Page 31 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 22

(1) The goal of spiritual growth is Christ-likeness 3. Komponenten des geistlichen Wachstums
(imago dei).
(2) The ini�ator and energizer of spiritual grow-
th is primarily the Holy Spirit.
(3) The companions of spiritual growth are fri-
ends, pastors, counselors, coaches and thera-
pists.
(4) The training disciplines of spiritual growth
are spiritual exercises for character change
(5) The training fields of spiritual growth are the
family, the church and society.
(6) The result of spiritual growth is the fruit of
the Spirit.
Of the six components, in the following chapter
3 I will only go into more detail on the leading
role of the Holy Spirit (component 2) and the
human contribu�on of spiritual exercises to
character change (component 4). In doing so, I
assume that the goals, ini�ator, promoter and
facilitator, training disciplines, training fields
and results of spiritual growth can be separated
under an analy�cal view, but are in reality inse-
parably interwoven under the direc�on of the
Holy Spirit. Before we look at the central role of
the Holy Spirit in spiritual growth in chapter 4,
however, it is first necessary to keep the goal in
mind.
What would the process of spiritual change in
the lives of Chris�ans be without a clear goal?
Fortunately, Chris�an denomina�ons and de-
nomina�ons agree that Christlikeness is the
goal, even if they differ significantly in the me-
thods and components of this process of
change. Imago Dei - the likeness of God dis�n-
guishes human beings from all other creatures.
There is clear evidence of this in the Old Testa-
ment, for example in the Hebrew Bible in Gene-
sis and in the Psalms. They point to the original
crea�on inten�ons of God, who desired a coun-
terpart in his image:
God created man in his image, in the image of
God he created him. He created them male and
female (Genesis 1:27).
On the day God created man, he made him like
God (Genesis 5:1)
31
Geistliches Wachstum und geistliche Formung
haben unterschiedliche Komponenten, die mit-
einander interagieren und o� nur schwer von-
einander zu trennen sind. Diane Chandler ver-
gleicht sie daher mit den Face�en eines ge-
schliffenen Diamanten. Keine einzelne Face�e
gibt die Schönheit des Schmuckstücks wieder.
Entsprechend reflek�eren auch die unter-
schiedlichen Charaktereigenscha�en eines
Christen das Licht und das Leben Jesu Chris�
durch die Kra� des Heiligen Geistes. Das Zu-
sammenwirken von Vater, Sohn und Geist be-
schreibt sie anschaulich: „Chris�an forma�on is
best described as an interac�ve process by
which God the Father conforms believers into
the image of Jesus through the empowerment
of the Holy Spirit by overseeing the develop-
ment of the whole person in various life dimen-
sions for the sake of others. God the Father
oversees the process. As Redeemer, Jesus the
Son provides the impetus and model as the
perfect image of God into which followers are
to be conformed. The Holy Spirit provides the
divine love and power that causes the process
to take place and advance.” (Chandler, 2016, In-
troduc�on)
Ich schlage vor, ergänzend zu dieser trinitari-
schen Perspek�ve geistliches Wachstum in
sechs unterschiedliche Aspekte oder Kompo-
nenten zu gliedern:
(1) Das Ziel des geistlichen Wachstums ist die
Christus-Ähnlichkeit (Imago dei).
(2) Der Ini�ator und Energe�sierer des geistli-
chen Wachstums ist primär der Heilige Geist.
(3) Die Begleiter des geistlichen Wachstums
sind Freunde, geistliche Leiter, Seelsorger, Be-
rater, Coaches und Therapeuten.
(4) Die Trainingsdisziplinen des geistlichen
Wachstums sind geistliche Übungen zur Cha-
rakterveränderung
(5) Die Trainingsfelder des geistlichen Wachs-
tums liegen in der Familie, der Gemeinde und
der Gesellscha�.
(6) Das Ergebnis des geistlichen Wachstums ist
die Frucht des Geistes.