Diane J. Chandler is associate professor at Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she teaches courses in spiritual formation and Christian leadership development. She contends that God created and revealed seven life dimensions which are in every human being. They are:
1. Formation of the spirit relates to "our faith journey as a grace-based, interactive process of nurture and growth of the human spirit as it is conformed to the image of Jesus and overseen by the Father through the indwelling Holy Spirit in the context of the believing community." The other dimensions are predicated on the spiritual one.
2. Emotional formation involves the creation and reflections on our feelings, passions, and desires.
3. Relational formation covers our social connectedness.
4. Intellectual formation concerns the mind's capacities, learning and faith.
5. Vocational formation involves how we conform our life purpose and calling to God's grace and glory.
6. Physical health formation covers the care of our bodies.
7. Resource formation relates to wise stewardship of the earth, finances, and possession. "Resource formation expresses a confluence of the other six dimensions."
At the heart and core of this holistic view of the human adventure is the imago dei which involves thinking and reasoning, interpersonal relationships, cherishing the earth, and a divine goal and destiny.
