What is Productive?

Productive, according to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, can be defined as "having the quality or power of producing especially in abundance." 

Producing in abundance. 

But producing what, exactly? 

At the beginning of February, a group came to the Nehemiah Center from Innerkip, Ontario. It was the first split-purpose group that I had coordinated. Part of the group was going to help replace the Nehemiah Center's roof, and the other group was going to do more "relational" activities like learn about the Christian education organization the church supports, organize children's activities and visit homes to pray for and evangelize to people. However, they didn't have set teams. Each evening, there was an open invitation for the "relational activities" for the next day, and those who wanted to stay and work on the roof project could. I had told the Nicaraguan roofer that I thought he would have 5-7 people working each day. The team started out with most of the men (7 total) wanting to work on the roof, but as the week went on, more and more started going to the church activities. The last work day, only 3 people stuck around the Nehemiah Center for the entire day.

One of the more "work-oriented" team members said that he figured he could always work on roofs or construction since that was his job in Canada, but he couldn't always visit people in their homes to pray for them. He chose what he thought would be a more transformative experience. 

This surprised me because I had mentally prepared myself for the work component of this team since I usually coordinate strictly relational (friendship) trips. In the past, I had a pretty negative view of these teams, but I have come to appreciate them more during my years in Nicaragua. Instead of simply focusing on work and how much could be accomplished, these team members were also looking to create relationships with the Nicaraguan roofers and get involved with the church activities. They even invited the Nicaraguan roofing team to a birthday party for one of the team members one night, and they all had a great time.

Since I work in a more relationally-oriented program, I often hear church leaders say that one of the biggest push-backs they hear about the Church Friendship Program is that people don't understand the concept of the trips. "What will we do?" they question. People want to produce something, see the effects of what they do with their hands, appreciate what they have done with their own eyes.

It's harder to do that when you're building relationships. A person's smile might grow wider, or their trust might be deeper, but those are things that are hard to measure. Nonetheless, this team chose to emphasize the abundance of relationships, and they measured the productivity of their time in the goals they met, like praying out loud in a group or checking in with people they had met in past years. For them, these relationships that were created certainly lead to a productive trip!

In this season of COVID19 with social distancing and isolation, the parameters of "productive" have shifted for most people. Perhaps we can't meet with pastors or clients like we used to. Perhaps instead of going to the office every day after a specific morning routine we mix things up more. Perhaps our training or teaching needs to be online without as much feedback as we are used to. Perhaps we feel like we aren't making any progress in our tasks.

Perhaps we need to change our expectations of being productive.

Now is also a time when people need relationships more than ever. Perhaps it's time to focus on a different type of productivity. How can we reach out to make our relationships with God, each other, and ourselves richer, deeper, and more life-giving? What can you do to produce relationships in abundance today?