Intentionality

Perhaps one of the greatest pitfalls for churches today is a lack of intentionality.

As a husband I stumble into this pit often and as I slowly crawl out each time I wonder what it will take for me to learn my lesson. When I am striving to be the best husband possible I'm pretty amazing, ask my wife. Being intentional about showing my wife how much she means to me is one of the greatest gifts I can give her because when I am intentional about showing her that love is when the message is received most clearly. My own selfishness leads me to waste my Saturday afternoon on the couch watching the Top Chef marathon but only when I choose to be intentional about loving my wife do I make the decision to do the dishes, make the bed, or clean the office.

Churches and businesses work the same way. Many churches have an expectation that as long as they have singing, a sermon, and an offering they will grow. While growth should never be the end goal of a church when a church is healthy it will occur. But even healthy churches can forget to be intentional. Newcomers need to be greeted, the trash needs to be emptied, chairs need to be supplied when there are no seats, announcements that Sunday school classes will occur after service, or just as importantly where they will be held, and somebody needs to do something, anything with the "communication card" information. Sure, a few of these things will happen by a good volunteer or an observant staff person as the need arrives but it falls to the church leadership to instill these habits into the staff.

Only by purposefully laying down ground rules and demanding that staff greet guests and not friends, or by intentionally having a chair-team, will they happen consistently. And for consistent growth to occur these things must happen. We understand the importance of McDonald's intentionally demanding all staff members wash their hands when they come out of the bathroom, it is a matter of sanitation and health. Rarely do we realize that we could be doing worse damage unintentionally by not greeting those guests who are giving the church one last shot; it is a matter of spiritual health. As the global church we need to all do a better job of being intentional in reaching the lost, anything less is neglectful.