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Developing Mature Members
… building up the church, the body of Christ, to a position ofstrength and maturity.
Ephesians 4:12 (LB)
Our greatest wish and prayer is that you will become mature Christians.
2 Corinthians 13:9 (LB)
The New Testament is very clear that God’s will for every believer is spiritual maturity. He wants us to grow up. Paul said in Ephesians 4:14 (PHILLIPS), “We are not meant to remain as children at the mercy of every chance wind of teaching… . But we are meant to speak the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ, the head.”
The ultimate goal of spiritual growth is to become like Jesus.
God’s plan for us since the beginning has been for us to be like his Son. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom. 8:29). God wants every believer to develop the character of Christ.
The big question, then, is: How does spiritual growth happen? How do we become mature in Christ?
Myths About Spiritual Maturity
Before I share the Saddleback’s strategy for developing believers to maturity, I want to dispel some popular misconceptions about spiritual growth and maturity. It is important for any strategy to be based on accurate information.
Maturity Myth #1: Spiritual growth is automatic once you are born again
Many churches have no organized plan for following up on new believers and no comprehensive strategy for developing members to maturity. They leave it all to chance, assuming that Christians will automatically grow to maturity if they attend church services. They think all they need to do is encourage people to show up at meetings and the job will get done.
Obviously, this isn’t true. Spiritual growth does not just happen once you are saved, even if you attend services regularly. Churches are filled with people who have attended services for their entire lives, yet are still spiritual babies. An assimilated member is not the same as a mature member. On our Life Development Process diagram, the task of equipping people with the habits necessary for spiritual maturity is called “getting people to second base.”
Spiritual growth is not automatic with the passing of time, either. The writer of Hebrews sadly noted, “… though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again” (Heb. 5:12).
Millions of Christians have grown older without ever growing up.
The truth is this: Spiritual growth is intentional. It requires commitment and effort to grow. A person must want to grow, decide to grow, and make an effort to grow. Discipleship begins with a decision—it doesn’t have to be a complex decision, but it does have to be sincere. The disciples certainly didn’t understand all of the implications of their decision when they decided to follow Christ; they simply expressed a desire to follow him. Jesus took that simple but sincere decision and built on it.
Philippians 2:12–13 says, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Notice that it says “work out,” not “work on,” your salvation. There is nothing you can add to what Christ did for your salvation. Paul is talking in these verses about spiritual growth to people who are already saved. The important thing is that God has a part in our growth, but so do we.
Becoming like Christ is the result of the commitments we make. We become whatever we are committed to! Just as a commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church, it is also the way to grow a great Christian. Without a commitment to grow, any growth that occurs will be circumstantial, rather than intentional. Spiritual growth is too important to be left to circumstance.
Spiritual growth that leads to maturity begins with the kind of commitment described in Romans 6:13 (LB): “Give yourselves completely to God—every part of you—for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes.” Later, I’ll explain how to lead people to make this kind of commitment.
Maturity Myth #2: Spiritual growth is mystical, and maturity is attainable by only a select few
Mention the term “spirituality” today and many people conjure up an image of someone in a white robe, sitting in a yoga position, burning incense, and chanting ”ommmmm” with his or her eyes closed. Others think of Christian mystics and monks who cloister themselves away from the real world, subjecting themselves to the rigors of poverty, chastity, and solitude.
Unfortunately, many Christians feel that spiritual maturity is so far out of their reach, they don’t even try to attain it. They have this mystical, idealized image of what a mature Christian looks like. Maturity, they believe, is only for “super saints.” Some Christian biographies have been partly responsible for this myth by glossing over the humanity of godly people and implying that if you don’t pray ten hours a day, move to a jungle, and plan to die as a martyr you may as well forget aspiring to maturity. This is quite discouraging to the average believer, who feels he must be content with being a “secondclass” Christian.
The truth is this: Spiritual growth is very practical. Any believer can grow to maturity if he or she will develop the habits necessary for spiritual growth. We need to take the mystery out of spiritual growth by breaking the components down into practical, everyday habits.
Paul often compared training for the Christian life to the way athletes stay in shape. I love the Phillips paraphrase of 1 Timothy 4:7: “Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.” The path to spiritual fitness is as practical as the path to physical fitness.
Anyone can become physically fit if he or she will regularly do certain exercises and practice good health habits. Likewise, spiritual fitness is simply a matter of learning certain spiritual exercises and being disciplined to do them until they become habits. Character is shaped by the habits we develop.
At Saddleback, we place a great deal of emphasis on developing spiritual habits. We have seen incredible growth occur in people when we break down the idea of spiritual growth into practical action steps and everyday habits.
Maturity Myth #3: Spiritual maturity can occur instantly if you find the right “key”
This is a popular misconception. It is obvious from the titles of some best-selling Christian books that many Christians at least hope this is true. Books that promise “four easy steps to maturity” or “the key to instant sainthood” reinforce the myth
that Christian character can be acquired overnight.
Many sincere Christians spend their entire lives earnestly searching for an experience, a conference, a revival, a book, a tape, or a single truth that will instantly transform them into a mature believer. Their search is futile. Although we have instant coffee, instant potatoes, and now even instant weightloss methods, there is no such thing as instant spiritual maturity.
The truth is this: Spiritual growth is a process that takes time. Just as God allowed Joshua and the Israelites to possess the land “little by little” (Deut. 7:22), he uses a gradual process of change to develop us into the image of Christ. There are no shortcuts to maturity. It is a slow process. Ephesians 4:13 (PHILLIPS) says, “… we arrive at real maturity—that measure of development which is meant by ‘the fullness of Christ’ “ (italics added). Saying that maturity is a destination at which we arrive implies a journey. Despite our wish to speed up the process, spiritual growth is a journey that will last a lifetime.
I have spent a great deal of time trying to understand the components of this process and find a way to communicate them in a simple way that our members can grasp and remember. It is my conviction that believers grow faster when you provide a track to grow on. The result is Saddleback’s philosophy of edification, which we call the Life Development Process.
The Life Development Process uses the baseball diamond as
an analogy for growth because it is universally understood in America. It is easy for people to understand how we want them to mature when they see a milestone of spiritual growth assigned to each base. We explain to our members that our goal is to help them move around the bases of life. We want Saddleback Samto score!
As I stated in chapter 8, you don’t get credit for runners left on base at the end of the inning! For that reason, we have assigned a staff pastor to each of the bases: membership, maturity, ministry, and missions. Each pastor serves as a “base coach,”—someone who helps the runners make it safely to the next base.
If you convince people of the importance of scoring and give them a coach at each base, it’s much easier to get people to home plate. Likewise, if you lead people to commit to growing spiritually, teach them some basic habits, and give them guidance as they progress around the bases, you can expect to see themgrow.
Maturity Myth #4: Spiritual maturity is measured by what you know
Many churches evaluate spiritual maturity solely on the basis of how well you can identify Bible characters, interpret Bible passages, quote Bible verses, and explain biblical theology. The ability to debate doctrine is considered by some as the ultimate proof of spirituality. However, while knowledge of the Bible is foundational to spiritual maturity, it isn’t the
total measurement of it.
The truth is this: Spiritual maturity is demonstrated more by behavior than by beliefs. The Christian life isn’t just a matter of creeds and convictions; it includes conduct and character. Beliefs must be backed up with behavior. Our deeds must be consistent with our creeds.
The New Testament repeatedly teaches that our actions and attitudes reveal our maturity more than our affirmations. James 2:18 puts it bluntly: “Show me your faith without deeds, and I willshow you my faith by what I do” (italics added). James also said, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior” (James 3:13 NASB). If your faith hasn’t changed your lifestyle, your faith isn’t worth much.
Paul believed in connecting belief and behavior. In every one of his letters, he drives home the importance of practicing what we believe. Ephesians 5:8 (LB) says, “Though once your heart was full of darkness, now it is full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it!” (italics added).
Jesus said it most succinctly of all: “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matt. 7:16). It is fruit, not knowledge, that demonstrates a person’s maturity. If we don’t put into practice what we know, we foolishly “build a house on sand” (see Matt. 7:24–27).
As I mentioned earlier, biblical knowledge is just one measurement of spiritual growth. In addition, we can measure
maturity through perspective, conviction, skills, and character. These “Five Levels of Learning” are the building blocks of spiritual growth we use at Saddleback. In the next section I’ll share how we seek to develop disciples that are strong in all five areas.
One real danger of having knowledge without the other four components is that it produces pride. First Corinthians 8:1 says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Knowledge needs to be tempered by character. Some of the most carnal Christians I’ve known were a veritable storehouse of biblical knowledge. They could explain any passage and defend any doctrine, yet were unloving, self-righteous, and judgmental. It is impossible to have spiritual maturity and pride at the same time.
Another danger of having knowledge is that it increases responsibility. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17). With a deeper knowledge of the Word comes a stronger judgment if we fail to apply it. That is why we must have the conviction and character to practice what we know. Any strategy your church develops to build up believers must help people not only learn the Word, but also love it and live it.
Maturity Myth #5: Spiritual growth is a personal and private matter
The idolatry of individualism in American culture has influenced even the way we think about spiritual growth. Most
spiritual formation teaching tends to be self-centered and selffocused without any reference to our relationship to other Christians. This is completely unbiblical and ignores much of the New Testament.
The truth is this: Christians need relationships to grow. We don’t grow in isolation from others; we develop in the context of fellowship. We find this over and over again in the New Testament. Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” God intends for us to grow up in a family.
In the last chapter I pointed out that relationships are the “glue” that keeps people connected to your church. But relationships play an even more important role in moving people to maturity; they are absolutely essential for spiritual growth. The Bible teaches that fellowship is not optional for a Christian; it is mandatory. Christians that are not connected in loving relationships with other believers are disobeying the “one another” commands given in God’s Word.
John tells us that the proof that we are walking in the light is that we have “fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7). If you’re not having regular fellowship with other believers you should seriously question whether or not you are really walking in the light.
John further suggests that we ought to question whether we
really are saved if we don’t love other believers. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14). If relationships with other believers are this important, why don’t churches put more emphasis on them?
The quality of your relationship to Christ can be seen in the quality of your relationship to other believers. “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Notice that John says “cannot.” It is impossible to love God if you don’t love his children.
Jesus also taught that if you are out of fellowship with a brother, your worship is worthless (see Matt. 5:23–24). A Christian cannot be in fellowship with God and out of fellowship with believers at the same time.
One reason many Christians never witness is because they don’t know how to relate to people. Because they’ve never been in a small group or developed friendships, they have few relational skills. They can’t relate to unbelievers because they can’t even relate to believers. People must be taught how to develop relationships. Although this seems obvious, very few churches take time to teach their members how to relate to each other.
Maturity Myth #6: All you need is Bible study to grow
Many evangelical churches have been built on this myth. I
call them “classroom churches.” Classroom churches tend to be left-brain oriented and cognitive focused. They stress the teaching of Bible content and doctrine, but give little, if any, emphasis to believers’ emotional, experiential, and relational development. All you need to be spiritually mature, says one well-known classroom church, is to have “doctrine in your frontal lobe.”
The truth is this: It takes a variety of spiritual experiences with God to produce spiritual maturity. Genuine spiritual maturity includes having a heart that worships and praises God, building and enjoying loving relationships, using your gifts and talents in service to others, and sharing your faith with lost people. Any church strategy to bring people to maturity must include a l l of these experiences: worship, fellowship, Bible study, evangelism, and ministry. In other words, spiritual growth occurs by participating in all five purposes of the church. Mature Christians do more than study the Christian life—they experience it.
Because some Christians have made the mistake of overemphasizing emotional experiences to the neglect of sound biblical doctrine, many evangelical churches have downplayed the role of experience in spiritual growth. They have overreacted to other groups’ glorification of experience by removing any emphasis on experience and viewing every experience with suspicion, especially if it moves the emotions.
Sadly, this denies the fact that God created human beings with emotions in addition to minds. God has given us feelings
for a purpose. By removing all experience from the Christiangrowth process, you are left with nothing but a sterile, intellectual creed that can be studied but not enjoyed or practiced.
Deuteronomy 11:2 (TEV) says, “Remember today what you have learned about the Lord through your experiences with him” (italics added). Experience is a great teacher. In fact, there are some lessons we can learn only by experience. I love the paraphrase of Proverbs 20:30 (TEV): “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.”
I once heard the well-known Bible teacher Gene Getz say, “Bible study by itself will not produce spirituality. In fact, it will produce carnality if it isn’t applied and practiced.” I have found this to be true. Study without service produces Christians with judgmental attitudes and spiritual pride.
If Christianity was a philosophy, then our primary activity might be studying. But Christianity is a relationship and a life. The words used most often to describe the Christian life are love, give, believe, and serve. Jesus did not say, “I have come that you might study.” In fact, the word “study” appears only a couple of times in the New Testament. But if you look at the weekly schedule of many churches, you’d get the impression that attending studies is a Christian’s sole duty.
The last thing many believers need is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are ministry and evangelism
experiences where they can apply what they already know, relational experiences (like a small group) where they can be held accountable for what they know, and meaningful worship experiences where they can express appreciation to God for what they know.
James had to warn the first Christians: “Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice” (James 1:22 TEV). There is the old illustration of a pond that becomes stagnant because it takes in water but doesn’t give any out. When any Christian’s schedule consists completely of receiving biblical input with no outflow of ministry or evangelism, his or her spiritual growth willstagnate. Impression without expression leads to depression.
Churches do their members a great disservice by keeping people so busy going to the next Bible study that they don’t have time to apply what they learned at the last one they attended. People file away and forget lessons before they can be internalized and put into practice, all the while thinking they are growing because their notebooks are getting fatter. This is foolishness.
Please don’t think that I don’t value Bible study. Actually, the opposite is true. I wrote a textbook on methods of Bible study, Dynamic Bible Study Methods. We must “continue in the Word” in order to be Christ’s disciples. All I’m saying is that it is a mistake to assume that study alone will produce maturity. It is only one component of the maturity process. People need experiences in addition to study in order to grow.
Churches must have a balanced strategy for developing disciples.
Designing Your Strategy
Saddleback’s strategy for developing disciples is based on the six truths I identified in contrast to each myth. We believe that spiritual growth begins with commitment, is a gradual process, involves developing habits, is measured by five factors, is stimulated by relationships, and requires participation in all five purposes of the church.
Raise the level of commitment
I’ve always loved Elton Trueblood’s name for the church: “The Company of the Committed.” It would be wonderful if every church was known for the commitment of its members. Unfortunately, churches are often held together by committees rather than by commitment.
One of the ways to assess whether or not your church is maturing spiritually is if the standards for leadership keep getting tougher as time passes, requiring a deeper level of commitment to Christ and spiritual growth. For instance, when Saddleback first began, our only requirement for serving in children’s Sunday school was that you had to be a warm body. Over the years, we’ve tightened the requirements considerably! We have done the same thing with our lay pastors, our musicians, and other ministry positions.
Each time you raise the standards for leadership, you bring everyone else in the church along a little bit. As the phrase goes, “a rising tide raises all the boats in the harbor*.*” Focus on
raising the commitment of your leadership, not those who are the least committed in your crowd, nor even the semicommitted in your congregation. You will find that whenever you raise the standard of commitment for those who are in the most visible positions of leadership, it raises the expectations for everyone else.
How do you get people to commit to a process of spiritual growth?
You must ask people for commitment. If you don’t ask people for commitment, you won’t get it. And, if you don’t ask your members for commitment, you can be certain that other groups will ask for it: civic groups, service clubs, political parties, or parachurch ministries. The question isn’t whether or not people are going to be committed, but rather who is going to get their commitment. If your church doesn’t ask for and expect commitment from people, those people will conclude that what the church is doing is not as important as their other activities.
It’s amazing to me that many community organizations require more from participants than local churches do. If you’ve ever been a Little League parent, you know that when your child signed up to play, you were required to make a major commitment in terms of providing refreshments, transportation, trophies, and victory parties in addition to your attendance. There was nothing voluntary about your participation!
One of the most helpful things a church can do for people is
to assist them in clarifying what commitments to make and what commitments to decline. The reason we have so many weak Christians is because they are half-committed to many causes rather than being totally committed to the things that matter most. A barrier to spiritual growth for many people is not lack of commitment, but over-commitment to the wrong things. People must be taught to make wise commitments.
Ask confidently for a big commitment. Jesus always asked for commitment clearly and confidently. He was not at all reluctant to ask men and women to drop everything and follow him. It is an interesting phenomenon that, often, the greater the commitment you request, the greater response you will get.
People wa n t to be committed to something that gives significance to their lives. They respond to responsibilities that give life meaning and are attracted by a challenging vision. In contrast, people are often unmoved by weak appeals and pitiful requests for help. Jesus knew this when he said in Luke 14:33, “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” He was demanding total commitment.
One Sunday, at the close of a message, I gave out a special Life Commitment card that asked people to commit their entire lives to Jesus Christ: their time, money, ambitions, habits, relationships, career, home, and energy. The amazing thing to me was not that we got back thousands of cards, but that 177 of those cards were signed by people who had never filled out a regular registration card although they indicated they’d been coming for years! They just had never felt it was worth their
time to fill out the weekly registration card. Sometimes it’s easier to elicit a big commitment than a small one.
Some pastors are afraid to ask for a big commitment, fearing that they will drive people away. But people do not resent being asked for a great commitment if there is a great purpose behind it. An important distinction to remember is that people respond to passionate vision, not need. That’s why many stewardship campaigns don’t work: They focus on the needs of the church rather than the vision of the church.
Be specific in asking for commitment. Another key to developing commitment is to be specific. Tell people exactly what is expected of them. At Saddleback, instead of saying, “Be committed to Christ,” we explain specifically what that involves. We ask people to commit to Christ, then to baptism, then to membership, then to the habits for maturity, then to ministry, and finally to fulfilling their life mission. As I explained earlier, we have developed four covenants that spell out exactly what each of these commitments includes.
Explain the benefits of commitment. Another key to developing commitment in people is to identify its benefits. God does this time and time again in the Bible. So many of the commands in Scripture have wonderful promises attached to them. We always end up being blessed whenever we’re obedient.
Be sure to explain the personal benefits, the family benefits, the benefits to the body of Christ and society in general, and
the eternal benefits of committing to spiritual growth. People really do have an innate desire to learn, to grow, and to improve, but sometimes you must awaken that desire by stating your learning goals and growth objectives in terms of their value and benefit.
I’m fascinated sometimes by the way advertisers make such commonplace products such as deodorant, detergent, and dishwasher soap sound as if they will give your life new meaning, energy, and joy. Advertisers are masters at packaging. How ironic that the church has the real secret to meaning, significance, and satisfaction in life, but we often present it in such a bland, unattractive way. Compare the quality of a church ad with an advertisement for something else and you’llsee the difference right away.
At the beginning of Classes 101, 201, 301, and 401, we state the values and benefits to the participants by saying, “Here’s what this class will do for you.” We also clearly explain the benefits of committing to each of the four covenants.
Build on commitment rather than toward commitment. Even though you tell people where you are taking them (by challenging themwith a big commitment), it is important to start with whatever commitment they are able to give, regardless of how weak it may seem.
We challenge people to make a commitment and then grow into it*.* It’s like choosing to become a parent. Very few couples feel competent to parent before they have their first child. But
somehow, after the decision is made and a baby is born, the couple grows into their parenting role.
It is also okay to break big commitments into smaller steps and lead people gradually along. As you’ve already seen, that’s the idea behind our Life Development Process (the baseball diamond). We don’t expect people to grow from being new believers to the commitment level of Billy Graham or Mother Teresa overnight—we let them take baby steps. By using the baseball diamond as a visual illustration of spiritual progress, people can see how far they’ve come and how far they have to go.
It’s important to celebrate each time someone commits to moving forward to the next base. The ability to make and keep commitments is a sign of maturity that people deserve to be recognized and rewarded for. Create celebration events, like rites of passage, where you can publicly acknowledge that growth. We hold a party at the end of each year where we congratulate all who have signed the maturity covenant and have renewed their commitments for another year.
Celebration events give people a sense of accomplishment and motivate them to keep making progress. A man once commented to me, “I’ve attended a Sunday school class for over thirty years. Do I ever get to graduate?” At celebration events, allow people to share testimonies of how their increased commitment has blessed their lives.
I’ve read a number of articles and books that state that the
baby boomer and baby buster generations will not commit to anything. This simply isn’t true! What they do expect is to receive value equal to their commitment. They are more particular in their commitments because there are so many more options available now. Baby boomers and baby busters are desperately seeking something worth committing their lives to.
Help people develop spiritual growth habits
The most practical and powerful way to get believers headed in the direction of spiritual maturity is to help them establish habits that promote spiritual growth. Often called spiritual disciplines, we use the termhabits because it is less threatening to new believers. While we teach that being a disciple certainly requires discipline, we believe these habits are to be enjoyed rather than endured. We don’t want people to be afraid of spiritual exercises that will strengthen and develop them.
Dostoyevski once said, “The second half of a man’s life is made up of the habits he acquired during the first half.” And Pascal said, “The strength of a man’s virtue … is measured by his habitual acts.” Human beings are creatures of habit. If we don’t develop good habits, we will develop bad ones.
There are dozens of good habits we need to develop as we grow to spiritual maturity. In designing Class 201, I spent a lot of time thinking about the foundational habits that must be learned first in order to grow. What are the minimum requirements? What are the core habits that give birth to all the
others? As I studied, I kept coming back to habits that influence our time, our money, and our relationships. If Christ’s lordship is recognized over these three areas of life, then he will truly be in control.
Class 201, “Discovering Spiritual Maturity,” focuses on how to establish four basic habits of a disciple: the habit of time with God’s Word, the habit of prayer, the habit of tithing, and the habit of fellowship. These are based on statements made by Jesus that define discipleship: a disciple follows God’s Word (see John 8:31–32); a disciple prays and bears fruit (see John 15:7–8); a disciple is not possessed by his possessions (see Luke 14:33); and a disciple expresses love for other believers (see John 13:34–35).
After teaching the what, why, when, and how of these four habits, the class covers the practical steps to starting and maintaining other habits. In Nehemiah 9:38, the entire nation made a spiritual covenant together, put it in writing, and then asked their leaders to sign it as witnesses. At the end of Class 201, we close with everyone signing a maturity covenant. The signed covenant cards are collected, I sign them as a witness, we laminate them, and then they are returned so people can carry them in their wallets. Every year we renew our commitments and issue new cards. We’ve found that an annual recommitment emphasis helps people who got discouraged or quit the habits to make a fresh start.
Do people come out of Class 201 as mature Christians? Of course not. That’s why it’s called “ Discovering Spiritual
Maturity.” The purpose is to get people started on the journey. They leave committed to the process and to the basic habits that are necessary for growth. Although they will struggle along the way, people leave the class permanently changed. It is always a very moving moment when the people in each class commit their time, money, and relationships to Christ. Their faces are full of hope and expectation that they will grow—and they do!
| A Daily Time With | h God | Personal Bible reading and prayer |
|---|---|---|
| A Weekly Tithe T | o God | Giving the first 10% of my income |
| A Committed Tea Hebrews 10:25 | am For God | Fellowship with Believers in a small group |
| Signature | Pastor | |
| Signature Take the time and the fit. Bodily fitness he fitness is of unlimite for this present life a | as a limited valued valued value, for it how and for the life to | urself spiritually ue, but spiritual lds promise both |
Build a Balanced Christian Education Program
I mentioned earlier that I believe there are five measurements
of spiritual growth: knowledge, perspective, conviction, skills, and character. These five levels of learning are the building blocks of spiritual maturity.
At Saddleback, our Christian education program is built around these levels of learning. There is not space to tell about all of the different training courses offered through our Life Development Institute, but I do want to explain how we’ve developed a key programto facilitate each level of learning.
Knowledge of the Word. To begin building a spiritual growth curriculum you need to ask two questions: “What do people already know?” and “What do they need to know?” A church that has grown primarily by biological growth (conversion of members’ children) or transfer growth may have many members who already have a working knowledge of the Bible. But that is not the case in a church designed to reach the unchurched. You cannot assume your new members know anything about the Bible. You must start fromground zero.
At a recent monthly baptism, we baptized sixty-three new believers including a former Buddhist, a former Mormon, a man with a Jewish background, and a former Catholic nun. When you add in ex-NewAgers and plain old pagans, you have quite a mixture to deal with. Biblical illiteracy is almost universal among unbelievers. They do not even recognize the most wellknown stories or personalities of the Bible.
Tom Holladay, our pastor who leads the Maturity team, told me of a recent conversation he had with a brand-new believer
who was struggling with trials in his life. Tom opened his Bible to James 1 and explained the purpose of trials. The man seemed satisfied. As he started to leave Tom’s office he said, “I thought maybe my trials were a result of some sins from a previous life.” Tom realized the man needed more than an explanation of trials; he needed to understand the biblical view of life.
At the knowledge level, your church needs to regularly offer “new believer” Bible studies and surveys of the Old Testament and New Testament. We once took twenty-seven Wednesday nights to cover each of the twenty-seven New Testament books. There are a number of excellent Bible survey curricula available, including the well-known Walk Thru the Bible seminars.
Saddleback’s largest program to develop knowledge of the Word is a nine-month inductive Bible study course, written and taught by our lay teachers. It is called the WORD study. WORD is an acronym for the four activities of this Bible study: Wonder about it (ask questions about the text), Observe it, Reflect on it, and Do it! It is based on the methods described in my book Dynamic Bible Study Methods. Each session includes homework assignments for self-discovery, lectures, and breakout small groups for discussion of the homework. The course begins in September each year and ends the following June. WORD for Women is offered twice a week, and WORD for Men is offered once a week.
While every book of the Bible is important, at Saddleback we
want our members to study five “core” books before they branch out into other studies. These books are Genesis, John, Romans, Ephesians, and James.
Perspective. Perspective is understanding something because you are seeing it from a larger frame of reference. It is the ability to perceive how things are interrelated and then judge their comparative importance. In a spiritual sense, it means seeing life from God’s point of view. In the Bible, the words understanding, wisdom, and discernment all have to do with perspective. The opposite of perspective is hardness of heart, blindness, and dullness.
Psalm 103:7 says, “[God] made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel” (italics added). The people of Israel got to see what God did, but Moses got to understand why God did it. This is the difference between knowledge and perspective. Knowledge is learning what God has said and done. Perspective is understanding why God said it or did it. It answers the “why” questions of life.
The Bible teaches that unbelievers have no spiritual perspective, and that a lack of perspective is evidence of spiritual immaturity. God’s recurring complaint about the nation of Israel was that they lacked perspective, and many of the prophets rebuked the people for this weakness. In contrast, having perspective is a characteristic of spiritual maturity. Hebrews 5:14 (NASB) says, “Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good
and evil” (italics added). There are many benefits of learning to see everything from God’s perspective, but I’ll only mention four of them.
First, perspective causes us to love God more. The better we understand the nature and ways of God, the more we love him. Paul prayed, “May you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is” (Eph. 3:18 LB).
Second, perspective helps us resist temptation. When we look at a situation from God’s viewpoint, we realize that the long-term consequences of sin are greater than any short-term pleasure sin might provide. Without perspective we follow our own natural inclinations. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12, italics added).
Third, perspective helps us handle trials. When we have God’s perspective on life we realize that “… in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Rom. 8:28) and that “the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3). Perspective was one of the reasons Jesus was able to endure the cross (see Heb. 12:2). He looked past the pain to the joy that was set before him.
Fourth, perspective protects us from error. If there was ever a time Christians needed to be grounded in the truth, it is today. We live in a society that rejects absolute truth and accepts each opinion as equally valid. Pluralism has created a
very confused culture. The problem is not that our culture believes nothing, but that it believes everything. Syncretism, not skepticism, is our greatest enemy.
Life Perspectives I
Doctrine Primary Perspective
God God is bigger and better than I can imagine.
Jesus Jesus is God showing himself to us. Holy Spirit God lives in and through me now.
Revelation The Bible is God’s inerrant guidebook for life. Creation Nothing “just happened.” God created it all.
Salvation Grace is the only way to have a relationship
with God.
Sanctification God’s will is for us to grow in Christlikeness.
Good and Evil God has allowed evil to provide a choice. God can bring good even out of evil events.
Death is not the end but the beginning.
The Afterlife Heaven and hell are real places.
The only true world “superpower” is the
church. It will last forever.
Prayer Prayer can do anything God can do.
Second Jesus is coming again to judge the world and
Coming gather his children.
The Church
What is desperately needed today are pastors and teachers who will clearly teach God’s perspective—about work, money, pleasure, suffering, good, evil, relationships, and all the other key issues of life. When we have perspective, “we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different, or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth” (Eph. 4:14 LB). Perspective is what produces stability in people’s lives.
Saddleback’s program to teach perspective is called “Life Perspectives.” It is essentially a systematic theology course that was written by my wife, Kay, and our Pastor of Spiritual Maturity, Tom Holladay. “Life Perspectives” covers twelve essential Christian doctrines and is taught twice a week for twenty-seven weeks by Kay and lay teachers in our church. The format is a combination of lectures and discussion groups.
Conviction. Dictionaries usually define conviction as “a fixed or strong belief,” but it is really much more than that. Your convictions include your values, commitments, and motivations. I like the definition I once heard Howard Hendricks give: “A belief is something you will argue about. A conviction is something you will die for.” Knowing what to do (knowledge), why to do it (perspective), and how to do it (skill) is all worthless if you don’t have the conviction to motivate you to actually do it.
When you first become a Christian, you often do things
simply because other Christians around you suggest them or model them. You may pray, read the Bible, and attend services because you are following the examples of others. This is fine for a new Christian—little children learn the same way. However, as you grow, you must eventually develop your own reasons for doing what you do. These reasons are convictions. Biblical convictions are essential for spiritual growth and maturity.
One of the biggest hit songs of the 1980s was “Karma Chameleon” by Boy George. One key line said it all: “I’m a man without conviction.” Sadly, there are many people whose values are blurred, whose priorities are jumbled, and whose commitments are diffused. James Gordon once said, “A man without conviction is as weak as a door hanging on one hinge.”
A person without conviction is at the mercy of circumstances. If you don’t determine what is important and how you’ll live, other people will determine it for you. People without conviction often mindlessly follow the crowd. I believe Paul was talking about conviction when he said in Romans 12:2 (PHILLIPS), “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remake you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed.”
The church must teach biblical convictions in order to counter the secular values to which believers are constantly exposed. As the old cliché goes, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” What is ironic is that
people often have strong convictions about weak issues (football, fashions, etc.) while having weak convictions about major issues (what is right and what is wrong).
Conviction helps us be diligent in continuing to grow spiritually. Growth requires time and effort. Without conviction about growth, people become discouraged and give up. No one stays with a difficult task unless they are convinced there is a good reason for doing so. A church can teach people how to pray, how to study the Bible, and how to witness, but unless they impart the corresponding convictions, people will not stick with it.
The people who have made the greatest impact on this world, for good or evil, have not been necessarily the smartest, wealthiest, or best-educated people; they have been the people with the strongest, deepest convictions. Marx, Ghandi, Buddha, Columbus, and Luther are just a few of the people who changed the face of the world because of their convictions.
In 1943, 100,000 young people in brown shirts filled the Olympic stadium in Munich, Germany, the largest stadium in the world at that time. They formed with their bodies a sign for a fanatical man standing behind the podium. The message read, “Hitler, we are yours.” Their commitment allowed them to conquer Europe. Years later, a group of young Chinese students committed to memorizing and living the philosophy of a little red book, The Sayings of Chairman Mao. The result was
the Cultural Revolution that to this day keeps one billion people in the world’s largest country under the slavery of communism. That is the power of conviction!
Jesus’life was dominated by his conviction that he was sent to do the Father’s will. This conviction produced a deep awareness of his life’s purpose that kept him from being distracted by the agenda of others. To gain insight into the convictions that he held, study all the times Jesus used the phrase “I must …” When people develop Christlike convictions, they too will develop a sense of purpose in life.
Conviction has an attractive quality to it, which explains the popularity of many cults. A cult’s beliefs may be erroneous and often illogical, but they are believed with intense conviction. Churches without clear, strong convictions will never attract the level of commitment that Christ deserves. We must burn with the conviction that the kingdom of God is the greatest cause in the world. Vance Havner used to say, “Jesus demands greater allegiance than any dictator that ever lived. The difference is that Jesus has a right to it!”
At Saddleback, we teach biblical convictions in every program, class, seminar, and message but conviction is caught as much as it is taught. It spreads best through relationships*.* Conviction is contagious: People acquire it by being around other people who have it. This is a major reason we emphasize small groups as a part of our Life Development Process. Close association with people of conviction will often have a greater influence than merely listening to a message delivered with
conviction.
Skills. Skill is the ability to do something with ease and accuracy. You develop a skill, not by listening to a lecture, but by practice and experience. In the Christian life there are certain skills you must develop in order to mature: Bible study skills, ministry skills, witnessing skills, relational skills, time management skills, and many others.
Skills are the “how-to steps” of spiritual growth. Knowledge and perspective are concerned with knowing. Conviction and character are concerned with being. Skills are related to doing. We are to be “doers of the word, not hearers only” (James 1:22 KJV). Our actions prove we belong to God’s family. Jesus said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice” (Luke 8:21, italics added).
Many believers are frustrated today because they know what to do but they’ve never been taught how to do it. They have heard numerous messages on the importance of studying their Bibles, but no one shows them how to do it. They are made to feel guilty for a weak prayer life, but no one takes the time to explain how to make a prayer list, how to praise God’s character by using his names, or how to intercede for others. Exhortation without explanation leads to frustration. Whenever we exhort people to do something, we are responsible to explain exactly how to do it.
If you want your church to produce effective Christians, you must teach the necessary skills for Christian living and
ministry. Skill is the secret of effectiveness. Remember the verse I shared in chapter 2: “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success” (Eccl. 10:10, italics added).
Saddleback’s program for developing skills is called Life Skills Seminars. These seminars are usually four to eight hours in length and are normally taught in a single day. We’ve discovered that people usually find it easier to block out an extended period on time of one day instead of attending an hour a week over sixweeks. Sometimes, however, we do stretch out a Life Skills Seminar over a period of weeks because there is too much content to cover in a single day.
Each Life Skills Seminar focuses on a single, specific skill, such as how to study the Bible, how to pray more effectively, how to handle temptation, how to make time for ministry, and how to get along with other people. We have identified nine basic skills that we believe every Christian needs, but we also offer seminars on other skills whenever we perceive a particular need in our church.
Character. Christlike character is the ultimate goal of all Christian education. To settle for anything less is to miss the point of spiritual growth. We are to “… become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Developing the character of Christ is life’s most important task because it is the only thing we’ll take with us into eternity.
Jesus made it quite clear in his Sermon on the Mount that eternal rewards in heaven will be based on the character we develop and demonstrate here on earth.
This means the objective of all our teaching must be to change lives, not to merely provide information. Paul told Timothy that the purpose of his teaching was to develop character in those he taught: “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5 NASB). Paul told Titus to do the same thing: “Now you must tell them the sort of character which should spring fromsound teaching” (Titus 2:1 PHILLIPS).
Character is never built in a classroom; it is built in the circumstances of life. The classroom Bible study is simply the place to identify character qualities and learn how character is developed. When we understand how God uses circumstances to develop character, we can respond correctly when God places us in character-building situations. Character development always involves a choice. When we make the right choice, our character grows more like Christ.
Whenever we choose to respond to a situation in God’s way instead of following our natural inclination we develop character. I once wrote a book on the fruit of the Spirit called The Power to Change Your Life that explains this concept more fully.
If you want to know what Christlike character looks like, a good place to start is the list of nine character qualities Paul
enumerates in Galatians 5:22–23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” The fruit of the Spirit is a perfect picture of Christ; he embodied all nine qualities. If you are going to develop Christlike character, you must have these qualities in your life as well.
How does God produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives? By putting us in the exact opposite circumstances so we have a choice to make! God teaches us how to really love by putting us around unlovable people. (It doesn’t require any character to love people who have it all together.) He teaches us joy in times of sorrow. (Joy is internal. Happiness depends on what’s happening, but joy is independent of circumstances.) He develops peace within us by placing us in the midst of chaos so we can learn to trust him. (It doesn’t require character to be at peace when everything is going your way.)
God is far more concerned with our character than he is with our comfort. His plan is to perfect us, not to pamper us. For this reason he allows all kinds of character-building circumstances: conflict, disappointment, difficulty, temptation, times of dryness, and delays. A major responsibility of your church’s Christian education program is to prepare your people with the knowledge, perspective, convictions, and skills needed to handle these situations. If you do, people will develop character.
A century ago, Samuel Smiles made this observation:
Sow a thought and you reap an act;
Sow an act and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit and you reap a character;
Sow a character and you reap a destiny.
There is a logical order to building knowledge, perspective, conviction, skills, and character. You must start with a foundation of knowledge. Since spiritual growth is based on God’s Word, the first level of learning is to gain a working knowledge of the Bible. Perspective and convictions must be Bible based*.*
On top of knowledge of the Word, you add perspective. The better you know God’s Word, the more you’ll begin to see life from God’s viewpoint. Conviction naturally grows out of perspective. Once you begin to see things from God’s perspective, you begin developing biblical convictions. An understanding of God’s purpose and plan changes your motivations.
Conviction then gives you the motivation to maintain spiritual habits. Eventually, through repetition, these habits become skills. You no longer have to consciously focus when you do them.
When you put knowledge of the Word, perspective, conviction, and the corresponding skills together, the resulting
product is character! First you know it; then you understand it; then you believe it with your whole heart; then you do it. The result of these four is character.
Here are five questions you need to ask about your Christian education program:
- Are people learning the content and meaning of the Bible?
- Are people seeing themselves, life, and other people more clearly fromGod’s perspective?
- Are people’s values becoming more aligned with God’s values?
- Are people becoming more skilled in serving God?
- Are people becoming more like Christ?
At Saddleback, these are the objectives we continually work toward. As Paul said in Colossians 1:28 (NCV): “So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ.”
Our vision for spiritual maturity is to bring glory to God by presenting Jesus Christ with as many Christlike disciples as we possibly can before he returns.
Saddleback’s 2020 Vision for a Mature Church
We dream of 15,000 members who have committed themselves to the Maturity Covenant: Having a daily time with God, giving a weekly tithe to God, and participating in a weekly team(small group) for God.
We dream of a network of 1,000 small groups within our church providing support, encouragement, and accountability to our members as they seek to grow in Christlikeness. These groups will continue to be led by trained lay pastors and leaders who lovingly lead, feed, and care for those in their group.
We dream of our Life Development Institute for our members, offering a balanced program of Bible studies, classes, topical seminars, and annual conferences for building knowledge, perspective, conviction, skills, and character. We expect 7,500 members to receive the LDI basic diploma by 2020.
We dream of our midweek believers’ service involving 5,000 adults, children, and youth who are not involved in a small-group fellowship.
We dream of a faculty of 250 gifted lay teachers, equipped with the vision, character, knowledge, and expertise to feed our flock. We dream of a teacher-training program that produces experts in individual Bible books, doctrine, apologetics, and Christian growth. We dream of the day that it can be said, “The best Bible teachers in the country are the lay teachers at Saddleback.”
We dream of an age-appropriate Life Development Process that leads our children and youth to love Jesus and his church, grow spiritually, discover their shape for ministry, and understand their life mission in the world.
We dream of Saddleback as a model of Christian education that focuses on life change, not just comprehension. We intend to make available resources, tools, and training to thousands of other purpose-driven churches.
We dream of working with seminaries to establish a church-based training program for pastors. We intend to train leaders for the twenty-first century church in how to start, develop, and lead purpose-driven churches.
The goal of this vision is to bring glory to God by presenting Jesus Christ with as many Christlike disciples as we possibly can before he returns (see Col. 1:28)!