There is an awful lot of talk about “change” lately. But, while its a popular concept to talk about, actually doing it often ends-up being a pretty difficult task. Truth is: most people don’t like change. We like things comfortable, predictable, the same.
Christians though should be experts in change! If I understand the Gospel correctly, I’m a sinful man who needs to become more and more like Jesus (talk about a change!). And when the Bible talks about “repentance” it’s literally talking about a change of mind; a change of attitude and motive that leads to a drastically different lifestyle.
To live-out the Christian life is to be in a constant state of change. When the Bible talks about living the Christian life it talks about us growing from an infant to an adult, being a branch connected to a vine, or being a young tree that needs to begin to bear some fruit; all of these requiring progress and change.
I recently stumbled across a popular Latin saying:
qui cessat esse melior cessat esse bonus
or “He who ceases to be better ceases to be good.“
I’ve realized recently that I can be pretty resistant to change sometimes, especially if it doesn’t fit my plans. But I’ve also come to realize that often-times when I fight change I’m fighting the very process that God’s using to bring me to maturity.
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I agree with you that "change" is often talked about in the church… "CHANGE" is even the word of the year thanks to the Obama campaign! I think people like the idea of change… but when it comes to actually changing something… they get scared.
I relate this to becoming "complacent" in ministry. I believe when you become complacent in ministry… that you are no longer being an effective advocate for Christ. If you get into the habit of saying "well that's the way we've always done it so…" you aren't making a difference.
The local church is always afraid that if it makes a bold change… it'll anger a few people in the church. Usually the church decides that angering those people isn't worth the change. That's always a sad day… The point is not to cater to the people that already believe and come to church regularly… they're already saved! We need to think outside the box (or sanctuary) and start catering to the people that don't come to church. Most of the time the non-attenders have attended in the past and have decided it isn't for them based on the things that make the regular attenders happy. Perry Noble has made it very clear that he expects a few people to walk out of NewSpring in frustration with him pretty much every weekend. If they don't like the "change" that he's bringing to the church… they can always "change" the channel and go to a different church.
I don't know if that stayed on topic… I kinda got off on a little rant there…
On point! I love your thoughts on this. Good stuff.
[...] Cha-Cha-Change – Love Brian’s take on change! I’m still working on a blog post about this myself… [...]