Part 1Reveal Survey Results

The Growth Pathway
at Highland Park Pres


Love of God and Love for Others

The Growth Pathway is the journey we each make towards growing our love of God and our love of others. By understanding where we are as individuals and as a congregation, we can more clearly see who God is calling us to be.

Part One

One of our Vision 100 critical goals is to have 100% of our Covenant Partners growing as transformed followers of Jesus. Using our Reveal Survey results we saw that a significant portion of our congregation identified themselves as spiritually stalled. As we examined our discipleship offerings, we recognized that we did not have a clear path for guiding you in growth. Introducing the new Growth Pathway.

 

There are four stages along the Growth Pathway, defined by how one would describe their own spiritual growth and current relationship with Jesus.

  • Exploring Jesus. People in this stage might say: “I believe in God, but I am not sure about Jesus. My faith is not a significant part of my life.”
  • Following Jesus. People in this stage might say: “I believe in Jesus and am working on what it means to get to know him.”
  • Maturing in Jesus. People in this stage might say: “I feel really close to Jesus and depend on him daily for guidance.”
  • Surrendering to Jesus. People in this stage might say: “My relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship in my life. It guides everything I do.”

 

One of the things that is really important to Highland Park Pres is helping move you from one stage to the next. There are a few specific catalysts that have been proven to help move individuals along in their growth journey.

  • Beliefs Help Us Move from Exploring Jesus to Following Jesus. Early spiritual growth is about building trust in the character of Jesus. Building a firm foundation of core Christian beliefs is essential. Core beliefs are: Salvation by grace, a Triune Godhead, a personal God, and authority of the Bible.
  • Personal Spiritual Practices Help Us Move from Following Jesus to Maturing in Jesus. Moving from head knowledge to heart knowledge of Christ is about developing a personal relationship with Jesus, which depends on investing time to communicate with God. The key personal spiritual practices include: reflection on scripture, prayer for guidance, and giving money for Jesus (tithing).
  • Faith-in-Action Helps Us Move from Maturing in Jesus to Surrendering to Jesus. Putting Jesus as number one is about surrendering everything to God and dedicating significant time and energy to serve His purposes. The key elements of faith-in-action are: giving your whole life to Jesus, sharing Jesus with others, serving those in need to Jesus, leading others in service of Christ’s purposes.

 

It is our church’s job to provide you opportunities to ignite your spiritual growth. One of the ways we are doing that is through the launch of Growth Classes later this Fall. More information on these classes will be available soon.

It is important to note that you are the one that decides what stage of spiritual growth you are in. Soon, we will be provided an anonymous Individual Growth Self-Assessment to help you determine where you are on your spiritual journey. You are the only person that will see the results of this self-assessment, but you can share the results with the church or another person at your discretion.

For those of you that feel stalled in your faith, we are coming to help you. For those of you that feel like you’ve gotten complacent, we are coming to help ignite your spiritual growth.

Questions About The Growth Pathway?

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