Book by Book · New Testament
The fourth Gospel, written so that readers would believe.
John tells the story of Jesus differently than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It moves more slowly, lingers on long conversations, and circles back again and again to who Jesus is. It opens not in Bethlehem but before the beginning, with the Word who was with God and was God, and through whom everything was made. From there it follows Jesus through a series of signs and unhurried encounters, with Nicodemus at night, with a woman at a well, with a man born blind, with friends at a graveside.
Early in the book, John the Baptist sets the tone for everything that follows. His own followers come to him worried that the crowds are drifting toward Jesus instead. John does not defend his ground. He has always known he was the one preparing the way, not the way itself, and he is content to step back as Jesus steps forward.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
— John 3:30 (ESV)
It is a strange thing for a public figure to say, and John says it without bitterness. His whole purpose was to point past himself to someone greater, and he counts it a success, not a loss, when people stop looking at him. The Gospel holds him up as a model: the messenger who is glad to grow smaller so that the One he announces grows larger.
That posture is worth thinking about for anyone building a tool that speaks for a church. The temptation is to make the tool the center, the impressive thing people come back to admire. We would rather it do the opposite. It answers from the church's own words, points people toward the church and its leaders, and steps out of the way once it has done so.
A church assistant should not try to be the voice people trust most. It should hand them along to the pastor, the scripture, the community, and then quietly recede. The aim is for it to increase nothing about itself and to make the church and its Lord easier to find.
The messenger who points away from himself has understood his job.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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