2023 Evangel Gathering - Friendship and Flourishing for Missions

W orkshops • 49

a. Flourishing is a central aspect of humanity’s ultimate purpose according to Scripture.

“Scripture is about a way of being in the world that promises true human flourishing, now partially and eschatologically fully, through believing in and aligning oneself with Jesus Christ, God’s authoritative Son.” 30 For more theological resources on Christ and human flourishing today see resources at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture: www.faith.yale.edu/initiatives/christ flourishing. b. There is a false dichotomy between being God-centered and recognizing that God created humans to flourish with joy in his presence. “The Bible’s telos is simultaneously God centered and human focused.” 31 God receives glory when we flourish as he intended.

c. Six components of human flourishing in Tyler Vanderweele’s 2017 study at Harvard University.

1) happiness and life satisfaction;

2) health, both mental and physical;

3) financial and material stability;

4) meaning and purpose;

5) character and virtue; and

6) close social relationships.

30 Jonathan T. Pennington, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary (Baker Academic, 2018), 290. 31 Pennington, 293.