Discipleship as Relational Stewardship: McGilchrist, Hospitality, and the Church's Calling
One 1,000 word answer to how do we grow?
I want to talk about relational stewardship.
The divided brain framework developed by Iain McGilchrist, rooted in science, offers insightful approaches to grasp discipleship and the Church's mission during times of societal fragmentation and isolation. The research examines how the right side of the brain connects with deep relationships, real experiences, and mindfulness, while the left side works to organize things and exert control through abstraction. This distinction mirrors a fundamental tension in modern ecclesiology: There exists a tension between how we evaluate the Church as a system needing management held next to the need for us to be a community rooted on belonging and kinship. I recognize it is both as a bishop - but that we have ignored discipleship in the hope of quick-fix programs that hustle for numbers.
The vision of discipleship presented through biblical hospitality and Jesus’ ministry of presence emphasizes relational mission and calls believers to live in Shalom instead of simply attending church services.
Hospitality as the Foundation of Discipleship
Hospitality in the Old Testament serves as a model for discipleship through embodied relationality, which engages the right hemisphere rather than functioning as a charitable duty for the left hemisphere. Abraham’s reception of the strangers at Mamre (Genesis 18) functions as an expression of covenantal kinship where he recognizes God's presence in others. The commandments given to Israel focus on protecting the stranger, the widow, and the orphan not just as administrative duties but as expressions of covenantal inclusion with God. The prophets urge Israel to abandon simple ritual conformity and to embrace the profound relational duties of justice and mercy while maintaining a humble relationship with God, as shown in Micah 6:8.
Hospitality of this sort focuses on building space for presence and relationships, which lead to a shared existence rather than solving immediate problems. My analysis in Citizen reveals that discipleship identity emerges from kinship, which involves both being known by others and knowing them ourselves based on God’s invitation to communal belonging. McGilchrist’s critique of modern individualism reinforces this reality: The purpose of our faith extends beyond solitary intellectual contemplation to a shared journey where physical presence matters more than individual achievements.
Jesus and the Kinship of the Table
The work of Jesus reinforces his vision in an even more profound way. He prioritizes personal interactions over structured programs, joining people for meals, listening to them, and creating spaces for meaningful connections. His actions affirm what The Generous Community explores: The call to discipleship introduces us to a relational way of life rather than a structured system. At the meal with Zacchaeus and by feeding five thousand people, Jesus demonstrated his pattern of choosing relational transformation over the left brain's need for control and efficiency.
Jesus' practice of table fellowship focused on kinship, which served as the path to redemption rather than aiming for numerical success or institutional achievements. A place at Christ's table comes not from earning it but from acknowledging that it was already offered. This is the challenge for the modern Church: Does our approach to discipleship focus on attendance numbers and program success, or do we assess discipleship through meaningful relationships and transformative shared experiences?
Going in Vocatio: Discipleship as a Movement of Presence
Viewing discipleship through McGilchrist’s right-hemisphere engagement shows that discipleship progresses outward through mission activities. Through my work in Vocatio, I made the case that following Christ means being sent into the world as a carrier of peace and human presence instead of attempting to repair broken systems. This sending focuses on staying with those who feel unseen and uninvited instead of aiming for efficiency or measurable outcomes.
When we go, we establish spaces where people who feel lonely find friendship and those who feel exhausted find comfort. This approach focuses on managing relationships instead of institutions and providing hospitality instead of bureaucracy. The concept at hand represents not a structural abandonment but rather a structural adjustment that focuses on fostering relational stewardship.
The Church as a Structure for Shalom
A common belief exists that the Church requires fixing or management for better results. This is also true, but it is not really a pressing issue at the congregation level. Through McGilchrist’s perspective, we must acknowledge that the Church serves as a host rather than a fixer by creating spaces where relationships grow in peace and Shalom manifests. My book Embodied Faith (2025) explains that people search for real presence rather than structured programs. The modern world is plagued by relational voids, which result in widespread loneliness and disconnection as normal conditions. The Church exists to provide the disconnected with a home and to offer the isolated a table and forgotten people kinship.
Abiding in Shalom means actively engaging in the divine existence of peace and wholeness. The choice involves prioritizing human connections above convenience, personal presence above productivity, and family bonds above institutional endurance. Yes, our governing structure, councils and conventions, boards, and institutions are important so long as they support this very basic act of discipleship - relationship. Sermons and teaching are essential as long as they support and invite this more profound way of life. The Church needs to resist the left-brain approach of measuring and directing discipleship and adopt a right-brain approach focused on building communities that embody faithfulness and relational depth.
Conclusion: A Church That Engages Relational Stewardship
True discipleship aims to develop a way of life that fosters people's desire to be together rather than just bringing them back into church seats. The key requirement for discipleship involves meeting people in their spaces and joining them while sharing God's presence collectively. According to McGilchrist’s research, we can take away the fact the Church faces its most significant challenge in preserving relationships rather than battling institutional decline.
Consider these last illustrations. Remember some of the prophets of ages past, for they spoke truth to power - we might say. Yet, we may also remember the underground railroad supported by hundreds of people. May we remember those who gave shelter and hid Jews during Nazi Germany’s Holocaust. Remember well the ages of Christians who have taken in the wounded and fed the hungry. May the memory of those who offered a roof and bread to the weary pilgrim be a blessing. The church’s greatest work has come from the saints and sinners who intensely lived with their neighbor.
The Church’s task is not to fix its structures alone. There is no magic fix for the lack of relational stewardship; save one. We need to recognize that it is the return to its fundamental vocation: The Church must reclaim its essential mission, which entails relationship stewardship for people who've lost the ability to feel connected. We must practice hospitality as a form of kinship and join others at the table like Jesus while spreading lasting peace throughout our neighborhoods first.