Growth Design            [view feedback blog]

enjoying and passing on abundant Life
across five Growth Planes
through dynamic Mission
around a covenant Framework


abundant Life
Jesus said: "Take up your cross and follow me".  Click here for more information on the six steps. 

five Growth Planes
Jesus came to help us enjoy abundant life across five growth planes in our lives, each with five steps of development:

Enlightening
Establishing (Phase 1)
Equipping & Exploration
Establishing (Phase 2)
Empowering

Spiritual plane
Born again
Christian Way of Life
Discovery & Use of Gifts
Faithful midst opposition
Servant Leadership

Intellectual plane
Given the tools
Exposure to the realms
Training in specific realms
Integration with the realms
Vocations

Enlightening
Establishing (Phase 1)
Equipping & Exploration
Establishing (Phase 2)
Empowering

Social plane
Acquaintances
Casual friends
Close friends
Mix of casual and close friends
Intimate frienship

Aware of the opposite sex
Friendship
Courtship
Engagement
Marriage

Enlightening
Establishing (Phase 1)
Equipping & Exploration
Establishing (Phase 2)
Empowering

Emotional plane
Subconscious developing
Conscious developing
Rush
Analysis and Integration
Maturity

Physical plane
Birth ("neuter")
Gender
Puberty
Gender revisited
Adult

dynamic Mission
Jesus said: "Make disciples of all nations".  This also is basically a six step process:

1. Get to know people
   
2. Evangelize them
   
3. Disciple them
   
4. Incorporate them into spiritual community
   
5. Discover their gifts and train them in their gifts
   
6. Release them into ministry, either locally or elsewhere
   

Step 0:     Authentic Presence
Step 1:          Contact Discovery
Step 2:                Process Evangelism
Step 3:                     Discipleship Foundations
Step 4:                           Spiritual Family
Step 5:                     Leadership Development
Step 6:                Corporate Worship & Outreach
Step 7:          Organization
Step 8:     Expanding Presence

You will notice that the nine steps in the above dynamic mission model (and the six summary steps) form a chiasmus, with the core resulting development being the existence of spiritual families. This links in beautifully with the above jigsaw diagram, in which being part of spiritual family is the heartbeat of the cross.

Steps zero through eight can be followed through sequentially in order, and will most probably need to be done so where pioneer missionaries are working alone or in small teams (especially when doing E3 evangelism and church planting). Where a larger team of church planting missionaries are available, the formation of spiritual communities may be approached from both ends of the spectrum (as indicated by the arrows). This approach allows E1 and E2 evangelism and church planting to occur much faster, and mostly more effectively.  We need to be sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit and what Jesus says is best in each situation.

The upward arrow from steps eight to four indicates how those lower steps can complement the upper steps (eg people being evangelised one-on-one in step 2, can also be evangelised and exposed to the gospel in a corporate worship setting, step 6; people being discipled in learning foundational spiritual growth disciplines can also be taught key aspects of servanthood, and hence leadership, by helping out in essential tasks in the preparation of the corporate worship times, step 5).

* Note:
E1 - evangelism to those of same culture and language.
E2 - evangelism to those of close cultural distance.
E3 - evangelism to those of greater cultural distance.
Acts 1:8 "...and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem (E1), in all Judea and Samaria (E2), and to the ends of the earth (E3)."

covenant Framework
When we investigate the Bible, we see how God himself has been following a covenant framework for "turning rebels into princes & princesses". Every covenant He introduced was in itself "good news" or evangelism, and His last covenant with us through Jesus Christ was the culmination and fulfilment of all His previous covenants. The following illustration highlights this process:

A.  Origins, purpose, & destiny
B.  What went wrong: Satan & sin
1.  Safe environment
2.  God's promise of love & family security, of blessing, influence, & a future as we obey Him
3.  God's law & standards, plus a means of forgiveness
4.  Godly leadership to drive out the enemies, maintain justice, model Godly values, & occupy the promised land
5.  Deliverance from the real enemies of sin and Satan through faith in Jesus

The significance for this in Christian mission is that when we are evangelising, apart from verbally laying the foundations of 'A' and 'B' above, we need to ensure that we are covering all five levels of the covenant pyramid.

Providing a 'safe environment' for people who need it (eg adequate housing, establishing neighbourhood safety programs, etc) will be interpreted by people as you bringing good news to them just as much as you talking about Jesus.

In fact, we venture to say that level 2 is perhaps the greatest initial focal point for evangelising the children and teenagers that come from single parent dysfunctional families. And this takes more than just words. It takes long investments of time and being there for broken and hurting people. We believe this is one of the greatest challenges for evangelism in the Western world today. People very easily rebel against laws and standards (level 3) if they are not grounded in the experiential knowledge that they are loved, significant, and an important part of the family/society. Laws and standards (level 3) are an essential aspect of living together in harmony in society, but they don't work if level 1 and 2 have not been well laid! Respect for leaders (level 4) also falls apart, let alone coming to Jesus (level 5) for transformation of their character to be in line with the love of God. But praise God that Jesus is alive today, and is able to intervene and minister to people at ALL levels in the pyramid!!

May God continue to teach us and work through us to appropriately bring and be good news to the people we meet.


Click here for background information on why this Growth Design model was chosen.