Formation studies
One formation path, shaped for the actual life of a church.
Run a study across twelve weeks, pair every lesson into a six-week intensive, or cover the entire arc in a two-day retreat. Nothing essential is removed: Scripture leads, every lesson builds something, and the work ends in transfer because formation that stays with one person isn’t finished yet.
Where to begin
Learn to see. Then learn to receive responsibility.
Start with the two-session Invisible Kingdoms orientation, then move into From Survival to Stewardship. Together they introduce Durable Church’s way of seeing systems and its way of forming people. After the seven Builder Movements, return to Invisible Kingdoms for the full twelve-week capstone.
Orientation · Session 1
See the outcome before explaining it
Learn to slow down, describe a repeated visible outcome, and hold first explanations as revisable rather than final.
Orientation · Session 2
See the system beneath the outcome
Notice how stories, structures, incentives, information, authority, and neglected voices shape what keeps happening.
Ready to use
Begin with the participant guides.
Two sessions
Invisible Kingdoms orientation
A complete participant guide for learning to describe a repeated outcome and make a first system map.
Study 1 · Twelve lessons
From Survival to Stewardship
The complete participant guide, including all weekly reading, reflection, discussion, build, transfer, prayer, and practice.
Three complete formats
Choose the pace without cutting the formation arc.
Twelve-week formation
12 weekly gatherings · 90 minutes each
One lesson each week, with six days between gatherings to practice, transfer, and return with evidence.
Six-week intensive
6 weekly gatherings · 2 hours each
Two consecutive lessons in each gathering. Both Scripture movements and both build exercises remain; participants complete one combined field practice between gatherings.
Two-day retreat
6 formation blocks across 2 days
Two lessons in every block, with prayer, meals, rest, and working time around them. The retreat ends with the Builder’s Workshop and a thirty-day transfer commitment.
The library
What you can start now: Study 1 is ready to run. Studies marked “Open for pilots” are in full draft, and we’re looking for churches to run them with us, with support along the way.
Study 1 · Receive
Available nowFrom Survival to Stewardship
Moving from Survival and Dependence into Faithful Responsibility
Unlearn the habits survival formed in us and take up responsibility without confusing agency with autonomy.
Study 2 · Own
Open for pilotsWhat Is Truly Ours
On the difference between access and ownership
How to know whether you truly own what God has entrusted to you, or are only holding it for now.
Study 3 · Build
Open for pilotsThe Faithful Builder
Becoming the Kind of Person Who Can Build What Lasts
Form builders whose work grows from calling, identity, and craft, sturdy enough to carry the work without making an idol of it.
Study 4 · Steward
Open for pilotsThe Work of Your Hands
Recovering a Biblical Theology of Skill, Craft, and Meaningful Work
Recover work as service to neighbor: craft without perfectionism, and rhythms a person can actually sustain.
Study 5 · Release
Open for pilotsThe Bottleneck
How to Release What Depends Too Heavily on You
Separate faithfulness from indispensability, and learn to hand off what only seems like it has to stay with you.
Study 6 · Multiply
Open for pilotsBuilders Don’t Build Alone
Creating Teams That Can Carry, Multiply, and Continue the Work
Build communities that produce builders, not dependent helpers.
Study 7 · Renew
Open for pilotsThe Faithful Handoff
How to Pass on Capability, Wisdom, and Responsibility Without Losing the Mission
Succession that transfers understanding, judgment, and authority, not just a binder of documents.
Study 8 · The seeing lens
Open for pilotsInvisible Kingdoms
Learning to See the Systems Beneath Spiritual and Organizational Life
Learn to see the structures, incentives, and patterns behind repeated outcomes: an orientation for the whole series, or its capstone.
Every week
One rhythm, sixteen parts.
Every week moves from Scripture to story to system, and ends in practice. The twelfth week is a builder’s workshop that produces something another person can actually use.
- 01Read
- 02Understand
- 03Story
- 04System
- 05Jesus
- 06Echoes
- 07A Great of the Faith
- 08A Secular Example
- 09Modern Run
- 10Quotes
- 11Reflection
- 12Discussion
- 13Build
- 14Transfer
- 15Pray
- 16Practice
Want to run a study with your group or leadership team?
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