The Whole Person

The first official thing that one does after they’ve decided to explore becoming an ordained leader in the church is to sit down with somebody from synod and begin talking about candidacy. The candidacy process happens in three stages: entrance, endorsement, and approval… well kind of four because there is everything before entrance that they refer to as “pre-entrance,” but, whatever. The point is, there is a process that involves interviews, essays, evaluations, recommendations, and even a psychological evaluation!

Early in the process the candidate will be introduced to the Wholeness Wheel (as seen above). The Wholeness Wheel is a wellness philosophy of Portico, a ministry of the ELCA that provides the insurance for many of it’s rostered leaders, that invites people into recognizing that we are indeed made in the image of God and that God’s desire for us is to have a full an abundant life as whole beings. This means caring for our whole selves – not just the body as is the main focus of many doctors, not just the mind as is the focus of many psychologists, not just the educational as is the focus of many teachers, and not just the spiritual as is the focus of many priests and pastors – but the whole self, working together.

As the image above suggests, the wholeness wheel introduces seven different wellness that the person should spend time address: social, emotional, physical, financial, vocational, intellectual, and spiritual. They are all important in making up the whole person. If one part of these suffers, the person suffers in some way.

Attached is a pdf that further explains the Wholeness Wheel and its different aspects.