The older term is "discipleship." But since that word has either lost its relevent meaning or has been distorted, a more descriptive word has been employed by scholars in the field: spiritual formation.

It is the forming the soul.

Its goal is to have a healthy soul.

Hear Henri Nouwen from The Way of the Heart:

What else is the goal of theological education than to bring us closer to the Lord our God so that we may be more faithful to the great commandment to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and our neighbor as ourselves? Seminaries and divinity schools must lead theology students into an ever-growing communion with God, with each other, and with their fellow human beings. Theological education is meant to form our whole person toward and increasing conformity with the mind of Christ so that our way of prayer and our way of believing will be one. (bold added for emphasis)

In short, our believing and our living should match.

Soul formation is always happening for good or bad, whether we are concious of it or not. All sorts of things shape our souls, like television and music, our families, our friendships, and our own habits. The question is whether our soul is being formed in the right direction.

The proper goal of every human is to be appropriately human™. It is to become what we were made to become. When this happens all good things fall into place, including loving God and loving others.

This is not done by a mere act of the will, for no will is strong enough to sustain it.

It is not done by hoping that we will believe it is so, for no beliefs are changed without intentionally working on them with study.

It is not done by conjuring sincere emotions through earnestness.

It is only done by employing the tools we have been given and seeking the appopriate end to which God points us. We know we are heading in the right direction when we can honestly say we're tasting inner-freedom to choose the good, that we are able to love even people who we'd rather resent, and when we want to offer the good life to others.

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