The Importance of Interaction

I know many of us serve in a small church. With a church staff of 2 and a congregation of 60 (on a good day), I am able to interact pretty easily at Epoch. Few churches have numbers this small in either category. If you serve in a church of 500, 750, 1000+, it becomes impossible to have regular communication with all congregants and staff.

We recognize the power of relationships. Many of us subscribe to the idea of relational evangelism. Acts 2:42-47 certainly stresses the importance of relational interaction within a church body. Beyond this, why is interaction so important for a healthily functioning church?

Social constructivism is where people's understanding of the world is directly tied to whom they interact with and how they do so. Ultimately, whether done accurately or not, people socially construct and co-construct their perceived realities. In English, this means that people base their perception of reality on interactions with others.

If identical twins are separated at birth and are adopted by two differing sets of parents with different approaches to parenthood, their views of reality will not be the same. It won't matter that they sound, move, and look the same or that their fingerprints are a match or that they have similar tendencies in personality. If one was raised by parents who love him, provide for his physical and emotional needs, and teach him right from wrong, that child will grow up with a positive opinion of family. If the other is raised by parents who are rarely home, communicate through shouting, and pay little attention to the kid, he will probably grow up to think this is normal. Thus, the word "family" will have a negative connotation to him.

Many Christians have long known that saying hello to new faces and making outsiders feel included is the right thing to do. What is less known is why this is so important. When we stay in constant contact with people, our relationships form and deepen. Its easy to distrust or dislike someone we don't know. But if we are recognized by, spoken to, or otherwise involved in someone's life, we are much less likely to have negative feelings toward them or they towards us. Therefore, one of the best ways to make people feel good about your church is to have a relationship with them.

If you are in any kind of leadership position (including non-paid volunteer leadership) within a church, you have a responsibility to build a relationship with the congregation. For many, this is easy. For many more, however, constantly speaking to strangers or people not known well can be a stressful experience. But leaders must get over this discomfort. If, for example, someone within your church is rarely spoken to, included, or shown the vision of the leadership, your church is not very good. At least not to someone with whom people (especially leaders) rarely interact. Perception is reality, and people socially construct that reality through interaction. If you want to give someone the impression that church is a bad thing, ignore them.

The social constructionist theory has crucial implications for the church. Specifically, I believe 3 things must be recognized by church leaders:

1. People construct their reality through interaction
2. Interaction, positive or negative, greatly impacts the way people view church
3. A socially constructed reality is fluid: it can changed for better or worse

Because we care about the impact the church has on the world, we must interact with
people who walk through our doors. Through interaction, we have the opportunity to change hearts and minds. And yes, we have the power to influence reality.

Interact wisely.