I have found that “the intentionality with which the Church planter and the planting team have thought through how best to connect culturally with their community is a key factor.” And in my experience, I have found there are several stages to being intentional and I want to take a moment to describe these stages here.
The first stage is unclear vision intentionality. This is where we are seeking to be intentional but the real motivation is not clear to us. In this first stage, we can be thinking that we are being intentional for the sake of those we want to reach when in fact we are being intentional about our ends. In this stage there are only minimal gains from being intentional and so leaders may lose the motivation to continue in that manner. The second stage is limited vision intentionality. Here, those involved have begun to resolve the question about why we are being intentional, but it has only gone so far. So, we are becoming more aware of those who we are seeking to reach but there are limitations to our commitment that we are not yet aware of and this has the effect of leading us into dead ends in our thinking. There are reasonable gains in this stage from the effort to be intentional but those involved will find that they are left with blockages that just leave them frustrated. The final and most effective stage of intentionality is the selfless vision intentionality. Here is the point where our agendas disappear, and our intentionality is solely fixed on what is best for those that we are seeking to reach and it is here that we gain the most from being intentional.”
My book “The Genius in the Kingdom: How Discipleship Impacts Church Planting” is available in paperback and Kindle from Amazon.
Peace
Colin
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