Disciplship Devotional #4 – The Growth Process Model

Remember we said that spiritual growth is both a journey and a process. The Growth Model codifies the internal processes involved in your spiritual growth.  

The person at the center of the model is you and inside of us are the aspects of our character that we must work on to achieve maturity. On the left side is where we all start – the immature version of ourselves. On the right is where we are trying to get to – the mature version of ourselves. In the center there are six characteristics of maturity that we all need to work on to move from immaturity to maturity: 

• Intimacy with God 

• Identity 

• Responsibility 

• Wholeness 

• Resilience 

• Competence 

Everything starts with intimacy with God. This is the center of our model. Nothing else works without intimacy. It is first in sequence and in importance to the transformation process. Here are some definitions of the six characteristics: 

Intimacy with God: Your connectedness to God in heart-to-heart relationship. How well your hear Him and enjoy His presence. 

Identity: The story you tell yourself about whose you are, who you are and who your tribe is. Your value, significance and belonging. 

Responsibility: How well you take accountability for your growth, the outcomes of your life and how you affect others. 

Wholeness: Complete wholeness and health of your spirit, mind, emotions, body and relationships. 

Resilience: How well you deal with hardship and suffering. The ability to grow through trials and see God at work in them. 

Competence: Influencing your sphere for the kingdom of God. Being a good ambassador for Christ of His love and power. Using your gifts to serve humanity for Christ. 

Growth also takes place in the context of a community where we feel we belong. Our community greatly influences our progress (or lack of) to maturity. We cannot become fully mature without the support of and contribution to a healthy community. 

In addition, our growth (and the growth of our community) takes place in the context of the sovereign purposes of God. God’s purpose not only directs our growth but as we mature, we should witness our life experiences becoming more and more purposeful.  

Finally, everything about this work of maturity really starts with love. God, outside of our initiative or ability, sovereignly and mercifully calls us, sanctifies us and glorifies us because He loves us.  It is God’s love for us that initiates, sustains and completes this good work in us. His love is bigger than we can imagine. As we yield to His work in us, we become more and more full of His love, and we walk more and more in His purpose. However, we do not work on these things directly, but as we address the six aspects outlined above, we will begin to see the love and purpose of God increase in our lives. 

I would also like to show you how the model hearkens back to our scriptural foundations. Ephesians 3:14-19 speaks to intimacy with God, identity and wholeness. Ephesians 4:11-16 speaks to identity, responsibility, competence and community. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 speaks to competence and wholeness. And James 1:2-4 speaks to resilience. 

When we have fully developed in love, intimacy with God, identity, responsibility, wholeness, resilience, competence, purpose and community, then we would have attained the fullness of the stature of Christ. 

There is a connection between the Maturity Journey Guide and the Maturity Model. You would recall that I said that when we understand what stage we are in, we can understand how to partner with God to grow in that stage. Well, now we can use the model to illustrate which aspects of our maturity God is usually emphasizing at each stage of the journey and work on the relevant aspect for that stage (see table below). Said another way, we need to understand what aspects of our maturity we need to focus on at each stage of the journey to progress forward to the next stage. 

	Intimacy	Identity	Responsibility	Wholeness	Resilience	Competence
Awakening
Processing
Joyful Partnership

REFLECTION 

• Can you identify times in your life when God was working on these aspects of your character? 

• What do you believe the Holy Spirit is working on in you in this season?