Question
If we are not being formed by Christ, who or what is forming us?
Summary:
Formation is the structure of human life. The question isn’t whether we are being formed but by what. A Christian who declines discipleship under Christ hasn’t escaped formation. They have handed it over to whatever environment is currently most present in their lives.
Formation isn’t optional. It is the condition of being human. We are creatures who develop instincts, habits, reflexes, and dispositions through exposure to environments that shape us over time. The question isn’t whether we are being formed. The question is by what.
This is the diagnostic insight that opens the door to everything else in the piece. A Christian who believes discipleship is optional hasn’t escaped formation. They’ve chosen not to notice it. What we don’t notice, we can’t resist. Formation that goes unnamed continues without constraint, producing its effects on the schedule of its own design.
Much of our daily life involves exposure to environments whose forming power we rarely acknowledge. Social media platforms operate by sustained attention capture. The algorithms aren’t neutral. They reward certain kinds of content, which reward certain kinds of emotional responses, which train us to respond to the world in particular ways. The political information environment functions similarly. So does much of the entertainment we consume. Each of these environments produces dispositions. We learn what to find interesting, what to find outrageous, whom to trust, and whom to suspect. Over time, these learned dispositions become the background against which we perceive everything else.
One way to see this is to ask what happens when our exposure to a formative environment is interrupted. People who step away from news cycles for extended periods often report that their sense of urgency around cultural and political matters slowly recedes. People who take breaks from social media notice that their attention span lengthens and their emotional reactivity softens. These effects aren’t spiritual discoveries. They are evidence that formation was happening and that its interruption is palpable. We were being trained to respond in ways we’d stopped noticing.
Paul’s warning not to be conformed to the world (Rom 12:2) assumes that conformity is the default. The world presses its pattern on us continuously. Refusing the pattern requires more than good intentions. It requires the active work of being transformed by the renewing of our minds. That transformation is the work of the Spirit, though it doesn’t occur apart from practices that form us otherwise.
The alternative to Christ’s formation is never neutrality. It is some other formation. The culture’s sacred-social order disciples its participants in specific ways. So does the logic of work. So does the pattern of our entertainment. Every one of these agents is training us, shaping our instincts, adjusting our sense of what is normal, what is worth wanting, what is worth fearing.
A Christian who imagines that declining discipleship leaves them unshaped has misunderstood the situation. Formation is the structure of human life. The question facing every person who follows Christ is whether we will undertake the slow, communal, intentional work of being formed by Christ, or hand our formation over to whatever environment is currently most present in our lives. Discipleship is, among other things, the recovery of conscious agency in a question we can’t escape answering.
Key Takeaways: Formation Is Not Optional
• Formation Is the Default: We develop instincts, habits, and dispositions through exposure to environments. The question is never whether we are being formed but by what.
• The Diagnostic Test: When exposure to a formative environment is interrupted, the effects of that environment become visible. The interruption reveals what was happening underneath.
• Romans 12:2 Assumes Default Conformity: The world presses its pattern on us continuously. Refusing it requires more than good intentions; it requires practices that form us otherwise.
• The “So What”: Discipleship is the recovery of conscious agency in a question we cannot escape answering. The alternative isn’t neutrality. It is some other formation.
About the Author
James Spencer, PhD, is a theologian, author, and host of the Thinking Christian podcast, where he writes and speaks on Christian formation, political theology, and technology. He holds a PhD in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and completed the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He serves as President of the D.L. Moody Center in Northfield, Massachusetts, as adjunct faculty in Wheaton College’s MA in Leadership program, and as an Associate Research Fellow at the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, Christianity.com, and Sojourners; he has been quoted in The Telegraph; and he is a regular guest on Stand in the Gap Today with the American Pastors Network. His forthcoming book is Digital Discernment (InterVarsity Press, Fall 2026). Learn more at jamesgspencer.com.