Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Product Information

At the same time, the church launched a highly effective Community Development Corporation in 1989 to serve the poor and marginalized in the community through a variety of ministries such as: homeless outreach, a food and clothing pantry, a community health center, tutoring, English second language classes, and youth mentoring. The Launch of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Intentionally, laser-focused mentoring for pastors/leaders through a leadership course and cohorts. Peter Scazzero: Without being immersed in Scripture on a daily basis, I don’t believe it is possible to lead others for Jesus and to Jesus. How can we unless we are listening to him?

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Peter Scazzero learned the hard way: you can't be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. Even though he was the pastor of a growing church, he did what most people do: That is why the GENOGRAM is one of the core tools in both parts of the Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Course.It appears that for Scazzero, the evidences of being a true believer are different from those of Scripture. If sin is rampant in someone’s life the Bible is clear that they are to have no assurance of salvation. Christ came to save us from our sins; this implies change. Sadly, again and again throughout the book, Scazzero laments people’s “emotional immaturity” rather than their sin. Maturity is presented more as a means of functioning “healthily” in life rather than as a means of pleasing God. The greatest commandments, Jesus said, are that we love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul and that we love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). (P. 214.)

Although the law of Moses contained an abundance of commandments from God for Israel, it was everywhere understood that the supreme commandment was to love God, with the result that the Shema (Num. 15:37-41; Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21) was recited daily and posted on the doorpost of every home. A second command like it in importance was to love one’s neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:39), as required in Leviticus 19:18. Jesus considered this second command to be of equal importance to the love of God and said, “There is no other greater commandment than these” (Mark 12:31).Scazzero’s system is both deceptive and false in that he tries to make it sound biblical, when it is not, and false in that it is not from the truth of Scripture, but from his own and other people’s fabrications. Failure to understand its nature results in great long-term pain and confusion. Receiving the gift of God in the Wall, however, transforms our lives forever. (P.97.) Some of the most influential writers who have popularized contemplative prayer in the evangelical church are Richard Foster and Brennan Manning. Both these men have written popular Christian books about contemplative prayer. And both quote the Catholic mystics such as Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating.

After 10 years, a number of events converged to prepare us for a conversion of leadership/personal integrity. Until this point, we often divided leadership into sacred/secular categories. Everything- our prayer, work, relationships, and rest is holy! It was to be our way (Rule) of Life. This led to a major focus on a holistic intentionality in our spiritual formation in our leadership and eventually throughout our church. Eventually, God awakened him to a biblical integration of emotional health and the spiritual practice of slowing down and quieting your life to experience a firsthand relationship with Jesus. It created nothing short of a spiritual revolution in Scazzero, in his church, and now in thousands of other churches. A few major events expanded New Life into the fastest growth rate of her history. We formed a 3 person preaching team, moved from 2 to 3 services, and expanded the ministry of EHS to over 60 countries with the support of the Willow Creek Association. Our New Life Community Development Corporation established a permanent home here in our church building in Elmhurst. To this day, New Life CDC serves thousands of Elmhurst/Corona community residents each month through its adult & youth programs.Before making another remark, we need to say that one of us qualified for the clinical psychologist, educational psychologist, and marriage and family therapist licenses in California, but never applied for one. Psychotherapy with its theories is a bankrupt system and is in direct conflict with the Bible, even when there seem to be some similarities. The words of psychology are from fallen humanity; the words of the Bible are from God. Both of us had the responsibility for a personal soul care ministry in our church in which we relied on what God has said rather than the theories and techniques we had learned from the world. Any grandiose scheme, such as promised in EHS, would need a biblical doctrine of suffering, which is central to becoming more like Jesus. The ideal place in EHS to reveal such a doctrine is in Scazzero’s Chapter 4, “Journey through the Wall: Letting Go of Power and Control.” Scazzero begins the chapter by saying: If we are to expect maturity in our Christian lives, it is only going to come through looking outward to the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must therefore be positioning our lives such that we are constantly hearing God’s Word and living it out with a dependence upon the power of Holy Spirit. Perhaps this seems simplistic and un-profound, but it is what God has ordained. Who are we to suggest anything else?

The lure of mysticism of all varieties belies a huge hollowed out vacuum in current evangelical spirituality, courtesy of Seeker-Sensitive. What else can account for the seeming insatiable hunger for all things mystical and particularly physical techniques leading to some kind of mystical and altered state of ecstasy. Across the evangelical spectrum people are signing on to various expressions of the contemplative. Below are a series of examples that defy understanding:In over four decades of leadership, I've come to the conclusion that one of the biggest gaps in our leadership training comes down to one essential skill...