Joyfully Unofficial Elders
By Michael Sullivant Some years back my wife, Terri, and I entered what I like to call our “fourth quarter of life”. In both football and basketball, the fourth quarter is often the decisive quarter for a team’s success. For us, this means being deeply engaged in spreading the love and joys of being Christ-followers […]
Elder Leadership: Priorities for Thriving Communities
By Barbara Moon Elders look after their community. Elders are in the stage of life where strength is lessening while responsibility is increasing. Communities usually contain different age groups and can be of different sizes. It’s a good thing that elders have had lots of practice throughout all the other stages of maturity. Communities can […]
Part 2: What Gen Z Needs from Elders
By Hannah Ploegstra Gen Z is a delightful generation whose collective history has set them up to be hungry for input from elders. They were babies and toddlers when 9/11 happened, formed their group identities with the help of social media and iPhones, and when it was finally time to head out into the world […]
Part 1: Why Gen Z Needs Elders
By Hannah Ploegstra The people who are now on deck to be the next elders in our society are the generation we call “Baby Boomers” (born 1946-1964). Because one of the core missions of the Boomer generation in their young adult life was to break free from the controlling grip of their elders (parents, grandparents, […]
Becoming an Extra Parent
By Dr. Karen Struble, Clinical Psychologist In recent years the number of Western-world households without children has risen tremendously. Reasons abound. Some folks search for a suitable (a.k.a. real grown-up) mate, but cannot find one. Others suffer the pain of infertility or other medical conditions. Still others are fertile couples who choose not to bear […]
Flexible Diligence & Parenting
By Michael Sullivant One of the skills we are meant to learn during the parent stage of maturity is to gracefully balance and synchronize our attention and energies to meet the appropriate needs of our spouse, children, extended family, church, work, friends, and the broader community. I’m now almost 70 with five married adult children […]
“I have called you friends” – Mutually Satisfying Relationships and Adult Maturity
By Joca & Joel Prudhomme Jesus calls us His friends. This is an incredible thought, not just Him a friend to me but me a friend to Him also, sharing His heart, His joys, and His sorrows and working together with Him to achieve our Father’s purposes. He wants me to have this kind of […]
More Than Our Momentary Failures: Lessons from Parenting in the Child Stage
By Joel and Joca Prudhomme Before having children, I was sure that I would be a great dad. What a surprise to discover as a parent of young children that I seemed completely incapable of doing even half of the wonderful things that I had read in the parenting books! This grand adventure of raising […]
Child Maturity – Learning What Truly Satisfies
By Michel Hendricks Have you ever been hungry, and intended to eat a little snack before dinner and ended up eating way too much and ruining your appetite? Have you ever gotten so obsessed by a sport or hobby that you ignored other important things? Have you ever been hooked on a substance or behavior […]
Understanding Child-Level Maturity
Last month we discussed the first stage of the maturity process, infant maturity. This month we will discover the next stage, child-level maturity. It is important to keep in mind that each stage builds upon – not replaces – the previous maturity stage. While the main goal of infant maturity is to learn to receive, […]
Responding to a Connection Invitation
By Marlene Allen “Mom! Dad! Look! Look at me!” is the cry of a young heart. “Look at me. See me. Validate me. Affirm me. Help me become my own person by acknowledging that my actions have meaning. Enjoy this moment with me. It’s part of me forming my own personality. It’s me venturing out […]
We Never Outgrow the Need to Receive
By Claudia Hendricks When we hear the word “infant” our mind instantaneously tends to dismiss the topic thinking it does not concern us as adults. But when we stop to see how God has designed our brains to grow an integrated identity at an infant level, things get interesting. The infant stage of maturity takes […]
Understanding Infant Maturity
If you’ve been around the Life Model, you’ve probably heard about the five stages of maturity: infant, child, adult, parent, and elder. If you are newer to the Life Model, the stages of maturity outline the growth process from infancy through adulthood in terms of relational skills, emotional health, and the ability to handle life’s […]
Fully Alive: Becoming True You!
By Terri Sullivant “…if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus. You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your […]
The Origins of the False Self
At Life Model Works, we ask a lot of “how” questions. Often in churches, we are told what the Bible teaches, but too often we are not taught how to pull it off in real life. How do we love the people around us like Jesus loves them? How do we love the difficult people in our lives, […]
Shortcomings of Enveloping Our Identities in Sticky Sin to Build Spiritual Community
(Part 5 of 10 from the article, “Through the Eyes of Heaven: Does ‘Talking It Through to Find Peace’ bring Shalom?”) By Jim Wilder and Ed Khouri Our perception of reality is skewed by all the wounds and hurts we experience — whether they result from our sin or someone else’s. Throughout every life, Satan […]
How We Are Escaping Enemy Mode In Our Marriage
By Ray and Deborah Woolridge When have you had an enemy mode conversation with someone you love? How does it feel to you? How does it make them feel? As a couple married 36+ years, enemy mode feels like falling down a cliff. Falling into enemy mode is much easier than climbing out of it. […]
Acting Like Myself In Row 6
By Shari Ausley, Life Model Works Board Member Bio: Shari Ausley is a new empty-nester. In 2005 she started a K-12 Christian school in central Florida, a member of Ambleside Schools International. Prior to that she was in full-time Christian service with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ). She currently serves on the Board of […]
Enhancing Our Faces
By Michael Sullivant “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17 NKJV. Practicing the Life Model has much to do with the importance of faces … God’s face, the face of Immanuel, other’s faces, and our own face as well. God has given us, even in infancy, the […]
Relational Discussion or Enemy Mode Argument?
My enemy mode tendencies almost did some damage recently. Becoming relational takes time as neural pathways (FAST track) get retrained. I almost fell into a well-worn path in a discussion that ended relationally but could have taken a turn. My wife Deborah and I are moving this summer. After hundreds of hours on house hunting […]