What is Christian Wholeness?

Christian refers to the core values of the Christian faith rather than any specific church / liturgical style or denominational emphasis. A definition of “Christian” is well encapsulated in statements of faith like that of the Scripture Union or Christian Counselling Associations. Christian wholeness is

• founded on main line theology as found in the Scriptures.
• Acknowledges the existence and relevance of the God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
• A huge supporter of the church, which is the body of Christ in action, and potentially the greatest place for healing on this planet.
• Has a theology of change which is based on salvation, sanctification and repentance, in the context of a relationship with God. So

Salvation

• Salvation is being placed in connection with the Person and presence of God.
• It is to do with that first step of being born again into a new family, becoming a child of the Father.
• It is to do with being so connected with Jesus, to the point of actually having died with him to a self centred way of life, and now living from a God centred position.
• Salvation is having the Holy Spirit live in you, filling the centre of your life, which was previously dead.
• Salvation is also having the provisions of God’s unfailing love, his Forgiveness, Freedom and Fullness.

Sanctification is putting the provisions from this position of salvation into practice.

Repentance is turning from a sin to God, and then living from Him as the centre and source of one’s life. The first step of the journey of multiple repenting is through salvation. This is when one is placed in a different kingdom and family. The rest of the repenting steps in the journey through life, are putting this into practice, moving from a sinful way of life to a God centred life.
Although sin is mainly referred to as “I” in the middle where God should be”, it is frankly where anything or anyone can take the place of centrality where God should be. Sin can include the central and dominant influence in one’s life of

• Other individuals
• The culture of society (what the bible calls “the world”. Eph 2:2)
• One self (especially one’s own beliefs, feelings, behaviours. These are related to the “sinful nature”, Eph 2:3 )
• “Spiritual forces of evil” Eph 6:12

Wholeness refers to

• the whole person, Spirit, Soul, Mind and Body, as well as the social, material and cultural aspects.
• a directional component, towards health, away from a negative way and level of functioning, to a positive and healthy level of being and doing.

Christian wholeness is

• thus a bringing together of both a move towards healthy ways of functioning, and Godly ways of living.
• more a direction (at least this side of heaven), rather than a place where one has arrived.
• To do not only with the individual person, but also to the system. Here, the system can be any grouping - especially the family, and also the church. All of these, the individual, the family and the church, are in a process of development. This development and direction can become distorted and dysfunctional in a destructive way.

The Christian Wholeness Framework (CWF) is based on 5 steps and 5 shapes. If everyone were to walk these five steps, and speak the language of the five shapes, there could be a much greater movement towards Christian wholeness. It would help relationships amongst friends, family, in the church and workplace to grow much more safely and effectively. The CWF involves being more able to…

• Walk with others (friends, church members, pastorally, professionally) on the 5 successive steps, and so to:

1. Connect with others,
2. Understand them and thus
3. Respond to them. If necessary to
4. Engage other help.
5. evaluation of how the steps have gone allows for more growth.

• help oneself and others to grow in use of the 5 pictures, to

1. be connected with others and God. (The triangle)
2. live a life of increasing consistency in being a Christian. (The cross)
3. live increasingly from the Spirit (this being the centre of rotation of one’s life and the source of one's being), out through one's heart, mind and body into the life of family, friends, work, the church and the world. (The circles)
4. change across two dimensions, from suffering to success and more importantly, from self-centred to God centred allowing freedom to be a living sacrifice. (The square)
5. grow in the context of family and friends, the church, the church’s helping programs (parachurch), and coaching/counselling professionals. (The pyramid)