Spiritual Formation

We are all being formed by something. Whether we realize it or not, we alow influences to form the way we think, feel, and act. This is why, at Union Center, we talk about practicing the way of Jesus, because we want to him to holistically form us. While practices don’t form us, they help create space where Jesus forms us to be more like him. We believe that if we all practice ways of engaging with God, journeying together, and spreading hope, then we will be more holistic followers of Jesus.


We are attempting to engage in something that we call “Long-form spiritual formation.” While that may sound redundant, we believe that many spiritual formation efforts are still actually short-term. We need some short term formational moments, but we can’t live off those short moments. For that reason, we tend to choose a theme every year as the lens in which we create our vision for that year. This theme comes through as a year-long sermon series. For 2025, our theme is Beauty in Binghamton. 

Emotional Health

God created us as holistic people—body, mind, heart, and soul. We believe that our spiritual formation efforts should not just appeal to our minds. Part of following Jesus is learning to honor the other parts of us that make us human, like our emotional health. We believe that Jesus’ invitation to us is to tell the truth about our hearts. So, At Union Center, we seek to live with honesty about what is going on beneath the surface of our lives.

Creating Space is the foundation of our spiritual formation pathway as a church. It is a collection of hour-long, small gatherings that meet for 8 weeks before or after our weekly church service (unless otherwise denoted). These different groups will help equip you to practice the way of Jesus together. 

There are three different types of Creating Space groups from which you can choose: engaging with God groups, journeying together groups, and spreading hope groups.