Jan 20, 2021
By Carl Greene
Executive Director
I crave efficient schedules. I color code my calendar so I know not only how much time I have committed each day, but also what I am investing in each day. I schedule my electronic reminders to ensure that I do not forget commitments…and Sabbath Recorder article deadlines. I track the number of hours that I invest in various areas to ensure that my work life and my family life are complementary and holistic. And, I love it when everything runs on time. My dad taught me long ago that if I arrive 10 minutes before the suggested arrival time, I am late.
There is a place for having a script to life. It keeps me motivated and structured. I would daresay it facilitates my productivity. But, it can leave me lifeless if it is a completely edited script.
An unedited life is one which provides space for relationship building through conversation. Rather than having everything on a timetable, rather than examining how to maximize every minute for a productive strategy, there is a willingness to engage in spaces that build relationship over completing the task.
Seven-Minute Rule. In comes the seven-minute rule. It has been observed that it “takes at least seven minutes to see how a conversation is going to unfold.”1 There is a certain amount of boredom, awkwardness, and silence that takes place in communication before the conversation opens the door into a meaningful exchange. On the one hand, this is a great reminder to exhibit sincere care with our cell phone when talking with someone. If we break out our cell phone during that seven minutes of ice-breaking because we simply “need something to do” or we wonder about that critical factoid pertaining to the caloric content of marshmallows (that obviously needs to be discovered in the moment)—we sabotage our opportunity for real conversation.2
A Church Planting Welcome. When it comes to church planting, real conversation is necessary. Conversation is required for public witness of our faith and it is needed for gospel saturation to soak into every aspect of our lives. The seven-minute rule is also needed for sister church relationships.
We Seventh Day Baptists are a relational people. We long to welcome new groups and churches into our Conference—into a partnership in the gospel in which we join God in His work of actively advancing His Kingdom. This partnership requires welcoming new expressions of SDB faith into relationship.
Do not miss the intentional use of the word “welcome.” “Welcome” is derived from an Old English word meaning “a desired guest.” That sounds really nice, but it stops short of the experience of truly connecting with people. Who wants to remain a perpetual visitor in life in which we never experience belonging? A Seventh Day Baptist welcome does not end at simply visiting as a guest—it is an invitation to come home.
Coming Home. If we are seeking to welcome new groups into our “Conference home,” then we should be engaging in real conversation with new groups and wholeheartedly supporting them. A simple question: Is your church intentionally building relationships with new and emerging SDB groups? In the letter to the Philippians, Paul thanks the Philippians for their partnership in the gospel, for engaging in ministry in their own geographic context while also supporting him in new church planting efforts (1:3-6). Applying this example to our season of ministry as SDBs: we must sincerely consider our own church’s commitment to intentionally building relationships with new groups as a part of the church planting initiative.
If this has struck a chord with you, I hope that you reach out to our Director of Church Development, Rev. John Pethtel, jpethtel@seventh daybaptist.org. We are stepping into an exciting season of church planting that involves a lot more than strategy. There are unedited scripts to discover as we build relationships… which take more than seven minutes to enter into.
