Today’s exercise is a family affair. In my case, that involves a lot of children ages 8 and under. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a family full of kids. In fact, this assignment is easiest if you live by yourself. Though it is simple, don’t confuse today’s task as one that is not worthwhile.
Give yourself and/or your family 24 hours to develop a wish list of 5 people with whom they would like to grow in relationship.
If you are doing this Bootcamp by yourself, you will likely find overlap with day 4’s assignment of identifying three people and their relational closeness to you. I hope that you have written those names down and placed them in a prominent place in your house so that you are reminded to pray for them. [My list is written on a post-it note on my bathroom mirror. I pray for them while I brush my teeth!]
This list, however, is different. Instead of focusing on your current relational closeness, focus on the people that you wish you knew better. This exercise becomes powerful when you are able to compare your list of 5 people with someone else’s list in your house.
Additionally, as you put together your wish list, here are some common pitfalls to avoid.
- Don’t limit yourself to people in your same age or stage of life
This list should include potential mentors or mentees. Many people do not have a large pool of people the same age at their church. This is not necessarily a weakness of your church if you are willing to take advantage of the age differences to gain wisdom and pass some along.
- Try to limit your list to people in your church.
The goal of this Bootcamp is to build relationships within your church, not to give you reasons to leave your church because you don’t have many strong relationships. Some people are in danger of seeing a lack of good relationships as a reason to leave their church. If you are unable to put forth the effort to build relationships, moving to a church down the road will not fix anything.
- Don’t write the list all at once
Take the full 24 hours to create your list before comparing the results with your household. [That is tomorrow’s assignment by the way] Take the time to pray and ask God to reveal the right five people to target for this list. You might just be surprised who He puts on your list.
Thus far we have been laying the groundwork for the rest of the month. After reviewing the list with your family tomorrow, be prepared to take what you have learned about the people the Lord is targeting in your life and start taking action!
Jason Hundley 