At the first impression, it's evident Chloe Healy has a strong passion for Christ.
Her love of God led her to find HowToLife, a movement that focuses on spreading the gospel to Generation Z (Gen Z). After discovering that only 4% of Gen Z identified themselves as Christians, she knew she had to get involved.
“We are the least Christian generation that this world has ever seen. The point of this movement is to start changing those numbers and to start telling more people in our generation about who Jesus really is. Not some fabricated, different version of who Jesus really is, but the true heart of God,” Healy said.
The HowToLife movement spans across 22 U.S. states and six countries. The movement prides itself in being entirely led by Gen Z, and focuses on equipping leaders to organize events within their own community.
“It's people in our generation coming together in their own communities and planning these outreach events in their own communities to spread the gospel. There are leadership retreats where they teach you how to spread the Gospel, how to be effective and how to plan events. Then you can go home in your own community and start planning one yourself with your leadership team,” Healy said.
Healy found the organization on Instagram and reached out about getting involved around a month later. The team at HowToLife scheduled Zoom video calls with various leaders, and Healy was soon offered the opportunity to attend a training conference in Minneapolis.
“I was able to bring my best friend, Harmony, who's part of my leadership team now. It was a really, really awesome experience. Getting to know some of the people and getting to hear their heart and their advice about how to plan an event, and how they spread the gospel [was an awesome experience]. That just happened to be an opportunity that was opened up. It was last minute and unexpected, but it ended up being super awesome,” Healy said.
The leadership training equipped Healy with the tools needed to start her own event with HowToLife in Northwest Indiana. Details for the event are not finalized, but the date is set for April 30.
In the midst of training and planning, Healy established an even deeper connection with God.
“I have never met a community like this one. Being a part of this has just grown my faith immensely,” Healy said. “I've learned so many things through other people as a part of this and it's just really rewarding to step back and watch God work in the lives of others and watch as he works through them in these leadership roles. I just think it's really encouraging to see how God works differently in each person.”
Healy finds joy in watching others begin their walk with the Lord. She feels the most rewarding part of being involved in HowToLife is watching God work through others.
“How could it not be awesome to watch people come to know the heart of God? I'd say the best part is watching people who knew nothing about Jesus getting the opportunity to truly know His heart and watching as their lives change. It's so humbling that he actually picked you to minister to that person. Watching as they're growing in their own relationship with Jesus is also really humbling,” Healy said.
Sharing the gospel with a generation that is generally resistant to the church can be a challenge. Healy, however, finds the struggle to be a rewarding process.
“Reaching Generation Z can be difficult. I just feel like this generation is so far from Jesus,” Healy said. “You have to be innovative with how you reach generations because there's so much church hurt. I think convincing them that they are truly loved by God, and that God actually cares to know their heart and God actually cares to sit with them in their pain, and cares to heal every broken part in their heart. I think that can sometimes be a little bit difficult when you're facing that, but it is worth it.”
Healy’s faith has been heavily impacted since her first interaction with HowToLife. She finds the process of leading her peers to Christ to be an incredibly humbling experience.
“It's shaped me a lot as not just somebody who simply believes in Jesus, but somebody who actually lives for Him. I've become somebody who proudly talks about him with everybody that I know. God loves us individually so much and he knows absolutely everything about us and he actually delights in us. I feel like that knowledge in and of itself is just humbling. Not only that, but that he would actually go further than that, to actually want us to be part in spreading the gospel to other people, is the most humbling thing that I have ever experienced in my life,” Healy said.
To learn more about the HowToLife movement, visit www.howtolifemovement.com. You can also get involved by following the HowToLife pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok.
Follow @howtolifeindiana on Instagram to keep up with information on the Northwest Indiana event led by Healy and her leadership group.