The Formation Gap: We May Be Lacking Essential Elements in Our Discipleship
Season Overview
Many followers of Jesus have experienced a frustrating reality.
We know far more than we live.
We know we should trust God, yet anxiety continues to shape our decisions. We know we are loved, yet we still seek validation from others. We know forgiveness is important, yet resentment persists. We know the teachings of Jesus, but knowing and becoming are often very different things.
This raises an uncomfortable question:
Why doesn’t information produce much transformation?
For generations, much of the modern church has operated on a simple assumption: if people learn the right things, they will become the right kind of people. We have invested enormous amounts of time and energy in teaching, preaching, classes, books, podcasts, and information delivery. Yet despite having unprecedented access to Christian knowledge, many followers of Jesus continue to feel spiritually stuck.
This disconnect between what we know and who we are becoming is what we call the Formation Gap.
The Formation Gap is the space between information and transformation. It is the distance between knowing the truth and becoming the kind of person who naturally lives it. And it exists because we have lost one of the basic foundational truths about discipleship: we are best formed when we journey in small, intentional communities.
Season 2 explored the reality that human beings are far more complex than we often imagine. We learned that transformation requires us to know Jesus and ourselves. Double knowledge is essential in our spiritual formation.
Season 3 asks the next question:
If this is true, how does transformation best happen?
Throughout history, followers of Jesus have understood that people are always being formed. Every day, our hearts, minds, and lives are being shaped by countless influences. The question is not whether we are being formed. The question is what is forming us, and toward what end.
At Soil & Roots, we believe lasting transformation requires attention to five essential elements:
- Extended Time
- Practicing Habits
- Consistent Community
- Trusted Intimacy
- Deepening Instruction
Together, these elements create the conditions for spiritual growth. Just as a greenhouse cannot force a seed to grow but can create an environment where growth flourishes, these elements create the conditions in which the Holy Spirit forms people into the likeness of Jesus.
This season explores each of these formative realities and examines how they work together to shape the human heart.
We will wrestle with questions such as:
- Why do some people change while others remain stuck?
- What role do habits play in discipleship?
- Why is community essential to spiritual growth?
- How does intimacy with God transform us?
- Why is instruction important but insufficient by itself?
- What kinds of environments cultivate deep discipleship?
Most importantly, we will discover that spiritual formation is not primarily about trying harder. It is about learning to participate with God in the process of becoming the people we were created to be.
The Formation Gap is one of the great challenges facing modern Christianity. It helps explain why churches can be full of activity yet struggle to produce mature disciples. It helps explain why sincere Christians often experience frustration, exhaustion, and disappointment in their spiritual lives.
But the Formation Gap is not merely a problem to diagnose.
It is an invitation to rediscover the ancient pathways of transformation.
Welcome to Season 3.
Key Themes
- The Formation Gap
- The Five Elements of Formation
- Spiritual Formation in Small Communities
- Narcissism in Church
- Greenhouse Communities
Season 3 Navigation
Ep 27: Why Spiritual Formation Takes Time
Ep 28: How to Find Time for Spiritual Formation (Bonus)
Ep 29: Why Presence Matters for Spiritual Formation
Ep 30: Time and Spiritual Formation
Ep 31: Habits and Spiritual Formation
Ep 33: How to Listen to Others’ Hearts
Ep 34: Listening to Our Own Hearts
Ep 35: Stewarding Creation and Culture
Ep 36: The Great Omission and the Three Primary Problems (Bonus)
Ep 37: The Great Omission and the Three Primary Problems Part II (Bonus)
Ep 38: Community and Spiritual Formation: Why It Matters
Ep 39: Introducing the Greenhouse Community
Ep 40: Can Laypeople Make Disciples?
Ep 41: Can Laypeople Make Disciples? (GH)
Ep 42: The Greenhouse Discipleship Community
Ep 43: The Greenhouse Discipleship Community (GH)
Ep 44: Narcissism in the Church
Ep 45: Healing from Narcissistic Abuse (GH)
Ep 46: The Discipleship Sandwich (Bonus)
Ep 47: The Discipleship Sandwich (GH)
Ep 49: Christian Loneliness (GH)
Ep 54: The Stages of Spiritual Growth
Ep 55: The Stages of Spiritual Growth (GH)
Ep 56: Why Bible Knowledge Doesn’t Change Us
Ep 57: Pastor as Teacher vs Trainer (GH)
Ep 59: Spiritual Formation in Community (GH)
