Sofas replaced pews and Monday night means yoga class, not board meetings. For worshipers at Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, it's part of their passion for a new kind of spiritual formation. Founding pastor Doug Pagitt guides readers through a typical week with his experimental congregation in his new book Reimagining Spiritual Formation (Zondervan, 2004). Pagitt describes the soul-shaping experiences of conversation, exercise, hospitality, public service, creativity, and worship. We talked with Doug about the passion behind Solomon's Porch and how other leaders can begin to re-imagine ministry.

How is "spiritual formation" defined at Solomon's Porch?

We are trying to have a more holistic understanding of what it means. Many churches think of your spiritual life as being separate from your physical, social, or work life. They believe if you just give people the right information about God they will live good lives. We've been asking, "How are people shaped by what they already do?" and then ...