Why Spiritual Formation is at the Heart of our Kingdom Outpost Strategy
Kingdom Outposts provide life structures by which people live missionally in community. By "life structures" we mean commitments, rhythms, and values that tangibly embody Kingdom action in community life. The problem is that we do not approach the structures of Kingdom life as shapeless people. We already have life structures, worldviews, assumptions, priorities, values, commitments, etc. that shape how we live into the world.
We believe discipleship means much more than moralistic learned behavior. Discipleship is a formation process for Kingdom citizenship. We need to be formed and shaped for the Kingdom - which means we also need to unlearn the dominant worldview and patterns we've inherited from culture and empire. For this reason, in order to prepare people for Kingdom living, ReWire's primary work is in spiritual formation. We've developed formation pathways that are specifically tuned towards this necessary transformation.
You can’t build a Kingdom Outpost with empire-shaped people. ReWire's spiritual formation approach is aligned with the Apostle Paul's sentiment in Romans 12:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Detox
We are all deeply shaped by the culture around us. Often without knowing it, we carry patterns of thinking and living that reflect the values of our cultural allegiance - individualism, materialism, consumption, power, control, wealth, etc. These are the cultural liturgies we abide by. There is a cultural discipleship that occurs in everyone that teaches us what to want, what to depend on, how to get what we believe we need, and more.
ReWire spiritual formation involves pathways of detox and recovery from our addictions to dominant culture. When Paul writes, "Do not conform to the patterns of this world" there is an implication that we must be able to name, face, and let go of the ways we've been conformed. This isn’t just about rejecting “the world,” but about discerning where the world has shaped us and how that formation restrains us from living in alignment with the Kingdom of God.
New Vision
In Mark 1:15, Jesus proclaims: "'The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!'" To "repent" is "to turn" and involves a "turning from" and a "turning toward." Part of the repentance Jesus calls his followers to is a "turning from" the worldview and dominant culture of the world. This is the process of detox and recovery. But, a full repentance involves a "turning toward" a new vision of life - a new worldview, a new Kingdom.
Jesus announced the Kingdom of God as a new reality breaking into the present. But to see it, we need new eyes. Spiritual formation reorients our imaginations. We begin to see the poor, the land, the Church, even our enemies differently. This new vision isn’t abstract—it shapes what we believe is possible in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and churches. It has structure, priorities, values, and tangible social outcomes - and it calls for our allegiance.
Recalibration and Resistance
Seeing the Kingdom is one thing—living in its direction is another. Formation helps us not just to believe differently, but to become different people. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used the phrase, "transformed nonconformist" to capture the essence of spiritual transformation that is realigned and recalibrated to the love, justice, and truth of God's Kingdom.
Spiritual formation offers tools by which disciples recalibrate their commitments, values, and rhythms of life in ways that practically embody the Kingdom and resist conformity to the patterns of the world. Our formation process emphasizes a commitment to contemplative prayer as a consistent posture for abiding Kingdom life. Spiritual development is an inward work that turns outward into new ways of being. This inward turn exposes the soul in vulnerability to the heart of God, grows trust, and shapes deeper reliance. Outwardly, this intimate reliance on God becomes resilience and resistance to the cultural idols vying for our dependency.
Preparation for New Structures
Again, ReWire's formation pathways are aimed at creating disciples formed for Kingdom living and mission. Kingdom Outposts provide the life structures by which people live in mission as a community - but they don't necessarily prepare people for these structures, commitments, and rhythms.
Spiritual formation prepares people to inhabit Kingdom Outpost life structures with resilience and freedom from dominant culture's own life structures.
