5 Lessons from Jackie Hill Perry & the Enneagram

Author, artist, and teacher Jackie Hill Perry shared on Instagram that she had changed her mind about the Enneagram personality test. 

Perry, who was once skeptical of those who said the Enneagram was unspiritual and demonic, said she came to the said conclusion after studying it for two days. 

If you watch her story, she doesn’t hold back.

She calls the Enneagram “evil”, a “doctrine of demons”, “witchcraft” and “divination.” 

I think there are a few learnings we can take away from this scenario: 

1. Christians need a thoughtful framework for relating with culture.  

Enneagram. Myers-Briggs. R-Rated Movies. Halloween. Christmas. Yoga. Video games. Whatever the cultural item may be, Christians need a thought-through framework for how to interact with it. Simply saying, “That’s bad. Just because” isn’t good enough. It will lead the Christian down a path of inconsistencies.

A helpful framework I’ve heard before was that of 1. Receive (as a gift from God) 2. Reject (as something sinful and unholy) 3. Redeem (to enjoy by giving thanks while de-coupling it from its origins or fallen practices). Richard Niebuhr’s “Christ and Culture” is a classic work on it as well.

2. It’s okay to change our minds on these issues. 

I really respect Perry for taking the time to study the Enneagram, pray through it, and process it aloud. It’s a refreshing demonstration of humility in a virtue-signaling world. It’s not easy to say, “I was wrong about this.”

Remember, it’s not like she changed her mind about the Trinity. She didn’t say she had issues with the atonement. She didn’t reject the divinity of Christ. She changed her mind on something that’s not even a 3rd level issue. We can prayerfully and carefully take a U-turn on things like this. 

3. It’s okay for believers to agree to disagree on non-primary issues

You may have a totally different take than Perry. You might love Jesus and the Enneagram. You might see it as a helpful self-awareness tool. You love the way it helps you to connect with others. 

I believe it is possible for that to work. Just be fully convinced in your own mind (Romans 14:5). If you believe food sacrificed to idols and personality tests can be redeemed, be fully convinced in your own mind and live in holiness. If you believe they must be rejected, go and do likewise. 

4. We must take the spiritual world seriously. 

I appreciated Perry’s acknowledgment of the spiritual world. While some tribes of the Christian faith see the devil under every problem, others seem to live out their spirituality with a remarkable naturalistic bent. 

But the last time I checked, Satan is real. Demons are real. We “do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). 

5. The centrality of the gospel is non-negotiable.

Perry’s great concern was that of believers living out of an enneagram identity greater than that of one’s adopted identity in God. She went on to say that she’s seen Christians identify themselves more with their enneagram number than their relationship with God. Unfortunately, I’ve seen it too.

This is why the gospel must be central. Not central in theory. But a flame we stoke so that we feel it at an emotional level. If the gospel is our anchor, I can see how a personality test could be redeemed as an asset. If the gospel is not our anchor, I could see how we could be taken captive by other thinking. 

Concluding Thoughts

I’m not a huge enneagram fan nor am I a hater. I could see it being useful, but I’ve seen it dominate a Christian’s lifestyle one too many times.

Like Perry, I’ve also found it surprising how quickly some Christians (even pastors) can default to their enneagram number to explain themselves. 

“Yeah, I came off that way because as a [fill in the enneagram number], I tend to…..”

When the enneagram is used to explain foolish thinking, fallen proclivities, and even sinful behavior, hasn’t the test co-opted the Christian’s “mind of Christ” (Phil 2:5)?

Did Jesus lead out of his disciple’s personality scores when He called them to deny themselves to follow Him? Did Paul soften his opening to the gospel-forgetting Galatians because they were Peacemakers as an enneatype? Or did Jesus (and Paul) believe Christians have a much more significant identity marker and power source for life with God?

Yes, we don’t want to be stiff Christians who walk around thumping the Bible without self-awareness. But may we resist being taken captive to a personality test just as much as we resist the former.