Flourishing Beyond Fear: A Theology of Abundance for Christian Leadership in an Age of Scarcity
“Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18)
The Age of Scarcity and the Call to Abundance
Our culture is dominated by fear—fear of scarcity, loss, and exclusion. Despite unprecedented advances in technology and global wealth (for some), many people believe opportunity is a zero-sum game. It’s why fear drives most of our decisions and actions.
In Chapman University’s annual report on Americans’ Top 10 Fears, in 2025, the third greatest fear was economic or financial collapse (58.2% were afraid or very afraid). That is a far cry from just the prior year, when, in 2024, this specific fear was ranked at number 15. [1]
Based on extensive research, the Harvard Human Flourishing Program developed a “Flourish” assessment measure across six domains. [2]
Barna’s survey of US adults found that, on a scale from 1 to 100 (with 100 being the highest level of flourishing possible), respondents scored an average of just 62 on Finances, the lowest of the six domains. This self-reported perception of a relative lack of flourishing indicates anxiety about financial stability. [3]
In their 2013 book, Scarcity; Why Having Too Little Means So Much, researchers Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir found that scarcity creates “mindsets that rarely consider long-term best interests.” Once in that mindset, people tend to stay there. [4]
When you read the news in 2025, it’s easy to see that the ICE abductions of brown and Black people, especially those who talk with an accent, have been growing out of a culture of fear. When campaigning in 2024, the current resident of the White House stoked those fears by saying, “They are taking your jobs! They are eating your pets! They are taking your healthcare even though they aren’t citizens!” Today, it’s “They are using your tax dollars for food stamps to buy hair weaves!” These messages of scarcity and fear-mongering helped create a culture that has led to ICE abductions and deportations, as well as the crisis in SNAP food assistance for millions of Americans.
I am personally appalled by the horrors of paramilitary troops roaming the streets. I’ve seen the videos from “both sides” on social media and the news: those who are in fear for their lives, and those who are in fear of losing what they think belongs to them.
Maintaining a mindset of scarcity is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus. Part of the Christian mission is not to imitate the culture around us nor to accommodate it, but to transform culture wherever possible. “We teach the world what God has taught us, which is to ‘trace out His designs and humbly to follow His ways,’ as Niebuhr phrased it.” [5]
If fear-based scarcity is the dominant narrative of our time, gospel-based abundance must become the counter-narrative.
A theology of abundance, rooted in God’s self-giving love, can equip Christian leaders to resist cultural narratives of scarcity, cultivate flourishing communities, and model a non-anxious presence in an age of fear and fragmentation.
When implemented, love really does cast out fear.
Competing Worldviews: How Scarcity Became the Air We Breathe
To understand why scarcity thinking has become so pervasive, we must first look beneath economics to the worldviews that shape people’s perspectives.
In their book, Understanding the Times, Myers and Noebel write, “At its most basic level, economics is about scarcity.” [6] This is the opposite of what God intended, as illustrated by Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply… Be abundant.”
The Christian worldview on every topic, including economics, is based on the concept of the imago dei. “Treating people with dignity is at the heart of human rights. From the Christian worldview, humans are all made in the image of God…” [7] And as God called Adam and Eve to valuable work in the Garden, we are also called to biblical stewardship of all that is on loan to us from God. An abundance mindset grows through creativity, trust, and cooperation.
In contrast to the Biblical view, Secularism believes that only matter exists. Every problem and solution is materialistic. Secularists also believe in a controlled, “plural” economy, or socialism. [8]
Postmodernism is another contrasting view. Myers and Noebel explain that one concept at the heart of postmodern economics is the decentered self, when “a person stops seeing him- or herself as the center of reality.” They add, “The decentered self is at odds with the notion of a person who has inherent value.” [9]
Meyers suggests that Christians can engage with our culture to shape it. That includes a faithful posture of thoughtful, intentional, and long-term engagement. We must build on the work of those who came before us and create opportunities for others to build on our work of engagement. [10]
Instead of worldviews wrapped around a decentered self or materialism, Christian theology offers a radically different perspective. We know and worship a God whose very nature is self-giving love.
Theological and Neuroscientific Foundations of Abundance
As we saw above, the story of Scripture begins with lavish generosity in Genesis 1. Centuries later, Augustine taught that God’s love is not finite, but a gift that continually pours itself out in abundance. [11] We must remember this: God did not create out of need but out of abundance. As noted in Understanding the Faith, creation itself is a testament to God’s self-giving nature. This means the created world is fundamentally good and trustworthy, not a battleground of competing scarcity.
The Incarnation reveals this abundance in flesh and blood. In Philippians 2, Paul writes that Christ “emptied himself” (kenosis) to illustrate that true power is self-giving love. Dallas Willard refers to this as the “God-bathed world,” [12] where divine life permeates all of reality. Jesus’ life and ministry continually expressed this—feeding multitudes with little, forgiving lavishly, pouring out grace that multiplies rather than divides.
The Holy Spirit continues this generative pattern, breathing life and creativity wherever fear and fragmentation take hold. In their book, The Cycle of Grace, Trevor Hudson and Jerry Haas clearly illustrate this movement: acceptance comes before achievement and significance; ultimately, identity in Christ is the wellspring of all fruitful action. [13]
Modern neuroscience strongly confirms this biblical pattern. Dan Siegel’s work in Interpersonal Neurobiology describes integration—connection across different parts of the brain and within relationships—as the foundation of mental health and wellbeing. [14] Disintegration, by contrast, produces anxiety, rigidity, and fear—the inner logic of scarcity.
Jim Wilder calls joy “the glad-to-be-together state,” the emotional soil in which character and resilience grow. [15] When leaders cultivate relational joy, they literally rewire their brains and communities toward openness, creativity, and trust. In his book, The Connected Life, Todd Hall adds that secure attachment—to God and others—is what allows human beings to live from abundance rather than self-protection.[16]
Both theology and neuroscience converge on the same truth: scarcity is a symptom of disconnection. Abundance flows from communion—from living integrated with God, self, and others. When leaders learn to abide in that communion, they model a calm, spacious presence that becomes contagious. This inner integration is the soil out of which abundant leadership grows.
Abundant Leadership: Practicing Non-Anxious Presence
If abundance is the character of God, then leaders who follow Christ are called to embody that abundance in their leadership. Yet fear and defensiveness shrink our ability to lead well; we end up interacting from a state of self-protection.
By contrast, abundance frees us to lead with openness, courage, and calm. Edwin Friedman called this posture the non-anxious presence—the ability to stay grounded and connected in the midst of a community’s anxiety rather than absorbing it. Differentiated leaders, he argued, do not react to fear but respond out of conviction and clarity of purpose. They bring coherence to chaos. [17]
John Maxwell describes a similar pattern in his highest level of leadership, where influence multiplies through the development of others. [18] True abundance in leadership is not measured by how many people follow, but by how many are empowered to lead.
Simon Walker’s Undefended Leadership echoes this same truth: when a leader’s identity is secure in God’s love, there is no need to control outcomes or manage appearances. [19] The undefended leader lives with an inner spaciousness that invites collaboration rather than competition.
Neuroscience again helps explain why this matters. As Dan Siegel notes, integrated minds regulate emotion and create psychological safety—conditions in which creativity and moral courage thrive. Jim Wilder’s research adds that joyful attachment—“the glad-to-be-together state”—sustains resilience in both individuals and organizations. Leaders who nurture relational joy establish cultures of trust that counter the scarcity narrative with connection and belonging.
Christian leadership, then, becomes a lived theology of abundance.
It reflects the confidence that God’s grace is sufficient and ever-renewing. When leaders embody that reality, they become wells of calm in a fearful world—reminders that, in a God-bathed creation, there is always enough love, courage, and wisdom to go around.
From Scarcity to Shalom
The gospel invites us to exchange the clenched fist of scarcity for the open hands of shalom. Throughout Scripture, God’s story begins and ends with abundance, from the overflowing garden in Genesis to the river of life in Revelation. In every age, fear tempts us to hoard, exclude, and defend. But perfect love still casts out fear. A theology of abundance rooted in God’s self-giving love reminds us that grace is never exhausted; it multiplies as it is shared.
When Christian leaders live from this reality, they become stewards of hope rather than managers of anxiety. They cultivate communities where generosity replaces competition, and where joy, not fear, sets the tone. Abundance is not naïve optimism; it is confidence in the God who, as Isaiah promises, “comforts all waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden” (Isaiah 51:3). Such leaders, grounded in divine fullness and relational joy, embody the counter-narrative our fractured world needs.
The work of Christian leadership, then, is to live and lead as if the kingdom of God is truly a God-bathed world—already teeming with grace. To see abundance where others see lack is not denial; it is faith. And when we choose that faith, we participate in the renewal of all things, bearing witness to the One who makes deserts bloom and hearts flourish again.
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1 – Chapman University. “What Americans Fear Most in 2025: Chapman University’s Annual Survey Reveals Top Fears and the Psychology Behind Them.” Chapman Newsroom, October 21, 2025. https://news.chapman.edu/2025/10/21/what-americans-fear-most-in-2025-chapman-universitys-annual-survey-reveals-top-fears-and-the-psychology-behind-them/.
2 – Harvard Human Flourishing Program, “Measuring Well-Being: The Flourish Index and Secure Flourish Index,” Harvard University, accessed November 6, 2025, https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/measuring-flourishing.
3 – Barna Group. The State of Your Church: Measuring What Matters in Ministry. Produced in partnership with Gloo. Ventura, CA: Barna Group, 2022. ISBN 978-1-956730-08-1.
4 – Cara Feinberg, “The Science of Scarcity,” Harvard Magazine, May–June 2015, https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/pdf/2015/05-pdfs/0515-38.pdf.
5 – Jeff Myers, Understanding the Culture: A Survey of Social Engagement (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2017), 55.
6 – Jeff Myers and David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, rev. 2nd ed. (Colorado Springs, CO: Summit Ministries, 2015), 396
7 – Myers, Understanding the Culture, 55.
8 – Myers and Noebel, Understanding the Times, 405–406.
9 – Myers and Noebel, Understanding the Times, 409.
10 – Myers, Understanding the Culture, 90.
11 – Augustine, De Trinitate 8.10.14, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1st ser., vol. 3, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing, 1887), 127–28.
12 – Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (New York: HarperOne, 1998), 61–62.
13 – Trevor Hudson and Jerry Haas, The Cycle of Grace: Living in Sacred Balance (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2012), 56,
14 – Daniel J. Siegel and Chloe Drulis, “An Interpersonal Neurobiology Perspective on the Mind and Mental Health: Personal, Public, and Planetary Well-Being,” Annals of General Psychiatry 22, no. 1 (February 3, 2023): 5, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-023-00434-5.
15 – Jim Wilder, “Joy Changes Everything,” Conversations Journal: A Forum for Authentic Transformation 12, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2014): 47.
16 – Todd W. Hall, The Connected Life: The Art and Science of Relational Spirituality (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021), 105-106.
17 – Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, rev. ed. (New York: Church Publishing, 2017), 215.
18 – John C. Maxwell, “The 5 Levels of Leadership,” Maxwell Leadership, accessed November 6, 2025, https://www.maxwellleadership.com/co/the-5-levels-of-leadership/.
19 – Simon P. Walker, Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership (Carlisle, UK: Piquant Editions, 2007), 118.
About the Author
Debbie Owen
Deborah C. Owen is an experienced spiritual director, Neuro-based Enneagram executive and life coach, disciple maker, professional writer, senior librarian, and long-time church Music Director and lay leader. She has earned the award of National Board Certification for teaching excellence, and a podcasting award, and is pursuing a Doctor of Leadership degree through Portland Seminary at George Fox University. She lives in the backwoods of Maine with her husband and flat-coated retriever. She spends as much time as she can with their 3 grown children, daughter-in-law, and 2 small grandchildren. Find her online at InsideOutMinistries.info.2 responses to “Flourishing Beyond Fear: A Theology of Abundance for Christian Leadership in an Age of Scarcity”
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Debbie,
Yes and amen. I have reflected on this same sentiment a few times on my Substack. The fear narrative is powerful and yet so many continue to be shackled in fear. I love this quote, Both theology and neuroscience converge on the same truth: scarcity is a symptom of disconnection. Abundance flows from communion—from living integrated with God, self, and others.” I had not really thought about this from a nueroscience perspective. It does remind my of the Holsclaw’s most recent book and their landscape of pasture. It is a place of receiving the abundance of God. People need to keep hearing this message.
Debbie,
Hard to believe we’ve written 48 blogs, just a couple more to go!
God-bathed world, I love that idea, especially as a person who loves to be outside in nature and admire the beauty, creativity, and unexplainable aspects of God and his creation. Each fall I read a devotional series by Skye Jethani focusing on Vincent Van Gogh. In A Starry Night, Skye mentions Willards description of a God Bathed World.
It is amazing to see all the chronic anxiety that exists in our country. Do you feel that we actually have too much comfort in our lives which enables us to feed into our fears? I’m amazed at the number of Christians who express fear over the potential loss of a freedom. Christ never promised a trouble free life, why do we expect it?