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Eight Laws for Spiritual Growth

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The discipleship process at Saddleback Church is based on the belief that if we focus on building people, God will build the church. Through a study of how Jesus helped people grow spiritually, Rick Warren developed these eight laws for spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth is intentional.

Spiritual growth is not accidental. You must intend to grow; you must make a choice to grow. This means that we grow by making commitments. People in churches are at one of six levels of commitment: community, crowd, congregation, committed, core, or commissioned. The community is anyone within driving distance of Saddleback Church. There is no commitment at the community level. We want to get the community to come to a weekend service; we want to move them from the community to the crowd. What’s required to be in the crowd? One commitment: show up at church. Next, we want to move people from being an attender of the church to being a member of the church—from the crowd to the congregation. At Saddleback, you do this by coming to know Jesus as your Savior, being baptized, attending our membership seminar (Class 101), and signing the membership covenant. Then people move from the congregation to committed. We do that with a class called Class 201, where we teach the habits for spiritual growth. The class doesn’t make you a mature person; it just shows you what it takes to become one and ends with the opportunity to make a commitment to growth. From the committed, people then move into the core—serving Christ by serving others. They take Class 301, sign the ministry covenant, discover their SHAPE, and start actively serving. The commissioned are the people who made it all the way into not just ministry but mission. They have taken Class 401 and made a commitment to go into all the world as Jesus commanded. One of our tasks as leaders is to help people move to the next level of commitment.

Spiritual growth is incremental.

We know it’s true in physical growth—why not in spiritual? We know that children grow through developmental stages: First they learn to breathe, then they learn to eat. Then they learn to walk. Then they learn to talk. No child has ever taken those steps out of order. They are developmental steps. The same is true in your spiritual life. The order that we have here at Saddleback is all about helping people grow closer and closer to Christ: knowing Christ, then loving Christ, then growing in Christ, then serving Christ, then sharing Christ. Those are the systematic steps to spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth is personal.

You cannot mass-produce disciples, because everybody’s different. There is no one-size-fits-all for spiritual growth. To be a disciple is to be a learner—that’s the literal meaning of the word “disciple.” Because we are all different, we all learn differently. For instance, some learn best by listening, others by reading, some by discussing, and others by doing a project. One of the major tools that we use to help people grow personally is our annual spiritual growth campaign. In these campaigns, the whole church focuses together on a specific area of personal growth. Some of our campaigns include 40 Days of Purpose, 40 Days in the Word, 40 Days of Love, etc. In these campaigns, the entire church studies the same thing for six weeks. We utilize all the different styles of learning so that everyone can grow: People will hear it on Sunday, they’ll read it in the book, they’ll discuss it in a small group, they’ll memorize a verse about it, and they’ll have a project to do about it. One of those ways is going to help them learn it the best.

Spiritual growth is practical.

God gives us practical ways to participate in the growth that he is building. One of the goals of the church is to help people grow by developing good spiritual habits. They’re called spiritual disciplines or devotional practices, but they’re really just habits. For instance, we encourage the habit of spending time with God every day. Prayer is also a spiritual habit. Bible study is a spiritual habit. Tithing and attending a small group are spiritual habits. In the end, we will become whatever we habitually do. To try to be a disciple of Jesus without developing disciple habits is simply impossible.

Spiritual growth is relational.

We only grow in community with others. This is one of the most misunderstood facts of growth among American Christians. American Christians think you can grow on your own. If I have a Bible and I have Jesus, I don’t need anybody else. That kind of thinking is wrong! You cannot grow without the church. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:24-25, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another" (NLT).

Spiritual growth is multi-dimensional.

We have learned it takes all five purposes to grow. We are to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through worship, broader through ministry, and larger through mission. If you go to a gym and get a trainer, they’re going to work on the areas in which you are weak. Do you have a weak shoulder? They’ll work on that shoulder. You have weak knees? Let’s work on your knees. Spiritual growth is like physical therapy: God wants to strengthen us in all of his purposes. Of course, this means that you cannot do the job alone as a church leader. We’re not meant to do it alone! In Ephesians 4:12, we’re told to “equip the saints for works of service.” If I were starting a church again today, I’d get a volunteer leader to help me with each of these five purposes so that he could grow as he helped the church to grow. At Saddleback, we now have entire staff teams dedicated to helping people grow in each of these five purposes.

Spiritual growth is seasonal.

You will help to relieve a lot of guilt when you help your people understand the truth that spiritual growth is seasonal. Nobody grows at a constant pace all the time. Plants don’t grow constantly—they grow in spring and summer and then are dormant in fall and winter. The same is true in your life. Some of you are going through a winter: “I just don’t feel like I’m growing much right now, even though I’m doing the right things to grow.” That’s okay. It’s part of life. In fact, there are some things that happen in winter that don’t happen in spring and summer. You deepen your roots in fall and winter for the next spring when you will have the next stage of growth and fruit.

Spiritual growth is incarnational.

The final truth is that growth is not about what you can accomplish; rather, it’s about the person of Jesus Christ living inside you. Galatians 2:20 says, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (NLT). The goal of the Christian life is to live like Jesus. But it’s not you trying to be like Jesus; it’s trusting Jesus to live inside of you. The secret of the Christian life is not imitation but incarnation—letting Christ live through you. Nobody can live like Jesus better than Jesus! None of these eight principles for growth can happen on our own power. It’s God who works in us because of the cross. We need to remember that for our own growth and also for the growth of the church. This frees us from the frustration of what we can’t seem to get done and releases us from the even more dangerous temptation to try to do it on our own power. We get to be fellow builders. Under Jesus’ leadership and by following biblical principles for spiritual growth, God will build his church!

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Tell God How You’re Feeling

“[God] has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. . . . And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers.” Lamentations 3:4–6, 8 (NLT)If you’ve been in ministry long enough, you know what it feels like to be poured out and still feel empty. The sermon is preached. The hospital visits are made. The hard conversations are had. And yet, sometimes, instead of joy or peace, all that remains is silence—and sadness.Maybe it’s a critical email after a long Sunday. Maybe it’s watching your church shrink despite your best efforts. Maybe it’s conflict in your leadership team, or the quiet ache of seeing people walk away from the faith. And in those moments, you wonder, Where is God in this?Jeremiah knew that feeling well. In Lamentations, he’s not giving a neat theological answer—he’s groaning. He says, “[God] has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. . . . And though I cry and shout, he has shut out my prayers” (Lamentations 3:4, 8 NLT).Sound familiar?It might surprise you that such raw emotion is in the Bible—but it’s there for a reason. Jeremiah didn’t bottle it up or try to sound strong. He didn’t pretend everything was okay. He poured it all out before God.Pastor, you don’t have to stuff your emotions either.God isn’t intimidated by your questions. He doesn’t flinch when you’re angry, exhausted, or confused. You’re not less spiritual for being honest—you’re actually stepping into a kind of worship that leads to healing.If you try to keep all that pain inside, it will find its way out—maybe through anxiety, resentment, even burnout. But when you give it to God—every ounce of frustration, fear, and fatigue—you start to find space to breathe again.God doesn't need you to be strong for him. He already knows your heart. So tell him the truth. Not the polished version. The real one.He can handle it.And more importantly, he’s not going anywhere.

Why Christians Need More than Classrooms

Many churches define spiritual maturity in terms of biblical knowledge: quoting verses, knowing theology, and explaining doctrine. But that view is incomplete.The Christian life isn’t just something to study—it’s something to live. True spiritual maturity comes through a variety of experiences that touch your mind, heart, hands, and relationships. God uses all five purposes of the church—worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism—to grow you into maturity.1. Don’t Settle for a "Classroom Church"Churches that focus solely on information-transfer are what I call "classroom churches." These churches emphasize teaching doctrine and filling your mind with truth. But they often neglect your emotional, relational, and experiential growth.While we absolutely need sound doctrine, study alone doesn’t produce mature Christians. As Gene Getz once said, "Bible study by itself will not produce spirituality. In fact, it will produce carnality if it isn’t applied and practiced."James 1:22 says, "Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice!" (GNT).2. Spiritual Growth Requires All Five PurposesMature believers don’t just study the Christian life—they experience it. That means engaging in worship, participating in ministry, building fellowship, living out evangelism, and growing through discipleship.Deuteronomy 11:2 tells us, "Remember today what you have learned about the LORD through your experiences with him" (GNT).Even painful experiences have value. Proverbs 20:30 says, "Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways" (GNT). Some lessons are only learned through experience.When churches downplay experience out of fear of emotionalism or false doctrine, they rob people of part of how God designed us to grow. God gave you emotions for a reason. If you strip experience out of the Christian life, all you’re left with is a cold creed to memorize—not a vibrant life to live.3. A Balanced Strategy Builds Mature DisciplesGenuine spiritual maturity includes:A heart that worships and praises GodLoving, accountable relationships with other believersActive ministry using your gifts and talentsSharing your faith with those who don’t yet know ChristWhen churches focus only on Bible study, people fool themselves into thinking they’re growing because they’re taking notes and filling binders. But they never apply what they’re learning. Impression without expression leads to depression.That’s why a church strategy must intentionally include all five purposes. You need environments that stretch people to serve, share, love, grow, and worship.4. Learning Is Meant to Be LivedIf Christianity were merely a philosophy, studying it might be enough. But Christianity is a relationship (John 14:20-21) and a life (John 10:10).Jesus didn’t say, "I came so that you might study." The Bible uses verbs like love, give, and serve far more often than study. The last thing many believers need is another Bible study. They need a place to serve, someone to reach, a small group to belong to, and a reason to praise.Don’t get me wrong. I deeply value Bible study. I even wrote a textbook on the subject that's now in multiple languages. But it’s only one part of a mature life in Christ.If you want your church to grow deeper, don’t just fill minds; develop whole lives. People need more than sermons and studies. They need spiritual experiences that shape their hearts, stretch their faith, and lead them to live out what they believe.

Are You Focused on the Immediate or the Eternal?

As a pastor, you deal with many immediate needs every day—from counseling issues to leadership concerns to preparing your regular weekend messages. And added to that, we’re in the middle of an election year, when everyone is fighting for our attention.  It’s easy to get caught up in the here and now. But faithful ministry in our world today that impacts our communities requires something else. Every pastor needs to keep an eternal perspective.  Keeping an eternal perspective means realizing there’s more to life than just here and now. C.S. Lewis once said, “All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.” You’re in an eternal struggle for the hearts and souls of people in your community. Nothing matters more than that struggle.  An eternal perspective realizes there are long-term implications for every action we take. Pastors who make a difference in the world around them focus on those eternal implications rather than the immediate ones. At the most, you’ll only live on earth for a mere 90 or so years, but your time in eternity will never end. Your ministry on this side of eternity is simply a prelude to the real thing.  Noah understood this. The Bible tells us, “[Noah] was the only truly righteous man living on the earth at that time. He tried always to conduct his affairs according to God’s will” (Genesis 6:9 TLB). Noah was single-focused, always asking, “What does God want me to do?” That’s what an eternally focused life looks like. Noah had a filter. Each decision he made was guided by God’s will.  Hebrews 13:14 captures what it means to be eternally minded: “For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven” (TLB). If you believe and base your ministry on that truth, it will change everything for you and your church. Suddenly, yesterday’s contentious business meeting and your church’s budget failings won’t matter nearly as much.  Your focus will be on what doesn’t change—helping people to worship the Lord, build Jesus-honoring relationships, become more like Jesus, serve God faithfully, and tell others about Jesus.   A ministry with an eternal perspective focuses on the purposes of God, which never change. That’s why I wrote in The Purpose Driven Church: “Unless the driving force behind a church is biblical, the health and growth of the church will never be what God intended. Strong churches are not built on programs, personalities, or gimmicks. They are built on the eternal purposes of God.” Programs, personalities, and gimmicks might produce short-term ministry success, but the results of pursuing God’s purposes last forever. When you have an eternal perspective on your ministry, you realize the most important areas of your work can’t be easily seen. Paul says, “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NCV). A thousand years from now, our church buildings will be nothing but piles of rubble. Our budgets and our strategies won’t matter at all. What really counts is the lasting impact we’ve had on people who will worship Jesus for all of eternity.  If you truly understand this perspective, you won’t need to stress over the ebbs and flows of your ministry week. The headlines won’t depress you each morning. Your church’s budget shortfalls won’t cause you concern.  Instead, as you focus on what God’s Word says about eternal issues that matter most, you’ll be free to make a difference with your ministry. Remember the words of Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails” (NIV). If you are building a ministry on God’s eternal purposes, you can’t fail. God’s purposes will always prevail.

Three Ways to Grow While You Wait

God wants to do something incredible through your ministry. No one can take that away. Your critics can’t. Neither can Satan. But that doesn’t mean you won’t have to wait for it. Sometimes God cracks a door and lets you see your future before you’re ready to walk through it. Why does he do that? First, if God showed you all your future at once,it would scare you. You’d take one look and say, “Oh no, God wants me to do that?” You’re simply not ready right now to see everything God wants to do through you. God also wants to keep you close to him as you trust him to do what he is calling you to do. It’s like he writes his plan for you on a scroll. You unroll the scroll a bit and do what he says. Then you unroll a bit more, and he gives you a little more of the vision. You’re not the first leader God has let glimpse the future long before it’s become reality. In fact, he has done that over and over again throughout history. Centuries ago, God gave Habakkuk a vision for Israel and then told him: “But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!” (Habakkuk 2:3 TLB). God wasn’t late for Habakkuk. He won’t be overdue when it comes to his vision for your life either. God’s timing is perfect. God is always at work, lining up everything according to his plan. God can do more in five minutes on his timing, than you can do in 50 years on yours. While you wait, God has something important for you to do. You're supposed to be preparing by learning. So what do you need to learn while you’re waiting on God’s vision for your life to be fulfilled? Learn discernment. You need to learn which doors to walk through and which ones to walk past so you can avoid wasting time, money, and energy as you pursue God’s vision for your ministry. Paul writes to the church of Philippi: “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10 NIV). God wants you to grow in your love for others, but he wants you to do that with both knowledge and discernment so you’ll make the right choices about the doors he puts in front of you. Learn courage. You may already know the right choices to make about the doors God has placed before you, but you need to grow in your courage. You don’t have the faith right now to take the right step. Pastor, it’s not enough to know what to do. You need the courage to actually do what the Lord is calling you to do. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s stepping out in faith despite your fear. When Solomon received the assignment of building the temple, David gave him some advice:“Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He won’t leave you or abandon you until all the work for the service of the Lord’s house is finished” (1 Chronicles 28:20 CSB). I’ve been scared about every single important decision in my life, but I decided long ago not to let fear dominate my life. So I have constantly acted contrary to my fear. God doesn’t sponsor flops. If he gives you the vision, you have nothing to worry about. Learn to open doors for others. Waiting isn’t easy. When you have a glimpse of something God wants to do through your life, you want it now. But you’re not the only one waiting. Look around in your ministry, and you’ll see other people waiting for their own open doors. Often, they will have doors in front of them you can help open. As often as you can, learn to open those doors. Love other people. Care about how God will use them. God will put people in your life to do the same for you. Don’t waste your waiting time. Let God help you grow into the leader he wants you to be on the other side of the door.

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