Spiritual formation involves intentional spiritual practices or disciplines that help people learn and become more like Jesus. Gathered or public worship can be an important part of spiritual formation when it incorporates rituals and practices that bond people to deeper meanings and transform how they think and live. The document describes 10 elements of gathered worship that can maximize spiritual formation, including showing up together, associating with others, altering one's pace, inhabiting a holy storyline, praying and singing together, cultivating openness, generosity, exposure to spiritual models, concern for others, and experiencing mystery.

1. Spiritual Formation and
gathered worship.

2. Spiritual formation:
The development, through
practice, of people who
“be,” think, feel, work,
relate, and play
… in the way of Jesus.

3. Spiritual formation:
The development of
disciples.

4. transformation
make [spiritually form] disciples
…teach them to do
all I have commanded you.
(Matthew 28)

5. transformation
I have given you an example
… love one another as I have loved
you.
(John 13-15)

6. transformation
to be conformed
to the image of God’s Son
(Romans 8)

7. transformation
… be transformed
by the renewing of your
minds.
(Romans 8)

8. transformation
… I will show you the most
excellent way …
follow the way of love
(1 Corinthians 12-14)

9. transformation
…until Christ
is formed in you.
(Galatians 4:19)

10. Spiritual formation involves
intentional spiritual practices
(or disciplines) so people can
learn a way:

11. Actions within our power which we do
to train ourselves to do things
currently beyond our power, and to
become people we are currently
incapable of being.
- Running a marathon
- Playing the guitar
- Learning Chinese

12. Actions within our power which we do
to train ourselves to do things
currently beyond our power, and to
become people we are currently
incapable of being.
- And if you’re part of a
local congregation, you’re
already doing many of
them!

13. Spiritual formation
through gathered
worship …
gathered worship as
group spiritual
formation

15. Gathered (or Public)
Worship
Liturgy: A planned succession
of group practices (exercises)
and rituals.

16. Rituals:
Practices done to bond to
the meaning they represent.

17. Ritualism:
Performing the prescribed
action without connection to
the intended meaning:
religion on autopilot.
(Checklist mentality.
Routine/Judge mentality.)

18. How can we maximize
gathered worship for
spiritual formation as
disciples?
(How can we avoid spiritual
malformation through ritualism or
autopilot religion?)

19. 1. Showing Up:
Going to a place I didn’t
choose
At a time I didn’t choose
For a purpose I do choose.
(Hebrews 10:24-25)

20. 2. Association/
Hospitality
Associating with some people
I like and others I don’t like for
a purpose I believe in. (Romans 15:7)
Using my presence and our
space to help “the other” feel
welcome in our community.
(1 Corinthians 11:33)

21. 3. Speed
Altering my pace to see what
I’ve missed and to feel a
different rhythm.
Speeding up … slowing down
(Hebrews 3:15)

22. 4. Inhabiting a story
Re-orienting my life in a holy
storyline that renders me a
transforming nonconformist.

23. 3 Framing Stories
From “Science, Religion,
and Spirit: A Sacred Story
for our Time,” by David
Korten

24. For people, generally, their story of the
universe and the human role in the universe
is their primary source of intelligibility and
value....The deepest crises experienced by
any society are those moments of change
when the story becomes inadequate for
meeting the survival demands of a present
situation.”
—Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth

25. 1. The Cosmos is a
Grand Machine.
2. The Cosmos is Created
and Ruled by a Distant
Patriarch
3. The Cosmos is the
Manifestation of an
Integral Spirit

26. The cosmology of the Grand Machine strips our
existence of meaning and purpose. In so doing, it
supports consumerism and an ethic of individual
material gratification as a distraction from the
terrifying loneliness and despair of an otherwise
meaningless existence. By characterizing life as
essentially competitive it provides the ideological
basis for social Darwinism, colonial imperialism,
racial domination, and the unrestrained competition of
market fundamentalism. It neglects the far greater role
of cooperation and synergy on which all living
systems—and human society, civilization, and culture
— depend.

27. [The Distant Patriarch] cosmology focuses on our
individual relationship with a personal, but distant
God .... By implication, relationships with one another
and with nature are secondary to this primary
relationship. Although some adherents believe that we
have an obligation to care for God’s creation in this
life and to show compassion to our fellow human
beings, in many interpretations of the Distant Patriarch
story, life on Earth is but a way station on the path to
paradise. Nature exists for our temporary human use
and comfort. Authority is rightfully exercised by those
who demonstrate by their pious religious observance
their closeness to God and their understanding of His
intention.

28. In the [Integral Spirit story] we come to know
the nature, purpose, and intention of this divine
force through our inner experience and our
observation of its physical manifestation. All
beings, stars, planets, humans, animals, plants,
rocks, and rivers are expressions of this divine
force—each with its place and function in
service to the whole. The human brain evolved
to reward cooperation and service. Extreme
individualism, greed, and violence are
pathological and a sign of physical,
developmental, cultural, and/or institutional
failure. Appropriate moral behavior is defined
not by rules, but by relationships.

29. In my experience this is the underlying
cosmology of many Catholic nuns, a surprising
number of religious leaders and congregations
of various faiths, and most people who define
themselves as spiritual, but not necessarily
religious.
It is, however, a story without institutional
sponsors to give it public recognition and
remains a largely private belief system....
[T]hose who align with its foundational
insights may not recognize themselves as a
group, which limits their ability to share their
insights and join together to fulfill the
responsibilities the Integral Spirit story implies.

30. Ivan Illich (Austrian
former priest,
philosopher, social
critic, 1926-2002)

31. Neither revolution nor reformation can
ultimately change a society, rather you
must tell a new powerful tale, one so
persuasive that it sweeps away the old
myths and becomes the preferred story
…

32. … one so inclusive that it gathers all the
bits of our past and our present into a
coherent whole, one that even shines some
light into the future so that we can take the
next step…. If you want to change a
society, then you have to tell an alternative
story.
- attributed to Ivan Illich (Austrian former priest,
philosopher, social critic, 1926-2002)

33. 5. Public Prayer, Creed
and Song
Allowing our hopes, dreams, concerns, beliefs,
and desires to be formed and aligned with God’s
will … together.
Desire for justice, mercy, peace
Desire for honesty, humility, gratitude, truth
Desire for God’s kingdom, honor, power, glory
Desire for good desire formation!
(Romans 15:5-6)

34. 6. Attentiveness
Letting come, letting go.
Waiting for what I may receive
only by cultivating openness and
receptivity to God.
(I Peter 2:2)

35. 7. Generosity
Taking greater pleasure in being
productive (fruitful) than
consumptive.
(2 Corinthians 8:7)

36. 8. Modeling
Exposing apprentices to
masters
In prayer, teaching, artistry,
faithfulness, service,
hospitality, etc.
Contemplative and charismatic
models …
(1 Thessalonians 1:6)

37. 9. Concern and
commissioning
Quoting, affirming, praying for,
humanizing, including “the
other”
Being sent out to know, love,
and serve “the other.”

38. 10. Mystery
“Flat” actions versus layered
actions…
Layers of meaning in the
eucharist
(1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23 ff)

39. - The cup of thanksgiving
- Participation in the body and blood of Christ
- One loaf, one body
- My body … for you
- Forgiveness of sins
- Remember me
- New covenant in my blood …
- Proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes
- Until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God
(1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23 ff)

40. The body of Christ, broken for
you…
The blood of Christ given for
you…

41. Benediction

42. Christ has no body here but
ours.
No hands, no feet here on
earth but ours.
Ours are the eyes through
which he looks
On this world with kindness.

43. Ours are the hands through
which he works.
Ours are the feet on which he
moves.
Ours are the voices through
which he speaks
To this world with kindness.

44. Through our smile, our touch,
our listening ear,
Embodied in us,
Jesus is living here.

45. So let us go now
Filled with the Spirit
Into this world
With kindness.

46. Through our smile, our touch,
our listening ear,
Embodied in us,
Jesus is living here.

47. So let us go now
Filled with the Spirit
Into this world
With kindness.