The Three Lands
The Three Lands describe three primary orientations or phases of spiritual journey according to The Journey Map framework. The Three Lands are The Land of Belonging, The Land of Becoming, and The Land of Believing. People are socialized into change which means most spiritual journey’s start as some kind of quest to Belong to a people, group, or person — even if it’s the search for Belonging where it does not exist. Once people belong, they further socialized into a change until shapes who and how they are, meaning they Become something or someone different because of their journey. This change in who they are opens up the possibility of new realities, but these realities only manifest in a real way if people Believe in the change until it is realized.
The Journey Map conceptualizes these phases of change or journey as “lands” rather than points in a process for a couple of reasons:
- Because people generally spend a lot of time in each phase and can remain in a phase without transition, each phase is more like an area of life than a discrete event or particular experience.
- Each phase can include a lot of features and events, even in repeating cycles, and so a phase resembles a non-linear spiritual landscape.
Posts and topics use The Three Lands tag.
Telling The Story of Jesus
We can tell The Story of Jesus in it’s simplest “3B’s” form using The Three Lands:
God so loved the world that he sent Jesus…
- so we can belong to him
- so we can become his family
- so we can believe his Kingdom
When someone asks, “how did he…” or “what does it mean that he…”, they are ready to hear more of The Story of Jesus (Simple).
Examples & Stories from the Gospels
Jesus gathered a diverse group of people — sometimes natural enemies — and gave them a sense of belonging beyond human connections. From this foundation, he lead them on a journey of becoming that would forever change them and form them so they believe in his coming Kingdom and manifest it in their lives and the lives of those around them. Here is where you can find stories from each of these phases in the Gospels:
Belonging
- Jesus “hung out” in the ministry of John the Baptist until some began to wonder if they belonged with him. When they were curious, he invited them to enter his experience and made it clear he was present in their story: John 1:29-51.
Becoming
- Jesus formed his disciples by taking them on a journey to grow their faith, then he called and commissioned them, sending them out to bring the Kingdom while they grew into whom they were meant to become: Mathew 9 & 10.
Believing
- Jesus passed his movement on to those who believed in him so they could spread his invisible Kingdom right where they where, then across the region, and on to the the ends of the earth while recreating God’s family in their community: Acts 1 & 2
Application to Our Journey
The Journey Map helps people find their position with Jesus in life. For example: if someone recognizes they are in “The Land of Belonging” in their spiritual walk, then Jesus’ own stories, teachings, and instructions from the belonging phases of his own mission and ministry — or that phase in the journey of his followers — will be especially encouraging, equipping, and empowering.
We apply The Journey Map on Three Levels of Contextualization: Personal Spiritual Growth, Relationship Improvement (friendship, marriage, coworkers), and Community Development (small groups, churches, organizations).
Personal Spiritual Growth
A person could match the core concerns of their current journey by the following central questions of each of The Three Lands:
Belonging
Do I feel I have a place with Jesus and his people and do they belong in my story?
Identity: Seeker
Discipleship Stage: Lordship
Becoming
How do I become the person who I want to be in Christ and what is he causing my situation to become?
Identity: Servant
Discipleship Stage: Likeness
Believing
Where is Jesus leading me to manifest his Kingdom, exercising and demonstrating increasing faith?
Identity: Heir
Discipleship Stage: Life-on-Life
Identity in The Three Lands refers to common terms in Christian literature for each of these phases. Discipleship Stage refers to the central project of following Jesus in each of these phases.
Since some people may not start from a Christian background or may not include Jesus as the Lord of their journey until later in the process, it’s helpful to know how to speak and think of The Three Lands in this language:
Belonging
Do I feel I have a place with this community and do they belong in my story? Does this spiritual path belong in my life?
Becoming
How do I become the person who I want to be in this community and on this path? What does this cause my situation to become?
Believing
Where do I manifest the world that ought to be, exercising and demonstrating increasing faith in its reality?
[More Complexity: The Story of Jesus (Simple)]
Relationship Improvement (friendship, marriage, coworkers)
Jesus gave us a new command: that we love each other, even as he loved us (John 13:34). That means our journey with Jesus has to include relationships. Relationship is a journey with many ups and downs — it moves forward, but also goes through cycles of growth. This means people go through The Three Lands in the process of relationship formation, but also go through the lands in a smaller scale through every cycle of growth.
Belonging
Do we want to be part of each other’s lives? Do we feel like this change is something that belongs in our relationship and can we our relationship belong in this new future?
Becoming
How do I become the person who I want to be in this community and on this path? What does this cause my situation to become?
Believing
Where do I manifest the world that ought to be, exercising and demonstrating increasing faith in its reality?
[More Complexity >> The Seven Places]
Community Development (small groups, churches, organizations)
We define community as people on a common mission. This means — whether they are a club, friend crew, support group, church, business, or non-profit — they are sent to bring some kind of change into the world so make it more what it ought to be. For us, this is communities seeking the Kingdom.
Communities in the process of formation can locate themselves on the map by thinking about how often their conversations and experiences line up with one of the statements below:
Belonging
Do people want to be part of us? Can we all be a part of this change, and can this change be a part of our life?
Becoming
How can we grow into the kind of people who can bring this change through our unique calling?
Believing
Where will we manifest this change for others to experience and to what extent will they take it with them?
Established organizations must give consideration to these phases as they on-board new people (leaders, staff, etc.) to advance the mission. They must also realize that these phases will govern people’s experience as they serve constituents or receive service.
[More Complexity >> The Seven Places]
More on The Three Lands
More detailed information on The Three Lands is available on their KnowledgeBase pages: The Land of Belonging, The Land of Becoming, and The Land of Believing.