Spiritual formation

I was doing searches on Practical Theology and came upon the term 'spiritual formation' being used a lot. Basically by this term the mainstream church is wrestling with the fact that is lacks a practical element in what it is doing. The Work would be an example of a system of spiritual formation (but only if connected to the commands and teachings of Christ).

Here is an article that gives a good sense of why the mainstream church is skeptical of 'spiritual formation' and also why it needs it:

http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=81