S piritual formation is a process of being formed in the image of Christ, a journey into becoming persons of compassion, persons who forgive, persons who care deeply for others and the world, persons who offer themselves to God to become agents of divine grace in the lives of others and their world—in brief, persons who love and serve as Jesus did. Now, if I had said spiritual formation was a process of “forming ourselves” in the image of Christ, I suspect we would have been much more comfortable. The difference between forming ourselves and being formed is the vital issue of control.
