top of page

What is?

Christian Soulwork

Intensive retreats and related group practices that we define as Christian soul work can be best understood as part of a broader spiritual movement—and as a response to the renewed hunger for deeper discipleship and spiritual formation.

​

For four decades until his death in 2013, Dallas Willard stood as one of the movement’s most trustworthy guides. He defined spiritual formation as: "The Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself—in other words, discipleship to Jesus." [i] 

​

That is the heart of Christian soul work. Though the process may look different than a classroom or Sunday sermon, the goal is utterly familiar: transformed lives, patterned after Christ.

 

[i] Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002), 22.

River and Mountain

Christian Soul Work Context

Christian spiritual disciplines and practices generally fall into three buckets, inward ones (such as meditation, prayer, fasting, study, journaling), outward ones (such as simplicity, solitude, service) and corporate ones (confession, worship, guidance, celebration).

 

While Christian soul work retreats and groups draw upon some of the inward and outward disciplines, the primary emphasis of their design is on the corporate disciplines; those things we can do much better together than apart.

 

Spiritual director, psychologist, and author David Benner reminds us of this corporate benefit: “The mental self can be quite content with its own company, whereas the soul is nourished by communal engagement,”[i] Christian soul work is not intended—not can it easily be practiced—as a standalone personal endeavor. 

​

After his resurrection, when his disciples were fearful and doubting, Jesus didn’t only speak to them—he invited them to touch him. “Put your finger here,” he told Thomas. “See my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side” (John 20:27). It was through this personal encounter, through touch, that Thomas finally believed.

​

This is the invitation of Christian soul work: to touch and be touched—in our wounds, in our weakness, in the presence of one another, and thereby be healed and better follow Jesus. Christian soul work draws on the full meaning of what the Bible translates as “saved” (Greek sōzō): to rescue, heal, restore, and make whole—so that a person can truly flourish. It reflects the rich Hebrew vision of shalom: peace, wholeness, and life as God intends it.

 

[i] David G. Benner, Spirituality and the Awakening Self: The Sacred Journey of Transformation (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2012), 122

Christian Soul Work Distinctives

Adult learning and growth aligns across three modes—Growth 1.0: Knowing, Growth 2.0: Doing, and Growth 3.0: Being. Christian soul work, in parity with other expressions of spiritual formation, lives within that third domain, where the focus is not merely on what we know and do, but on who we are—our identity in Christ, shaped and reshaped by the Holy Spirit. 

​

While other formation practices may overlap elements, Christian soul work is an umbrella phrase for a distinct set of formation practices. These six distinctives when taken together reveal what Christian soul work principally is.  

​

"A participant in Christian soul work is choosing a journey where they are: 

​

  1. Deliberately seeking a greater awakening, by

  2. Engaging the inner journey of the soul,

  3. Beginning from exactly where they are, while

  4. Walking the path alongside fellow sojourners, and

  5. Learning from those who model the way, and

  6. Being guided by leaders who lead from behind."[i]

 

[i] Jay Goldstein, Soul Works: Innovative Transformational Retreats and Practices for Deep Formation and Renewal (Soul Works Press, forthcoming)

​

bottom of page