers and T-shirts that read “Christians aren’t perfect. They’re just forgiven” were common.

Over fifty years later, there is a whole segment of Christian publishing categorized as spiritual formation. There are two major associations of spiritual directors, each with thousands of members.Spiritual Director’s International (SDI) was founded in 1990 and has over 6,000 members in over 40 countries. See https://www.sdicompanions.org/about/history-of-sdi/. Christ-Centered Spiritual Direction Association (CSDA) was founded in 2011 and has over 1,300 members representing 120 different training programs. See https://www.graftedlife.org/csda/who-we-are/our-story/. It would now be difficult to find a Christian college, university, or seminary that does not have some emphasis on spiritual formation. A quick count shows twenty-five distinct graduate-level degree programs in spiritual formation at North American schools. The idea that the gospel is good news about a Christlike existence here and now and not just after death is widespread. Perhaps the surest sign that something has changed is the detractors of something called ‘spiritual formation.’ It wouldn’t be a Protestant movement if there weren’t protests.For an early treatment of some of these objections, see Steve L. Porter, “Sanctification in a New Key: Relieving Evangelical Anxieties Over Spiritual Formation,” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 1:2 (2008): 129–148.

While there have been changes, what brought them about? If there were no evidence of identifiable leaders, coordinated efforts, and organizational development, then we might chalk all this up to the happenstance winds of change combined with the winds of the Spirit. But that would do a disservice to what actually happened. As many of the essays in this supplemental issue attest, beginning in the late 1970s, there was a growing awareness on the part of key leaders that the Spirit of God was up to something. Meetings were held, networks formed, books written, conferences conducted, statements developed, organizations founded, and academic departments and degree programs created. There was no one organization, unified strategy, or singular theology of formation, but there was definitely an increasing interest in a better understanding and informed engagement with the Spirit’s transforming work. There were spiritual awakenings and deliberate responses to those awakenings that helped bring about a spiritual renewal movement.

Conceptualizing this period and these emphases as a spiritual renewal movement allows those interested to attend to the conditions, sensitivities, and decisions that contributed to these shifts and discern what might further the movement’s ends. In the case of the spiritual formation movement, the movement’s ends are meant to align with the movement of the Holy Spirit. The Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement is a unique responsiveness to the sanctifying Spirit’s continual call to be holy as God is holy.

Herein lies the value of calling out the contemporary Spiritual Formation Movement, specifying its boundaries, outlining its stages, taking stock of where things stand, and pondering what is needed for the future. Christian individuals and groups do well to pay attention to how God is correcting and illuminating his church to grow up into the fullness of the stature of Christ. We do our best to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. In this way, identifying and studying the Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement is an exercise in spiritual theology.

The table of contents that follows is hyperlinked to each essay of the supplemental issue. Each essay is available free of charge for online viewing and download.The Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care is published by the Institute for Spiritual Formation at Biola University. The work that went into this supplemental issue was co-sponsored by the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture at Westmont College and the Global Spiritual Formation Project at Calvin University’s Nagel Institute. The Global Spiritual Formation Project is directed by Dave Wang with funding from the Templeton Religion Trust. Immense gratitude goes to Dave, who also served as this issue’s co-editor. Special thanks to each contributor listed in the table of contents. The ongoing support of the Martin Institute staff (Mariah Velasquez, Mike Di Fuccia, and Beth Cook), and Kanishka Soni and Leela Sankar at Sage Publishing, was essential. Avo Adourian of November Press designed the cover of the issue. Additional thanks go to Gayle Beebe, Gary Moon, Eff and Patty Martin, the Willard family, and all of the pioneering spiritual formation leaders who felt the wind of the Spirit and cooperated with it.

Introduction

The History of the Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement and Global Spiritual Formation
David C. Wang and Steve L. Porter

Tracing the Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement: A Social-Historical Analysis
Keas Keasler and Steve L. Porter

Learning from the Past

The Contribution of Regent College to the Spiritual Formation Movement
Bruce Hindmarsh and Carolyn Hindmarsh

For the Sake of the World: The Upper Room and the Ongoing Spiritual Formation Movement
Johnny Sears and Lindsay Gray

A Divine Surprise: Lessons from Renovaré’s Experience of Inside-Out Transformation
Ted Harro and Miriam Dixon

Leadership Transformations, Inc.: A Snapshot of the Modern Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement
Stephen A. Macchia

Transforming Center: Twenty-Five Years of Transformation in Community 101
Ruth Haley Barton

The Spiritual Formation Movement: The Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University
James Bryan Smith and Jacob Calvin Smith

The Spiritual Formation Movement Goes to Seminary: Biola University’s Institute for Spiritual Formation
Chris Baker, John Coe and Betsy Barber

Publishing in Formation: The InterVarsity Press Story
Cindy Bunch