It’s exciting when you see God at work. It’s REALLY exciting when you see God at work among people you know and care about!!! It makes you think that this God stuff really works…………!

Each One Reach One picks up this excitement by encouraging us to INTENTIONALLY walk and journey with those we care about towards the cross and beyond into the church. Taking responsibility for our friends is at its heart, recognising that your friends actually like you (!) and are more likely to be interested in what is important to you if you are interested in what is important to them!

But isn’t being intentional cold? Is it wrong to have an agenda? What if my friends turn round and say “You are only my friend because you want me to be a Christian?” Surely we should just let things happen?

I was reading Mark 4:26-29 (the parable of the growing seed) recently and this intentionality struck me afresh. As churches across the UK, we don’t have hundreds of people breaking our doors down wanting to become Christians, our expectations are more likely to be to “eat what grows by itself.” I’m not a farmer, however, if a farmer’s approach to his crops was to harvest what grew by itself, he’d go out of business quickly! No, a farmer intentionally sows seed, nurtures and cares for it (fertilises it!) and then harvests it. God may well make it grow, but the farmer has a part to play!

So being intentional in walking with our friends far from being cold and uncaring is actually the most loving thing we can do for people we care about. Loving unconditionally means that if our friends do turn round and say “You are only my friend because you want me to become a Christian” we can reply “Whether you respond or not, I’ll still be your friend! But the Jesus I know is so amazing that how could I be a true friend and not share him with you?”