Spiritual Formation in Theological Distance Education: An Ecosystems Model

This article sets forth a model of student spiritual formation in Christian distance education that integrates the biblical concept of spiritual development that takes place within the spiritual ecology of the church as the body of Christ with Bronfenbrenner's Ecology of Human Development theory. The ecosystems model views spiritual formation as an ecological phenomenon whether the ecosystem exists in physical, spiritual, or cyberspace environments, thereby offering evidence for the possibility of student spiritual formation in Christian distance education settings regardless of physical proximity.