Why Change?

As a creature of habit and structure, change is usually one of my least favorite things. But my church is in a new season, so God has been teaching me to not be scared of change. Normally, I would lean on the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." I'm learning the problem is when you are stuck in a rut, a very nice, comfortable, safe rut, your perspective is tainted and you don't even realize when things are broken and need fixing. You are satisfied in your survival mode. But there are definitely reasons things need to change...

1. Because you don't get out of a rut by continuing to make the same back and forth movements. I'm definitely not one for off-roading, but I remember when I was younger, a friend and I took an afternoon ride in his go cart. It had just rained the night before. I had one condition, do not get stuck in the mud. And if you do, I am not helping you get out of it. I will sit right here in the go cart and you will just have to get out yourself. (I'm sure you all know where this is going by now.) It wasn't long into our joy ride that he decided it would be fun to rev up the little engine and go splashing through this big mud puddle. The only problem was there wasn't enough umph to get through the mud puddle and we got stuck in the middle. True to my promise, I stayed right in the seat while he tried to get us out. Back and forth. Back and forth. The rut got deeper and we got more and more stuck. It wasn't until his dad (who by now was probably worried) came to find us that the two of them were able to push us forward enough to get out of the rut and I was rescued. Something has to change to get us out of our rut. The front tires had to be moved far enough past the rut that we wouldn't roll back in and could have traction again to get moving forward. Change propels us forward. Status quo just digs a deeper and deeper rut, harder and harder to get out of. A 30 year rut is a deep rut that requires a big change to get out of.

2. Because a small intentional physical change, that may seem insignificant at the time, may be what you need to give you a change of perspective from self focused to kingdom focused. Hear me out. There is nothing spiritual about rearranging the platform or redecorating a church building, but any change, no matter how small, has a way of making us think about things differently. Goodness, I have been at my church for 30 years (and I'm not that old) and there are definitely small things I've never even thought about changing because "that's just the way it's always been" and I really don't care about the appearance of many things. I'd never thought about how the church looked to outsiders. Yes, I'm one of those people that decorate things in my house a certain way and leave them just like that unless I have a reason to change them. But when things start getting a little shook up physically, it has a way of shaking us up spiritually. Things we never would have even thought about (at least not me) make us view things differently. A change of perspective is a good thing that can put us on our toes and keep us excited and moving forward towards God's plan.

3. Because different results require different actions. I am well aware that we have tried things at our church in the past to evangelize and reach out to the community with very little success. We know something different needs to be done, but no one knows what. That's why a new pastor with a fresh vision and passion to lead us to new, different things is a great thing! Programs are great, but if we don't make connection with people, there is no point to all the work. We've got to do something different. We have to be concerned enough about people to risk being "in their business" and show that we care. We live in a society where we are afraid to get in someone's personal space and we wonder why we don't feel connected to anyone. We have to be willing to take that risk, knowing sometimes, we will be rejected and sometimes, we will make connection. Church is not a social club and I'm not advocating that, but if our concern for people is solely based on if they are interested in becoming one of us, our focus is so messed up. We have to see people as God sees them. Love people because God loves them, and be willing do something different so that God's work can go forward.

So join me in being intentional about welcoming change. Not the Gospel message, that never changes, but the methods and our "normal" has to change for God to move us to where he wants us to be..