Action Precedes Passion

I have been reflecting a great deal over the past month about the journey of renewal God has had us on at the church I pastor. For thirty years our church experienced decline. Each year the statistical line moved down and to the right. I am still amazed at how, despite the odds, God has helped us bring vibrant renewal to our congregation. Over the past six years the statistical line has been moving up and to the right, to the tune of +107% growth! 

Reflecting took me back through the turning points over my 10 and a half years of pastoring this church. I thought specifically about the critical milestones that prepared us for the past six years of amazing growth. One of those turning points came when we learned this simple principle – action precedes passion. 

Understanding this principle was life-changing for me as a leader and eliminated a great deal of frustration. I remember preaching week after week and year after year about our need to reach our community and love them in Jesus’ name. Each time the frustration would build, as it appeared our people were simply apathetic about loving our neighbors. 

All of this changed one summer night in August as a group of five or six members of our church passed out school supplies to the low-income apartment complexes surrounding our church. After an hour of passing out supplies to our neighbors we reconvened at the church and my wife and I were caught off guard by the enthusiasm of this small group of people who had helped that night. They were excitedly telling us stories about their interactions with single moms, children, and grandparents raising their grandkids. They were transformed by these interactions and there was a passion that was not present just an hour before. 

That night we learned a lesson that would forever change the future of our church. If we want people to be passionate about something, we have to give them a chance to experience it first. I look at it like this–-I don’t know a single person that is passionate about fishing who has never cast a line into the water. That passion for fishing was preceded by the action of experiencing the thrill of the catch! 

Some people in our churches never witnessed to a lost person, discipled another new Christian or engaged in compassionate ministry to others. We preach our hearts out hoping for passion to be birthed in them for these things, but neglect this simple principle--action precedes passion. We must keep on preaching, but we must also be intentional about creating environments where church-goers can experience the thrill of the catch!