What is happening with formation in our churches?
Programs multiply. Attendance fluctuates. Leaders burn out. And the people in our pews sometimes seem more shaped by cable news and social media than by the story of Scripture. You have sensed this for a long time. We're just giving you the language for it.
Your people are being formed every day. The question is by what.
Someone in your congregation scrolls past thirty short videos before bed and wonders why Sunday morning feels slow. Another has learned to sort every person they meet into ally or threat because that is what their media diet rewards. A board member evaluates your ministry the way they evaluate a product -- by whether it meets their preferences. These people have been well-formed. Just not by the church.
These are the outputs of rival formation systems that shape attention, identity, and desire with extraordinary precision. Until church leaders can identify these forces and understand how they work, they will keep redesigning underwhelming programs, blaming themselves for the lack of results, and treating congregational consumerism and political tribalism as moral failures or hypocrisy rather than predictable outcomes of formation that is deeply at work in the lives of their people.
Formed Together exists to address that diagnostic problem.
Your congregation already has a formation curriculum, it's just not yours.
Your people are being formed all week long by forces that command far more of their time and attention from them than the church does. Two questions determine whether the time you do have produces anything lasting: (1) What are these forces doing to your people? (2) And how can your church offer counter-formation that addresses those forces?
Answering those questions requires a different kind of resource. Formed Together gives church leaders diagnostic frameworks for identifying the specific formation forces at work in their congregation. The Theological Formation Audit equips your leadership team with the diagnostic data to inform their ongoing work.
We are building resources and looking for churches to pilot them
Formed Together is in active development. The Theological Formation Audit is our first diagnostic tool, and we are looking for churches willing to pilot it with their congregations. Pilot churches receive the audit free of charge and help us refine the tool for broader release.
The Theological Formation Audit (pilot phase)
A diagnostic framework that gives you and your board or leadership team a structured way to understand what forces other than the gospel are forming the people of your congregation. We are accepting a limited number of churches to pilot this tool. If your church or denomination is interested, sign up below.
We'll follow up by email with next steps and details about the pilot process.
Coming: Formation resources for churches
Guides, diagnostic tools, and discipleship resources that help church leaders and their teams address the specific formation gaps they've identified. Designed for use in congregational settings, leadership development, and small group contexts.
Built for those called to service in the formation of God's people
If you are a senior pastor wondering why your preaching doesn't produce the transformation you expect...
If you are a denominational leader watching pastors burn out and churches that are drifting from your theological culture...
If you sit on a church board and sense that there's a disconnect between the congregation and the church...
If you are a formation director frustrated that you can't communicate your challenges to your leadership...
Formed Together exists to give you the diagnostic language and frameworks to address these challenges.
Pilot the Theological Formation Audit
We are accepting a limited number of churches to pilot the Theological Formation Audit at no cost. Sign up to be considered, and we will follow up with details about what the pilot involves and how to get started.
Sign up for the pilotWe'll follow up by email with next steps and details about the pilot process.