There are many effective tools for personal growth and self-improvement. Our human nature instinctively looks for ways to improve ourselves, to optimize our lives, to harness our strengths and to conquer our weaknesses. Billions of dollars are spent every year by consumers of self-help books, programs, and products. Today there is an abundance of Enneagram resources and services available on the market that cater to our hunger to improve ourselves. 

We will be looking at the Enneagram from a different angle. We believe that the Enneagram can not only be an effective tool for self-improvement, but also a powerful tool for Christian Spiritual Formation, which can be defined as the lifelong journey of being transformed by the love of God the Father into the image and likeness of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit so we can love God and others. 

Christian spiritual formation is about something miraculous that happens to us and within us by the power of the Spirit, rather than something we accomplish through the power of the will. Self-improvement seeks rapid, measurable, and visible changes. In contrast, spiritual formation is often a gradual, nuanced, and invisible process. The focus of the self-improvement enterprise is on attaining results through our good and earnest efforts. Conversely, the main focus of spiritual formation is communion with God. While spiritual formation may indeed lead to good fruit and positive changes, any transformative results happen in the context of an expanding relationship of love and trust with God. And so, beautiful and rewarding as the changes may be, the greater prize is deeper intimacy with God.