Growth Process Model into Maturity

Dr. Gary Sweeten

I am often asked about what I do when I teach here and around the world. In the following posts I will try to explain my goals and processes.

The Lifeskills model promotes Personal growth towards holiness, healthiness, wholeness and maturity. This will include healing and curing as well as mentoring and teaching. No matter where one is when he begins the journey toward wholeness (Teleios) it is the duty of the church to facilitate positive, forward movement. As Paul noted in Col 1:27-29:

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect, Teleios, in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

We use a scale to evaluate health and sickness, healing and growth. there are gradations of health and dysfunction. I recently went to the heart doctor and they analyzed my heart functioning. They told me that everyone can be assigned a number that tells medical personnel how well theri heart is functioning. Despite the fact that I have an injured heart muscle my score was pretty good.

The scale of emotional/spiritual functioning runs from minus ten to minus one (-10 to -1) on the dysfunction side and plus one to plus ten (+0 to +10) on the maturity side. The scale allows us to get an idea of how the healing/growth process actually works.

For example, a Minus Eight indicates that a person is very unhealthy and unstable and needs intense support and ministry. In the physical realm such a patient would be dying. From a mental/emotional/relational perspective, such persons are deeply addicted, psychotic, angry, violent or suicidal. The person is out of control.

Can you think of any Christian character from biblical days who was emotionally/spiritually unwell? Did salvation immediately make every convert into a mature Apostle?

At the beginning of his spiritual journey was Saul of Tarsus quite dysfunctional. He was angry, bitter and took his rage out on people with whom he disagreed. He was even involved in killing Christians. Perhaps he would have been considered a minus eight or nine.

A zero indicates that one is balanced between dysfunctional and health. Such a person would be fragile and prone to bad habits but still maintaining some peace in his life.

On the growth side of the equation, Ten would be considered to be the most mature person imaginable. They can, "Take a licking and keep on ticking". Mature people face and overcome many crises and problems while maintaining inner strength and balance.

Zero implies that the person is neither dysfunctional nor healthy, but will maintain health or sickness according to normal problems of living.