Mansions of the Heart: Exploring the Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth

They’ve heard the message. They’ve been converted. They’ve joined a small group and started mission work. They’ve even read the Purpose Driven Life. But what happens now, after years of living faithfully, when Christians are still yearning to go deeper? While much of the current literature is adequate for new believers, there are few resources for mature Christians who desire to sustain their spiritual growth. Church leaders and their congregations alike would benefit from a concrete, programmatic, and authoritative model of how to grow a deep and meaningful relationship with God.

 In MANSIONS OF THE HEART: Exploring the Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth (Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint; October 2009; 22.95 / Cloth; ISBN: 978-0-470-45472-5), R. Thomas Ashbrook offers a path to deeper discipleship. Using Teresa of Avila’s Seven Mansions, in which mansions represent different stages of development, Ashbrook mindfully draws upon ancient wisdom from this 16^th century nun’s writings. With this wisdom as his model, he leads readers step-by-step through a restorative Spiritual Formation Roadmap. In addition to providing practical applications, such as a Mapping Tool that allows individuals to discern their place on the spiritual journey, he gives additional resources that church leaders can effectively use to help their members grown into spiritual maturity.

Christians of all kinds, from evangelicals to Catholics to mainline Protestants, will be able to appreciate the profound teachings of Teresa of Avila and the way in which Ashbrook so artfully adapts them into a complete program for spiritual growth.  MANSIONS OF THE HEART is a guide for any believer ready to take the next step on the spiritual journey.