That word has come up an exorbitant number of times over the past couple of weeks through conversations with various different people, through different mediums, in different scenarios and situations.
ENGAGEMENT
People want and need to be engaged, to be connected with and interacted with and taught and mentored in a way that they can relate to in a place they already are. Growth and development are essential. Stretching your boundaries and stepping out of your comfort zone should absolutely be a part of maturing, but if we want people to grow, we can't start by forcing that. We must first engage them where they are, give them a reason to want to grow and mature.
In several different arenas in the past week, I've heard a consistent theme. That theme is one of changing the tried and true traditional method of doing things in order to better engage kids and get them excited for and wanting to be involved with whatever it is we are doing. That may be school. It may be church. The thing is, just because something has always been, doesn't mean it should always be.
This is difficult for me because I'm a creature of habit, and I love tradition, but God is making it clear that what I need to do is whatever I need to do to engage kids and teenagers. The relationship, that I can develop with them and that they can develop with God, is far more important than the structure that leads to those relationships.
The tagline for X Factor Church is Engage|Encourage|Equip and that's what God is showing me. Engage people where they are, which leads to developing relationships in which I can Encourage them, which, in turn, allows me the opportunity to teach and mentor and Equip them.
I'm gonna do my best.
How about you? How can you engage those around you?
