Chris Howlett

Making Disciples

“The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.” — C.S. Lewis

The temptation of a pastor coming to a new church is to jump into “fix-it” mode too quickly. Certainly, a new set of leadership eyes is helpful in finding some low-hanging fruit and making some adjustments to improve worship or outreach or some particular ministry of the church. These changes are important. But, more important is to inquire how are we making disciples who make disciples?

This is what the church is about, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Too often, church leaders jump into institutional survival or even institutional growth mode and we fail to be missional leaders who engage in Kingdom-building ways of being in the communities in which we live.

We are to reach people with the Good News about Jesus Christ and then grow them into disciples of Jesus Christ who can do what Jesus does, make more disciples. That’s it. That’s what we do. If we grow disciples, we will grow the church. We can, however, focus on growing the church and never make a single disciple. Help us, Lord, think about, reflect on, pray about, then act on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

The Impact of Relationships

“True personhood arises not from one’s individualistic isolation from others but from love and relationship with others, from communion.” — John Zizioulas

To be a person is to be in relationship with others. This is how our very existence is experienced, in relationship. René Descartes famously wrote, “I think, therefore I am.” However, this reflects a Western and Enlightenment bias that gave priority to the individual rather than community. A Biblical worldview is different. From the perspective of a creational way of thinking, we have to look to our Creator in order to understand our nature. When we do this we discover that at the base of our being, the most fundamental reality of our nature is found in relational personhood.

God, himself, is relational. Relationship is one of his defining attributes. God eternally exists as a communion of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be created in his image means that we, too, are relational and we find our meaning and our very existence in relationship. Primary among our relationships is our relationship with God.

This is one of the main factors that contributes to why psychologists have discovered that a key to a happy and satisfying life is healthy relationships. How are your relationships? How is your relationship with God? You know, God loves you and wants the very best for you. The Father sent the Son to reveal his love to you and enable you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to enter into a life-changing relationship with him. This is where happiness and wholeness is found.

A Happy Life

“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.” Psalm 1:1-3 (NRSV)

I love this opening Psalm. It just starts the Psalter on the right foot with a proclamation that the way to experience the kind of life everyone wants to live is to delight in the Lord and his law, his instructions, his leadership. 

Everyone wants to be happy. From Aristotle on, the world’s greatest thinkers have been of one mind as to the reality that each and every human being wants to experience happiness. There’s a lot of debate about what happiness is, but suffice it to say for this post, that happiness is an experience of a positive and satisfying life.

Psalm 1 teaches that God’s desire is to give us a happy, blessed life, and this life God desires for us is a life of flourishing. The metaphor is that of trees planted by water where they can draw deeply from life-giving waters and grow green and fruitful. In Kentucky, this is a little more difficult to grasp because we live in a place with adequate water supply. Israel is mostly dry. Along streams you can observe a contrast of brown and green. Brown is dry and dead. Green is wet and alive. The person who puts their trust in the Lord and the Lord’s ways is alive, growing, and fruitful for God’s Kingdom. This is a deeply satisfying and fulfilling life, a happy life.