That was one of the most memorable quotes of my time at Harding Graduate School. Those words were spoken by John Ellas while teaching his class on Small Group Ministry. They have stuck with me because they are so true. The things we think about the most are the things we often engage in the most. If you think about baseball or football a lot, chances are you watch it on television. The things we think about are the things we tend to take action on. If you want someone to take action on something in particular the challenge is to get them to adopt whatever that is as part of their dominant thoughts and action will result. That is why clear and concise communication within a congregation is important. People are not going to move in a certain direction just because the leadership thinks its important. If you can get them to buy into the vision, see how they plug in and why they should, chances are you will have someone who will act accordingly. When no vision is cast, no buy in is achieved and communication breaks down, chances are you will have more pew fillers than not.
What is being communicated (or not) where you minister or worship and how do you see that playing out through the action/inaction of those in attendance?
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No doubt good psychology but a verse of scripture would be nice. Perhaps you could use this psychology in your blog to get people interested in reading the Word of God.
Andrew,
Help me understand the tone of your post so I don’t assume anything. Was that criticism or humor? I am open to either one but just trying to get some clarification here. Thanks.
A Scripture: Philippians 4:8 … think on these things.
An illustration: When driving people tend to steer into the direction they are looking. Hence, when driving through a narrow passage, it is far better to look straight ahead instead of from side to side.
Where is your focus? Is that not the centre of your thoughts? Is not psychology in harmony with Scripture – at least in thise case?
That’s one good one. Wasn’t sure if he was going to answer my question. I was going to wait to respond until then but you did all the work for me. Thanks!