Spiritual Growth

It's pretty clear that anything that is growing is healthy and anything that is not growing has problems. Physically we can easily see this, but spiritually it's a bit harder to determine. One of the ways we insure that we are growing spiritually is to monitor our disciplines or what we actually do with our daily routines. At LHC we measure our spiritual growth in three phases.

We call it "C.S.I." Just like the favorite crime drama except without all the science, ha! C.S.I. stands for connecting, serving and inviting. As you read below ask yourself, "Where am I? Am I there? Am I beyond that? What step do I need to take next for my spiritual growth?"

The "C"Connecting phase:

This is where we all start our spiritual growth. We first connect with God through an open honest relationship with Jesus Christ and then we connect with other Christians in Christian community. One of the biggest blessings God has bestowed on us is the ability to meet openly on Sunday morning for a worship service. After all not all Christians are given this blessing. With that in mind let me say this, Sunday morning is not automatic. You have to apply yourself to getting something from it. Just showing up and going into auto pilot mode won't afford you spiritual growth and it will certainly not help you make meaning full connections with God or other believers.

So instead of wasting your time on Sunday morning, follow the EPA guidelines (HA, I love these puns):

• Expectation (Expect God to do something and come prepared for that)

• Participation (Church was never a spectator sport, for you to experience God you must interact)
• Application (Don't just come and go without trying out what you have experienced, what good is that???)

To continue your journey we recommend you to register for our Online community called theCity. This is the place where you can connect to a group of your interest, never be out of the loop on what is going on around the church, interact with other believers and craft your own personal spiritual growth plan.

Finally, you can register during a Sunday morning service or on theCity for the LHC LIFE Track. This is a 3 class process designed to help you get more connected, involved and participating in your spiritual growth. "Simple Church" is the class designed to help you commit to the local church and if you have not done this you need to do it. Research has shown that people that never commit to their local church end up stagnate in their walk with God.

The "S" serving phase:

This is the phase which your spiritual growth starts to accelerate. It's because when we start to serve, we directly touch the heart of God. When we start to live for someone else our hearts get closer to the ONE who served us first. And there is no better method than to get involved at least once a month in your area of giftedness. Since you are already on theCity you can easily register for the "Simply Identify" class. This reveals your abilities, giftedness and temperament and gives you recommendations on which area to serve.

The "I" Inviting phase:

What good is a journey when you are all alone? At some point it gets really boring because we were designed by God to be in relationship. Do you go to a restaurant by yourself? How about an amusement park? Of course not, if you think about the most important moments in your life someone else was there. So why not invite others along this amazing journey with Jesus?

You see the "Inviting" phase is growth because of practice. It is where you and I apply our faith. Have you ever thought of the times Jesus said, "Go?" "Go tell, go work, go in peace, go tell your husband, go and sin no more, go preach, go to the next, go into the deep, go into the street, go into the village, go make it right with your brother, go quickly." Jesus was always saying, go, go, go. That is why He would look and say, "Don't only be hearers of the Word, also be doers of the Word."