Today's Post
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The FOUR PILLARS

June 23, 2025

Four Pillars For Renewal

By Randy Howard

Consider the rationale for this book here in this blog post:

Let me take a page or so here to describe the concept I offer as what I see as the core aim of discipleship. This is a shift from the traditional approach so I will need a few words to bring a minimal understanding. Thanks for your patience friend.

In my spiritual journey I landed pretty early on the idea that there were four pillars of Christian faith. In my observation those pillars were the Bible, Prayer, Worship, and Church. As a college student I felt an increasing call to walk deeper into these pillars with the aim of growing spiritually. I began a lifelong practice of memorizing Bible scriptures. I soon began to develop a daily prayer walk that would grow stronger over time. I loved worship as it has been mainly perceived, singing praise with prayer blended in. And my life had been formed in church attendance and participation since birth. These four activities formed my personal individual discipleship curriculum which lasted through more than four decades of life. I often reflect that these pillars built a spiritual foundation for my life and everything else that I experienced on the journey was facilitated by those pillars. As I enter the sunset of life I have come to believe these four activities have generally been considered ‘the pillars’ of Christian spiritual growth universally. 

In this season of life and reflection I have come to believe that there are FOUR OTHER PILLARS that I now feel should be placed at the foundation of Christian faith and life. This shift in my thinking does not in any way diminish the importance of the four former pillars. They are and will continue to be essential in spiritual growth. In my view now, they should not be the goals to achieve, but they should be the means, the catalysts, the steps in process to reach and experience the ‘four pillars’ I now believe to hold the greatest import. Those pillars have been discussed in my recent book as Loving God by Loving Others, Relationship as Spiritual DNA, Jesus Our Model, and Mission Our Manifesto. In short, these pillars are Love, Relationship, Jesus, and Mission.

One influence for the shift in my thinking about the four critical pillars of Christianity has been a change in my personal journey in ministry. Ten years ago, I stepped into ministry serving the poor of my community. In this blog I will write stories of friends I have met and have been privileged to walk beside in life. As their friend I have worked to help them approach stability in life and inner hope and peace in Christ. Some of these friends I have had the privilege to walk with for over five years while all of them have been a part of my life for at least a year. These extended relationships have shown me the importance of the four pillars I now recommend as foundations for Christian life and ministry: Love, Relationship, Jesus, and Mission.

I have come to believe that these four pillars are actually the goal of genuine Christianity and therefore should be the goal of all discipleship efforts. Think with me. The Bible cannot be a goal of Christian life. It is a vehicle to carry Christ followers toward their goal. The same is true of Prayer. Christ followers are called to pray in order to see Christian faith and action activated in their life walk. The same is true for Church. Christ followers go to church to be built up, energized, and equipped for Kingdom building action in life. And Worship is far more than gathering together for sessions of praise and prayer blended powerfully, or in touching ways so that we may enjoy the presence of God. Worship is our whole life offering in the hope of glorifying God daily. The Bible, Prayer, Worship, and Church are critical to the development and effectiveness of a Christ follower, but they are not the goals a Christ follower is aiming for, they are the assisting means. I like the word catalysts. The goal is far higher; a life of consuming love for God by loving others extravagantly, a life lived in community reaching to build new relationships with others in need, a life aiming to emulate the model of Jesus, and by these three we arrive at life lived on mission every day. 

Read that last sentence again. These ideas resonate --  a life of love, loving and serving others, living in community, inviting others to gracious relationship with us, and therefore living on mission each day. These elements ring true to New Testament narratives and most importantly the life model of Jesus. In my view it is time to move these pillars to the front and to call all of God’s people to embrace these goals personally. Love is the center affirmed by all of scripture. Actually love is the foundation for each of the other three pillars. There is no genuine Christianity without love filling the heart. All other attempts at Christianity without love as the prime element have missed the mark and sink to the level of mere religion. Love motivates viewing Christian life as relational. We are meant to be in close family relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We also are meant to offer our friendship and brotherhood to the lost, inviting them to come join the family. Love motivates emulating Jesus. We become like what we love the scripture teaches and life experience affirms. The Christ in us seeks to radiate out from us to all those around us, serving others just like Jesus. Finally love motivates mission. Love is the most powerful and pure motivation for mission. The love motive is greater than command, greater than instruction, greater than institutional programming, even greater than the urgency of the need. God’s love filling his children enables these four pillars naturally and effectively; Love, Relations, Jesus, and Mission.