Emotional, Social, & Spiritual Support

One of my Models of [Life] Interpretation is called Angles of Perspective.

In relationships, friendship begins when participants are able to see an Emotional angle coupled with the expected Social element.

Consequential friendships materialize with depth. The practice of running and doing it in 2 running clubs has allowed me to refine a practice of establishing friendship and building depth. This is a practice I call Communitizing. The AoP that I apply to depth in friendship is “Communal.”

The Foundation

As a Follower of Jesus, i.e., a Christian, Spiritual is an AoP that changes the essence of a friendship. In the Bible, the presence of the Holy Spirit unites FoJ as spiritual siblings, fellow members of the household of God through a saving faith in Jesus the Christ. These household members form an Emotional, Social, and Spiritual network that has no parallel, period.

Wife Barbara and I have been members of a Bible study group, the Nor’easters, under the umbrella of the English-language ministry of Chinese Christian Church & Center (Chinatown, Philadelphia), our entire adulthood. This is one context in which we have spiritual community, but there are many others, including the Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO. CCOJubilee.org) of which I became a staff member in 2026.

Another community is the fellowship of Chinese-American churches in the US, particularly the northeast. Few members of one of those churches can exceed one degree of separation without finding a connection to each other. Many of those members, including Barbara and me, can walk into a Chinese-American church and find someone they know personally.

The Significance

Members of an ESS network know each other and support each other deeply and authentically. We members of NE Bible study group know each other better than the members of our own families. We’ve raised children together. We’ve prayed together and grown biblically. We are each others most faithful supporters.

For FoJ engaged in ministerial work, vocational or otherwise, ESS support is paramount.

No other than Jesus had an ESS network, that’s what his disciples were; his ESS support base. The Apostle Paul, had his ESS support base, too. He appealed to them zealously for prayer, knowing that their prayers were at the same time both the least and the most they could offer.

Read more: A Financial Perspective (Learn about becoming an organizational partner and donor through Calvin Wang @ CCO. iCandybyWangC.com)

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Faith

2026’02’27’F: Published