Shalom: flourishing, maturation, and fullness.
Shalom is one of the greatest of Bible words. Usually translated “peace,” this Hebrew word conveys far more than the mere absence of conflict.
Blessed Are the
Shalom-Makers
Shalom-making means all of creation flourishing under the kind and competent cultivation of the humans God put in charge of it.
And, above all, shalom means that everyone and everything relates properly to the Creator.
Our Human Calling
The human calling is to make shalom, to take what God gives us, as in the original creation (Genesis 1), and work it, work with it, to produce new and better, while guarding and maintaining the best of what has been.
Downstream of Genesis 3 and not yet enjoying the return of the Lord Jesus, we can’t expect everything we attempt to turn out properly. But we try to do the best we can, to maximize shalom, in obedience to that primary call.
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Shalom-making for the Individual
It is the realization of potential. It is each person becoming the best version of himself, or herself, or itself. It is also each relationship between individuals becoming optimally good.
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Shalom-making for the Organization
In shalom, each company, organization, and institution runs the way it should, and works cooperatively with every other company, organization, and institution—with full regard also for the welfare of each individual involved.
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Shalom-making for the World
Finally, we human beings have been called by God to live in the world as gardeners, to help God's garden flourish. And in shalom all of us relate properly to our Creator.
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Our Christian Calling
Christians, furthermore, are called by our Lord Jesus to make disciples (Matthew 28). We are to help each other follow Jesus back to God so we can go forward to the new world to come.
So whenever we can, however we can, Christians endeavour to grow up into maturity, to help each other grow up into maturity, and to welcome new friends to join us in growing up into maturity.
Disciple-making is also, therefore, key to making shalom.
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The ThinkBetter Media Vision
ThinkBetter Media offers resources to help serious Christians make disciples.
We also aim to help you move out into all of life to make everything better—at least, as much better as we can make it.
We all should maximize shalom in every situation, and ThinkBetter Media aims to help you do so everywhere you go.
Dr. John G. Stackhouse, Jr.
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Dr. Stackhouse is an award-winning teacher, scholar, author, and speaker. He is an expert in the history of North American Christianity, the philosophy of religion, epistemology, systematic and historical theology, apologetics, and ethics.
His work has been featured by major news media—from The New York Times to the Times Literary Supplement to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation—and he has addressed university audiences from Harvard to Hong Kong. He has also spoken to physicians in Vancouver, lawyers in Aspen, CEOs in Seoul, and religious leaders in Jerusalem.
John Stackhouse is a lifelong Christian who has both studied the Church professionally and belonged to churches across a wide range of traditions.
From consulting with denominational leaders to welcoming clients of an urban food bank, and from teaching pastors to playing in worship bands, Dr. Stackhouse has seen the Church at work and wants it to flourish.
John Stackhouse's calling is to connect the Church with the academy, the Church with the world, and (above all) the Church with our Lord in fruitful discipleship. Please consider joining us as we do our utmost to maximize shalom everywhere, at every moment.
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