This is a topic with which I have wrestled all my life. As a kid, I was brought up to believe that the church is the center of spirituality. I suppose this is true for many. However, I challenge the institutional powers of churches (and I am primarily talking about the Christian churches), because these powers are based on realities of hundreds of years ago.
Here is an excellent book that I just finished reading. Read it with an open mind! The author is a bishop and still serves as a bishop, but he is doing a remarkable job discussing the challenges Christianity encounters nowadays.
Here is a definition of spirituality I can relate to
Transformation/Spirituality: Spirituality is not a set of beliefs or dogmas and is not institutionalized religion. Spirituality is connecting deeply to one’s own creative source/sou/spirit and removing the obstacles a) that prevent us from recognizing our creative purposes and b) prevent us from aligning our personalities and our life missions to that which embodies the ultimate values and concerns that give our life meaning; or, in other words, attuning the will of the personality to the will of the soul. Spirituality is being in contact with, and raising awareness to, the process of the personality’s transformation towards embodying the will of the soul. Spirituality embodies practices of raising awareness to our interconnectedness with one another and all things. It involves connecting deeply with others and removing the obstacles that prevent us from connecting deeply with others. Spirituality is developing awareness and connection into the processes of spirit contracting into will, mind, and body; and the individual’s expansion into relationship, the world community, and ultimately universal source energy or spirit. Spirituality is removing the obstacles that prevent us from realizing these processes. Spirituality includes an enormous scope of awareness from which to view oneself and one’s creations as well as others and their creations.
The Center for Spirituality, Psychotherapy, & Creativity