Why Spiritual Formation Needs More Than Just Information

Blog by The Unhurried Living Team

Spiritual formation rarely happens because someone absorbed one more excellent talk. Alan and Gem Fadling have spent years leading retreats, workshops, and their PACE cohorts, and they have watched the same pattern repeat itself. A leader hears a brilliant session, takes careful notes, and returns home to live exactly as they did the week before.

That gap between hearing and becoming is the honest cry behind this episode. Weary Christian leaders do not need another lecture on why change matters. They need to know how spiritual formation actually takes root, and why the environment around the teaching may matter as much as the content itself.

Alan and Gem Fadling built this conversation around a simple conviction: information alone rarely changes a life. Formation happens as people notice what God is doing in them, reflect on it, and share it with others. This post walks through the practices Alan and Gem Fadling use to help that kind of spiritual formation actually occur, and how unhurried living shapes every part of how they teach.

Why Does Solitude Practice Matter in Christian Leadership?

Gem Fadling begins with what she calls the practice that surprises no one. Whenever she and Alan are invited to lead a group, they build in solitude practice, sometimes thirty minutes, sometimes several hours, because they believe extended time with God trains people in receptivity.

Solitude practice is not empty time, even though it can feel that way to a room used to being talked at. It reminds everyone, including the facilitators, that God is the primary teacher. Solitude practice gives leaders a chance to listen instead of simply receiving more content from someone else.

Alan Fadling adds that solitude and silence require more coaching than almost any other spiritual discipline, because they run against the grain of a hurried culture. He has traveled across the world to lead retreats, and he still hears leaders ask why he is not teaching every minute they have together. His answer stays consistent: God is the one they are all there to hear, and one unhurried hour with God often does more than the most polished lecture.

Here is one small step. This week, set aside twenty unscheduled minutes with no agenda except attentiveness to God, and notice what solitude practice stirs in you.

If you want a trained companion for this kind of listening prayer, our soul care guides are ready to walk with you, and you can connect here.

What Is the Difference Between Formational Versus Informational Teaching?

The second conviction Alan and Gem Fadling teach is that more content does not equal more learning. Alan admits that after decades of speaking, there is a real temptation to fill every minute with insight, as though the value of a session is measured by how much information a leader can deliver.

This is where formational versus informational teaching becomes the dividing line. Informational teaching assumes a container is being filled. Formational versus informational teaching, by contrast, assumes a person is being shaped over time, the way an apprentice is shaped by a master rather than a database is filled with facts.

Gem shares a recent example. A group they know invited a speaker who taught one hundred percent of the time with no space to process anything, and the feedback afterward was almost unanimous: people wished they had been given room to think and talk about what they heard. That single story captures why formational versus informational teaching matters so much to how Alan and Gem design every gathering.

Here is one small step. Before your next teaching moment, cut your prepared content by a third and use that reclaimed time to ask a single honest question and let people respond.

When you are ready to go deeper on formational teaching, our books and resources collection gathers years of Alan and Gem's writing on this exact shift, and you can explore it here.

What Does Unhurried Leadership Retreat Design Actually Look Like?

The third major point in this conversation is unhurried leadership retreat design, and it ties everything else together. Alan and Gem resist the instinct to cram every hour of a retreat with content, because a packed schedule leaves no room for anything to sink in.

Good unhurried leadership retreat design leaves space between sessions. It protects unscheduled time for prayer, informal conversation, and simple rest, rather than filling every gap with another deliverable. Alan describes this as a deep-seated bias born from years of watching people absorb far more when they are not rushed from one session to the next.

Interaction plays a central role in this kind of design too. Gem describes a practice they call turning in twos, where people pause after teaching to talk with the person next to them about what they are noticing, and Alan recalls leading a men's retreat where scripture, silence, and shared reflection replaced a stack of prepared talks entirely. The response, he says, surprised men who expected a high energy speaker and instead found space to hear from God themselves.

Reflection closes the loop. Alan and Gem build in time for people to look back, name what they are grateful for, and practice what was taught while still in the room together, because trying something once with guidance makes it far more likely a person will try it again at home.

Here is one small step. As you plan your next gathering, block out one unscheduled hour and resist every urge to fill it with more content.

How Do Alan and Gem Fadling Design Formational Teaching Environments?

Designing formational teaching environments means choosing a different model than filling a container with information. The table below shows how Alan and Gem Fadling describe the shift they have made over years of leading retreats, workshops, and PACE cohorts.

Alan and Gem Fadling weave several practices into this kind of designing formational teaching environments, including solitude, teaching just enough content, structured interaction, attentiveness to group dynamics, spacious scheduling, and time for reflection. None of these practices stand alone. Together, they create room for spiritual formation to actually take hold rather than simply being discussed.

Who Is This Kind of Teaching For?

This approach was never built for one region or one kind of ministry setting. Alan and Gem have led PACE cohorts, workshops, and retreats with pastors, nonprofit directors, and ministry leaders scattered across many countries and time zones, and the same pattern holds true everywhere they go.

Whether a leader is preparing a Sunday teaching in a small congregation or facilitating a multi-day retreat for an international team, the felt need is the same: people are tired of information that does not stick, and they are hungry for formation that does. Unhurried living was never meant to be a regional idea. It is an invitation available to any weary leader, wherever they happen to be serving.

What Does This Mean for Your Own Spiritual Formation?

Alan and Gem close with a simple summary. Teaching still matters, and scripture, insight, and content all have a place in any gathering. But formation rarely happens through information alone; it unfolds as people listen to God, reflect honestly, and share what they are learning with others.

Their hope for every leader who hears this conversation is the same hope they carry into every retreat and every PACE cohort: that spiritual formation would take root, not just be discussed, and that unhurried living would shape how each leader teaches, trains, and leads the people entrusted to their care.

You do not have to figure out how to build this kind of unhurried rhythm on your own, so sign up here for the Weekly Email and receive ongoing encouragement for your leadership.

Start with a simple daily rhythm that mirrors what Alan and Gem describe in this episode, and get started here with the Unhurried Daily Email.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why is solitude and silence important in ministry? A: Solitude and silence train leaders and the people they serve in receptivity to God. Alan and Gem Fadling describe it as a reminder that God is the primary teacher in any room, not the person speaking. It also gives people space to notice what God is already doing in them, rather than only receiving more content.

Q: How can I make my teaching more formational than informational? A: Build in time for reflection and conversation, not just delivery. Alan and Gem Fadling suggest reducing prepared content and using the reclaimed time for questions, shared insight, and space to try a practice while still together. Formation grows when people process what they hear, not simply when they hear it.

Q: How do I teach without overwhelming people with content? A: Ask how much content is genuinely enough rather than how much you could possibly deliver. Alan and Gem Fadling recommend a spacious schedule with real breaks between sessions, along with structured moments for people to talk through what they are learning together.

Q: What is the difference between a spacious retreat schedule and a packed one? A: A packed schedule moves people from session to session with little room to absorb anything. A spacious schedule protects unscheduled time for reflection, prayer, and informal conversation, which Alan and Gem Fadling have found helps learning actually stick for weeks and months afterward.

Q: What role does PACE play in this kind of formational teaching? A: PACE is where Alan and Gem Fadling model everything described in this conversation over a sustained twenty-one month training. Leaders experience solitude, reflection, and formational teaching firsthand while also learning to lead this way in their own ministry or organization.