Reading the Bible like Dallas Willard
Dave Ripper
4 min read ⭑
Through nearly two decades of reading, studying and even getting to know Dallas personally as a student in one of his classes, I’ve observed an essential feature of his life and teaching: he endeavored to “live at the cross section of two landscapes.” A visible realm and an invisible realm. A physical world and a spiritual world. We must “get used to . . . looking at things you cannot see,” Willard would insist — taking his cue from Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:18. To live in only one of these two landscapes — the physical or visible world — is to miss life’s greatest opportunity: experiencing the kingdom among us now as Jesus’ disciple.
Not only do I find myself struggling to live at the cross section of the visible and invisible realms, but as a pastor, I also find myself attempting to live across the expanse of two other worlds God has called me to inhabit: the local church and the spiritual formation movement. For those not familiar with the term spiritual formation, in “Renovation of the Heart,” Dallas Willard states that distinctly Christian spiritual formation “refers to 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.” This, according to Willard, is fundamentally what the work of discipleship is all about.
While the spiritual formation movement finds its origins in the life and ministry of Jesus — and certainly even earlier in the Old Testament eras — its current resurgence dates back to the 1970s. James Bryan Smith, the Dallas Willard Chair of Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University, writes, “As a young man, I was privileged to be an eyewitness to the rise of the Christian spiritual formation movement. It began its modern form in 1978, when Richard Foster wrote what has become the perennially standard text on the spiritual disciplines, ‘Celebration of Discipline.’” Within a decade of the release of this seminal work (which was influenced by Willard’s Sunday school classes that Foster participated in), thousands of people who had hardly taken spiritual disciplines seriously before — disciplines like solitude and silence, service and study — were now practicing them regularly.
Given the widespread desire for focused teaching on the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life, Foster launched a new ministry called Renovaré (Latin for “to renew”), one of the first of dozens — perhaps even hundreds — of ministries and nonprofits committed to the work of spiritual formation worldwide.
This makes me wonder: Why do so many organizations like these exist? While I’m thankful for the great formational work done by many in these ministries, I believe so many exist because the local church — by and large — has failed to live out its primary calling of helping people become conformed to the image of Christ and to do everything Jesus said (see Gal 4:19; Rom 8:29; Mt 28:19,20). While you would naturally assume spiritual formation would be the central work and aim of the local church, it is sadly far from it.
To close the gap between the visible and the invisible, Willard wrote adamantly and repeatedly that the local church must make its mission to be a center for spiritual formation. This charge is one of the reasons many pastors and ministry leaders like me have found the writings and teachings of Dallas Willard so alluring.
But while thousands of pastors have been drawn to what Willard has said and often quote what Willard wrote, few have enacted his compelling vision within the context of the local church. Spiritual formation remains incidental to the mission of the church rather than integral to it — even among those of us who treasure Willard’s works. How might this change?
“Reading Scripture like Dallas Willard will ... help followers of Jesus — like you and me — live at the glorious cross section of the visible and spiritual worlds.”
Before answering this question, let me first make a confession to all the pastors and ministry leaders reading: integrating spiritual formation into the life of a local church is hard! While I want to drive this essential initiative forward within my own context, plenty of things always seem to interfere. Pastoral needs arise, emails stack up, crises occur. Sunday keeps coming! Amid everything it takes to continue doing what seems indispensable to the work of the local church — worship services, preaching, life-stage ministries, pastoral care, outreach — it’s hard to imagine how to do even more. Where is there room for what looks like the added work of spiritual formation?
Consider this with me for a moment: What if spiritual formation wasn’t meant to be an addition to your work in church, but was the mission of your church? Let me state this declaratively: spiritual formation was not meant to be in addition to the work of the church, because spiritual formation is the mission of the church.
To bridge the gap between the spiritual formation movement and the local church, I’m convinced a key aspect of Dallas Willard’s thought deserves fuller attention and implementation: his approach to reading, teaching, and living the words of Scripture. If local evangelical churches are largely anchored by the words of Scripture in their preaching, programming, and outreach, then shaping how churches approach Scripture is essential.
Reading Scripture like Dallas Willard will not only help close the gap between the work of local churches and spiritual formation organizations, but will help followers of Jesus — like you and me — live at the glorious cross section of the visible and spiritual worlds.
Dave Ripper is the lead pastor of Crossway Christian Church, a multicongregational church in southern New Hampshire, focused on spiritual formation. He earned a doctor of ministry in spiritual direction from Fuller Theological Seminary and The Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and Dallas Willard Research Center at Westmont College. He is the author of Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus: Reading the Bible like Dallas Willard, and coauthor of The Fellowship of the Suffering. Dave and his wife, Erin, a mental health therapist, have three children. They make their home near Nashua, New Hampshire.
Taken from “Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus” by Dave Ripper. Copyright ©2025. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press.
