THE GREAT OMISSION
Dallas Willard is a professor at the University of Southern California's School of Philosophy. He is also a Christian lay person. And he writes books. Lots of books. One of his books is entitled The Great Omission. And what he does in that book is this: he shows how the church has forgotten what its business is. It has forgotten that its business is making disciples. Making disciples for Dr. Willard means spiritual formation in Christ. Every person in the world has a spirit, he says, and our spirit will be formed by something. We will be shaped in our innermost being by one force or another. We have but to look into our own hearts to see what shape they're in, and we will know something about the character of what is shaping us. "Everyone receives spiritual formation," Willard says, "just as everyone gets an education. The only question is whether it is a good one or a bad one." (The Great Omission, p. 69).