A well-connected church can be an impotent one …

What we do becomes ineffective quickly when we forget why we do what we’re doing.

“Making connections” in the church is a great example.

We’ve narrowly pursued the task of connecting people to such a degree that most of the congregation (or a majority) is connected in some way, and yet those connections aren’t yielding much fruit.

We welcome people at the door, lead them to their seats, greet them before and after service, recruit them into groups and classes, and give them a task. We’re “connected.”

But usually only on Sunday. Perhaps on a weeknight as well.

But we often aren’t in each others homes or lives outside of a structured, planned time to meet. Yet, we call that “doing life together.”

The problem is we’ve made connecting people the entire goal, rather than the reason why we make it important to connect people in the first place. We connect because we’re family — God’s family! We are brothers and sisters, we belong to each other. Our connectedness to each other is supposed to be one of living out being a spiritual family, loving each other, caring for and serving one another, and being ambassadors for Christ together.

To be connected without living out the reason for the connection leaves a church impotent, just as if there were no connection. That’s because without loving and serving each other in the way Christ loved us, we really aren’t “connected.”

“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you,” John 15:12.

Scotty