The first level of Christian discipleship is formation. Formation is defined as the act of giving shape to something. A good example is a potter who places a lump of clay on a wheel and forms it into a bowl.
Peter identifies the process of Christian formation:
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. I Peter 2:1-3
Peter does us a great favor when he uses parenting to illustrate the role of formation in discipleship. The first responsibility of every parent is to begin forming their baby into mature and complete humans.
Formation is necessary because babies don’t understand the difference between right and wrong. They don’t realize that hunger pain means it’s time to eat, so they just cry. Infants don’t know how to dress themselves or stay warm. They have no idea how to manage either end of their digestive system. They can’t walk or talk or even count to three. Infants are a most precious and beautiful lump of clay, and it is the responsibility of every parent to form them. This makes formation the first step in Christian discipleship.
Most churches take formation very seriously. It is why they provide Sunday School, catechism and confirmation classes, children’s church, vacation Bible school, kid’s camps, preschools and day care. These are all fruitful opportunities to assist parents as they form their children into the Christian faith.
We teach them the major Bible stories and the Ten Commandments. We help them to memorize the Lord’s prayer, the books of the Bible, and the Apostle’s creed. We share with them about Jesus, his work on the cross, and the power of the resurrection. We instill in them the fruit of the Spirit, the Beatitudes, and the power of prayer. We teach them to tell the truth, to love and respect others, and to work hard and pursue their potential. We are forming into them the basic knowledge that will serve as a solid-rock foundation of a mature and complete Christian.
The theme verse for formation is Proverbs 22:6, Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Of course, not all spiritual children are three years old; sometimes a spiritual infant is sixty, or even eighty years old. Peter wasn’t writing to toddlers; he was writing to adults who also happened to be spiritual infants. He encouraged them, like newborn babies, to crave pure spiritual milk so they could grow up in their salvation.
This is sometimes a challenge in discipleship. It can be hard for full-grown adults to submit to formation-level discipleship. It’s a pride issue. Peter tells them to let go of pride and humbly pursue the basics of the Christian faith. He understood the value of formation-level discipleship, and warned them not to skip it. We would be wise to humbly heed his warning – and churches would be wise to provide formation-level discipleship for adults.
Now that we have established the value and purpose of formation-level discipleship, we also need to identify a potential discipleship trap.
While formation has a purpose, it is not the destination. Parents know how frustrating it would be to have their child remain in the formation stage. It would be exhausting! We expect our kids to start moving out of the formation stage as soon as they begin displaying critical thinking and free will. Most parents have an age-goal for their children to eat solid food, walk, graduate from diapers, count to ten, recite the alphabet, and begin making their own bed. Most preschools won’t accept a three-year-old that isn’t potty-trained. Why? Because they don’t want to mess with that!
Paul warns about the formation discipleship trap in I Corinthians 3:1-3, Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly — mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.
The writer of Hebrews also identifies this trap,
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so. Hebrews 5:11-6:3.
Christian, are you trapped in the formation stage? Are you fussing over things that should already be settled? Is endless debate your way of shirking your responsibilities? Do you like being a spiritual baby and being fawned over by the church? Stop it. It’s time to grow up and take responsibility for yourself. There are infant believers coming in behind you and they need your help. Grow up! In the next article we’ll focus on level two of discipleship: conformation.
