Kindness. The greatest fruit of the spirit may be love, but sometimes the most overlooked is kindness. What does kindness even mean? The dictionary defines kindness as the act of being friendly, generous and considerate. Easy, right?
Not as easy as it sounds. The type of kindness Jesus wants us to demonstrate is universal. This doesn’t just mean kindness to our spouse, or children, or best friend, as he points out:
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. (Luke 6:32-33 NIV)
Sometimes we get so caught up in our own hectic schedules, our misfortunes and our relationships that kindness tends to slip by the wayside. Our own Cups of Kindness needs filling, so we don’t automatically overflow kindness to others.
During this Lent season, we have the opportunity to bring new faces and new hearts to Christ. And what better way to lead someone to the cross, than through kindness? Think about what brought you to your church. Surely at least one person showed you kindness. Whether it was a friendly conversation on the walk into church or the introduction to people in the congregation, these small acts of kindness mean the world to someone looking for a church home, for someone ready to be lead to faith.
Kindness is not only what brings us to a church family, but what helps keep us there. Jesus himself said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.”
This Easter season, let’s challenge ourselves to be kind. Not only kind to faces we’ve seen before, but to those we don’t know. You never know what people are going through, why they’ve shown up, or how a simple conversation can have a big impact on their lives. Offer a little of your time and a lot of your heart, and together we can gather a lot more than two or three in Jesus’ name.
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If your church has kindness down but is struggling to manage the visitor follow-up process, not only for the upcoming Easter surge, but for the soon-to-follow Mother’s Day and VBS waves of visitors, take the time to watch our webinar recording and see how Fellowship One can help:
