Deepening Your Walk with God is a discipleship class that encourages practices to develop a more intimate relationship with God. The course material comes from a curriculum entitled Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete and Geri Scazzero, founders of a ministry www.emotionallyhealthy.org.

The core principles of the ministry and the class are:

1. Address directly the reality that emotional maturity and spiritual maturity are inseparable, that it is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.
2. Help and equip people for a personal, firsthand relationship with Jesus by incorporating stillness, silence, scripture as a daily rhythm.
3. There are eight core Biblical truths and principles that make up the course and include:
   1. The Problem of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality – Introduces the importance of integrating Christian spirituality and emotional health
   2. Know Yourself that You May Know God – Encourages followers of Jesus to shed their "old false self" in order to be transformed into the likeness of Christ
   3. Going Back in Order to Go Forward - Helps to identify sinful patterns in your family of origin in order to live out your God-given purpose in the world.
   4. Journey Through the Wall – A study concerning how to recognize and navigate through "Spiritual Walls" that have the potential to hold us back in our journey of spiritual growth.
   5. Enlarge Your Soul Through Grief and Loss – A study to help us understand the importance of grief in the development of our spiritual development and how to navigate the grief.
   6. Discover the Rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath – A study to introduce three important spiritual practices of "Silence, The Daily Office, and a Sabbath Practice".
   7. Growing Into an Emotionally Mature Adult – A study to "Help us see how Loving God is related to loving others and ourselves".
   8. Go the Next Step to Develop a "Rule of Life" – a process for planning the activities and disciplines that help us grow and mature in Christ.

For additional information connect to the following link: https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/level-1-training/?v=7516fd43adaa

As followers of Jesus, our goal is to emulate Him and following His teachings. The primary passage that directs all our actions is Matthew 22:37-40, which is commonly referred to as The Greatest Commandment. This one passage highlights the need/importance for the spiritual and emotional components of our lives to be integrated.

The skills are a compilation of skills that have been compiled and practiced for over two decades and are an essential part of our personal discipleship. The teaching series that will be used is entitled Emotionally Healthy Relationships by Pete and Geri Scazzero. The sessions are entitled:

1. Take Your Community Temperature Reading* – a skill to "Discover and express your God-given voice and to build healthy relationships with others".

1. Stop Mind Reading and Clarify Expectations* – skills to "Eliminate confusion in communications learning how to respectfully clarify assumptions and to recognize whether certain expectations are valid or not."

1. Genogram Your Family – a process by which we "Become aware of and to break the sinful patterns in your family of origin in order to live out your God-given purpose in the world".
2. Explore the Iceberg* – a skill to "Become aware of your emotions, with the goal of processing them and discerning God's will".

1. Listen Incarnationally* – a skill to "Listen at a heart level with empathy, attuned to the words and nonverbal communication of another person (i.e., so that the other person felt by you)".

1. Climb the Ladder of Integrity – a skill to "Clarify your values by processing your thoughts and feelings (and, if appropriate, to assert yourself respectfully)".
2. Fight Cleanly – a skill to "Resolve a conflict maturely bey eliminating 'dirty fighting' tactics, and by taking responsibility for difficult issues".
3. Develop a "Rule of Life" to Implement Emotionally Healthy Skills – a process for "Creating a specific plan to implement the Emotionally Healthy relationship Skills" into your life in order to transform your relationship with God, yourself, and others".

* Recorded during the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 as a 4-part Series entitled "Thriving During a Pandemic Relationally and Spiritually."

For additional information, connect to the following link: https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/level-1-training/?v=7516fd43adaa