If you had asked me about “spiritual formation” as a kid growing up in an NAE-affiliated Bible church in upstate New York, I would have looked at you quizzically. I would probably have thought spiritual formation was more at home with the Catholics at St. Thomas Church, with whom we only (suspiciously) interacted in the church softball league. Did we understand Sunday school? Yes. Christian education? Maybe. Spiritual formation? No way.
Today, spiritual formation is almost everywhere you look. Evangelical Christian publishers like InterVarsity Press have dedicated spiritual formation imprints with a constant stream of new releases. Christian colleges have rebranded their student life and Christian education efforts with the words “spiritual formation.” Churches now have dedicated spiritual formation pastors.
Christians — and evangelicals in particular — should ask: “Is spiritual formation a fringe fad, or is it biblically grounded with historical roots? For that matter, does Christian spiritual formation matter in 2026?”
Inside-Out Transformation
Let’s start with definitions. Paul describes disciples of Jesus by saying, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). So, one way to frame the core message of Christian spiritual formation is this: We are invited into a different kind of life, a life that is with Jesus so that we are shaped from the inside out to be like Jesus for the sake of others. This life will extend forever, but it begins now.
This inside-out transformation is not an elaborate self-improvement project. We are invited into a Spirit-empowered cooperative effort with God, where God does all the heavy lifting. Our part is to intentionally open ourselves up to the friendship and healing that God offers, often through engaging in the spiritual rhythms modeled and assumed by Jesus in his life and teachings — disciplines like solitude, prayer, fasting and giving.
Spiritual formation touches our “inward” person. What is that exactly? Our spirit includes our attitudes, our desires, and, crucially, our narratives. Over time and through God’s patient intervention, our image of God becomes more beautiful, loving and holy; our understanding of the gospel deepens and widens; and our core identity as God’s bent but utterly beloved image-bearers comes into clearer focus.
No one in today’s spiritual formation movement invented the idea that grace transforms the inward part of us as we actively follow Jesus. This is timeless Christian teaching. Today’s spiritual formation movement has simply attempted to rediscover and share what has been right in front of the Church since the days when Jesus walked among us in the flesh.
Streams of Living Water
What does a life shaped in this way look like? Richard Foster, a pioneer of spiritual formation in the 20th and 21st centuries, picks up the biblical metaphor of a river in his book “Streams of Living Water” to illustrate a life inwardly renewed by Christ. “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38).
Richard teases out six dimensions of a life immersed in grace and flowing with living water. Such lives are:
- Prayer-filled (contemplative tradition)
- Virtuous (holiness tradition)
- Spirit-empowered (charismatic tradition)
- Word-centered (evangelical tradition)
- Compassionate (social justice tradition)
- Embodied (incarnational tradition)
Richard did not invent these aspects of life with God. Instead, he examined the gospel narrative, identified themes of Christlikeness, and looked at how those themes were played out in the great traditions of the Church throughout history. He looked for biblical exemplars of each dimension as well as other historical and/or contemporary people who lived out each facet of the with-God life.
An example may help. Richard noticed the especially close and conversational relationship the Apostle John had with Jesus, particularly shown by the first-person account in the gospel from “the one Jesus loved.” Richard saw this as an example of a life marked by “the steady gaze of a soul upon the God who loves us.” In the broader Church, this kind of life has been cultivated in the contemplative tradition, characterized by unceasing prayer.
The same pattern can be described for the other five dimensions of the with-God life. Together, they give us a picture of full-spectrum Christlikeness in the here and now — rooted in the life of Jesus as shown in Scripture and cultivated in different parts of the Christian church.
For the Church and the World
So, does historical Christian spiritual formation and its balanced vision of life with God matter in 2026? Oh yes! We live in a fractured and frazzled world. Something or someone will shape our ideas, emotions, physical responses and relational reactions. How we are shaped will affect not only our lives and the lives of those we love but will also dramatically impact the witness we embody for those around us.
As evangelicals, we care about that world. We want to lift up the hope and good news of Jesus — how his life, death, resurrection and his ongoing and forthcoming reign enable a different kind of life. To proclaim that message, we must be that message. A biblically based, historically rooted approach to Christian spiritual formation enables us to partner with God in that mission-critical work as we are transformed from the inside out into Christlikeness.
Hear more from Ted Harro about the transformative life with Christ ![Arrow]()
Ted Harro serves as president of Renovaré, a ministry that models, resources and advocates fullness of life with God experienced, by grace, through the spiritual practices of Jesus and of the historical Church. He is also founder of Noonday Ventures, a strategy and leadership development firm. Harro has studied and taught inside-out transformation for more than 20 years. He uses humor and creativity to make spiritual change accessible to people in a wide variety of marketplace and ministry contexts. He and his wife, Gretchen, have been invested in hundreds of couples as mentors, teachers, retreat leaders, writers and co-founders of Bright Star Marriage. Harro is a graduate of the Renovaré Institute, Wheaton College and the University of Illinois Chicago.
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