Change is not a 'dirty' word!
These brief notes are offered as a 'starter pack' to help us all and especially the leaders of struggling fellowships think about the need for change and the cost of it!
The views expressed are mine and should not be taken as reflecting the opinion or view of anyone else in 'Counties'
'Change' is not (despite the lyrics of the old hymn) a synonym for 'decay'
When a baby takes his first step it is heralded as a major change. The parents do not lament 'Oh dear, see how he is starting to decay'!
Change is the price that we must pay for growth
To continue to do exactly what we have always done in the hope that one day it will at long last yield a positive result is a triumph of hope over common sense!
We may resist change for what we think are Scriptural reasons but often we are also being selfish
We instinctively know that if our churches start changing and growing they will no longer be the churches that we have known and with which we are comfortable. Your church today should not be the same church that you joined years ago! If it is then it is probably out of touch with the very community that it is wanting to serve. The world is changing - keep up!
We must not, in our desire for growth, 'throw out baby with the bathwater'!
'Baby' in this analogy is Biblical Principle. The 'bathwater' is everything that comes from tradition, culture and personal preference. E.g. the Scripture teaches that we should preach the Gospel - that is 'Baby.' Tradition tells us to do it in a certain way and place and at a certain time - that is 'bathwater.' Or Scripture tells us we must remember the Lord by taking bread and wine - that is 'baby' - completely non-negotiable! Tradition, culture, denominational history and personal convenience tells us we must do it at the same time each Sunday and with the chairs set out in a particular order and with the aid of a particular hymn book! That is 'bathwater'! Drain it off and help those who cannot handle long, reflective and largely passive remembrance services to rediscover the 'baby'
Change and growth will not happen unless we want it very badly indeed!
Churches which are basically comfortable may say that they want the Lord to add to them 'such as are being saved' but in reality they want converts on their terms - people who will fit right in and quickly accept the status quo and 'party line.' The trouble is that new life coming into a family is always disruptive - babies and children are messy, loud, impatient and slow to learn. So are new converts. If we want God to answer our prayers for people to get converted, then He needs to see that we are willing to really absorb, nurture and accommodate them and their questions, gifts and enthusiasm.
Change requires someone to take responsibility for it
It is the job of every believer and most especially local church elders to hear 'what the Spirit says to the churches' and to respond in obedience. It simply will not do for leaders to introduce change into the life of the church and then, when it is resisted by someone to pretend that it wasn't really their idea and that they were never truly in favour of it. Elders need to learn what 'cabinet responsibility' means and be willing to endure a few 'slings and arrows.'
Change is never going to be perfect
We always leave our dirty 'thumbprints' on everything we do for God. No change will bring about everything that we might hope for. No change will please everybody or be so good as to completely negate people's objections. That truth should not, however, stop us from trying new things. To leave everything in our fellowships as they are is to condemn our church to decline and closure
Change is perpetual
It is not possible, as the saying goes, to be a little bit pregnant and it is not easy to just have a small change! One change nearly always requires an adjustment in another area - in fact if it doesn't then it wasn't change, it was just 'window dressing', a cosmetic exercise probably done as a sop to a pressure group within the fellowship. The problems facing many churches are far too serious and deep rooted to be solved by just tinkering with the times of the services or the introduction of a data projector! Deep, ongoing change that honours scripture and engages with unbelievers is what is needed.
The Gospel never changes!
Nor does God's mission to the world or God himself! But the world in which we discharge our mission and to which we preach the Gospel is always changing. We need, urgently, to find a way to effectively connect with unbelievers - a way that does not make the Gospel relevant (it is relevant) but a way that highlights its relevance today. A picture by Rembrant or Van Gogh would be extremely valuable, and no one in their right mind would take a brush to it to try and improve on the master's work, but over the years a priceless painting may be set in different frames and displayed under different lighting in order that its beauty might be appreciated by a new generation. So it is with the Gospel - it is a truth 'once and for all delivered to the saints.' We are not at liberty to tamper with it, nor could we ever improve on it! But we are under an obligation to help others appreciate it and experience the power of it. Therefore we must think about the way we 'frame' and present it.
I hope these thoughts, for which I make no claim of originality, stimulate a bit of thought and maybe even some action at local church level. Frankly, even if they initially annoy some readers I don't mind - at least they will have stirred those readers up to think!
I spend some time these days meeting with leadership teams around the country to prayerfully chat over issues of church health and growth. I don't have all, or even most, of the answers but sometimes it is helpful for us to sit down with someone who has had wide experience of the UK church scene and been 'hands on' in leading a growing church - I can bring a bit of objective comment and a readiness to ask a few hard questions to any such get together!
I can be contacted at bobtel@aol.com