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 […]
Beyond Comfort – How Difficult Tasks Fuel Growth
By Michael Sullivant One of the outstanding tasks required to achieve full “childhood” maturity (age 4-14) – according to Dr. Wilder’s 20+ years of research across the centuries and cultures – is to learn to do hard things that might even cause some pain. Generally, this was a big gap in my childhood development. I […]
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, […]
Multigenerational Community, Mental Health, and Spiritual Wellbeing
By Barbara Moon Multigenerational communities are a bonus kind of community according to the Life Model. This looks like people of different walks of life, ages, and various maturity levels enhancing each other’s growth. Multigenerational communities can occur both within a family and within various kinds of groups – including spiritual community. Families naturally have […]
Is Your Community Doing Discipleship? Pt . 2
In last week’s blog we talked about how community relates to discipleship. This week I want to look more closely at exactly how Jessie Cruickshank explains the process of growth-oriented discipleship in her book Ordinary Discipleship. Jessie uses the process of the hero’s journey as an outline for discipleship. The hero’s journey is a 7-step […]
Is Your Community Doing Discipleship? Pt. 1
Community is such a buzz word right now. Community centers, community groups, online community, gym community, and even Starbucks is advertising the sense of community between their baristas and customers. There is a significant push to take our daily tasks and orient them around the word or feeling of “community”. The question is, if we […]
7 Deadly Traps for Small Groups
By Jim Wilder You know that person or couple who only comes by your church or small group when there is a party? They are fun people and seem to want genuinely to connect with community. But when it’s time to volunteer with the church or the neighborhood, they don’t seem to be responding to text […]
Your Best Self Asks for Help
If you have been around the Life Model for a while, you have probably come across the maturity charts. One aspect of child level maturity is learning to ask for what you need. Just that idea alone brings up all types of different reactions in each of us. Everyone has different thoughts, questions, arguments, fears […]
50 Jesuses Partying on a Beach
As we learn to live from love and not fear, we can also use the tool of Immanuel prayer to find our best self with Jesus. For me, finding my best self with Jesus means leaning into His joy for me when I feel loneliness overwhelming me. Now, a person can be alone and not […]
The Moped Lady Started it!
A Blog by Marlene Allen She drove up on what Thais call a motorcycle, but it was a moped. Quite impressive that a woman would drive one in the crazy traffic of Chiang Mai, Thailand, but it was good to see my friend, Dr. Esther Wakeman. I had so much to share with her. By […]
The Shortcomings of Denying Wounds to Fake Peace and Building Community According to the Flesh
(Part 6 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 Hurt and wounding is destructive. Such experiences fester within us. That is why it is blatant stupidity to deny or try to toss away wounds by claiming they […]
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 […]
Sharing Wounds and Pain to Develop Attachment and Intimacy
(Part 4 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 Getting to know each other by talking things through is often used in Christian circles to form spiritual community. We get to know each other by discussing as […]