in·ten·tion·al·i·ty
inˌten(t)SHəˈnalədē/
noun
Growing up in the church, I've seen all kinds of atmospheres. You have many churches who are so good at having greeters, connect cards, and even mugs, pens, etc to help welcome people in. How often though are there follow ups after the initial welcome? I know there are also plenty who are good at doing this, so this is obviously not for them. But something I've noticed that the church is missing, is that word shown above. Now, this post is not meant to say that churches are all bad or that Christians are the worst, BUT I'm writing this in hopes that people will read this and be exactly what I think the church is missing. Intentional.
It's so easy to spew out words like "I'm glad you're here," and to even say "I'd love to get coffee and talk more about your life." But when it comes to acting that out, I think a lot of us miss that mark. Let's think about Jesus for a second, since we're kinda called to live like him. How different do you think Jesus' life would be if He just spoke about doing miracles and never really followed through with them? "Yeah, maybe I'll heal that leper today. Okay, we'll see if I can raise that guy from the dead. I'm kind of tired though." Our words have power, yes, but we need to put our action behind it to see the power follow through. How do we expect God to move if we're not moving ourselves? When we say we're going to reach out to someone, we need to be really intentional about doing so or we're going to miss opportunities to commune with others, and then we'll ultimately live a life of empty promises.
I've heard of SO many people leaving the church because there was a lack of community, due to no one reaching out to them. So Christians, let's stop giving excuses as to why we're not being intentional and start reaching out and communing like Jesus called us to. When there was a need, Jesus dropped things and met it. He definitely didn't give excuses as to why He was too busy. So we have no excuse to act any different. Someone needs prayer, pray. Don't just say "I'll pray" and forget about it. (I'm speaking to myself here.) It takes a couple of minutes to type/say a prayer. If someone needs food, feed them. If someone needs a hug, hug them. Increase your intentionality and you'll find yourself doing kick butt work for the Kingdom! The more intentional we are, the more souls we will see be transformed and welcomed into the kingdom! Let love be your motive and God's power be your force! Be intentional!
inˌten(t)SHəˈnalədē/
noun
- the fact of being deliberate or purposive.
Growing up in the church, I've seen all kinds of atmospheres. You have many churches who are so good at having greeters, connect cards, and even mugs, pens, etc to help welcome people in. How often though are there follow ups after the initial welcome? I know there are also plenty who are good at doing this, so this is obviously not for them. But something I've noticed that the church is missing, is that word shown above. Now, this post is not meant to say that churches are all bad or that Christians are the worst, BUT I'm writing this in hopes that people will read this and be exactly what I think the church is missing. Intentional.
It's so easy to spew out words like "I'm glad you're here," and to even say "I'd love to get coffee and talk more about your life." But when it comes to acting that out, I think a lot of us miss that mark. Let's think about Jesus for a second, since we're kinda called to live like him. How different do you think Jesus' life would be if He just spoke about doing miracles and never really followed through with them? "Yeah, maybe I'll heal that leper today. Okay, we'll see if I can raise that guy from the dead. I'm kind of tired though." Our words have power, yes, but we need to put our action behind it to see the power follow through. How do we expect God to move if we're not moving ourselves? When we say we're going to reach out to someone, we need to be really intentional about doing so or we're going to miss opportunities to commune with others, and then we'll ultimately live a life of empty promises.
I've heard of SO many people leaving the church because there was a lack of community, due to no one reaching out to them. So Christians, let's stop giving excuses as to why we're not being intentional and start reaching out and communing like Jesus called us to. When there was a need, Jesus dropped things and met it. He definitely didn't give excuses as to why He was too busy. So we have no excuse to act any different. Someone needs prayer, pray. Don't just say "I'll pray" and forget about it. (I'm speaking to myself here.) It takes a couple of minutes to type/say a prayer. If someone needs food, feed them. If someone needs a hug, hug them. Increase your intentionality and you'll find yourself doing kick butt work for the Kingdom! The more intentional we are, the more souls we will see be transformed and welcomed into the kingdom! Let love be your motive and God's power be your force! Be intentional!