In the midst of change, God’s truth never changes!
Here is a great paradox.
God is the God who never changes and yet He is constantly doing something fresh. His character is unchangeable, what He does is ever fresh, never dull, or repetitious.
In dealing with changes in the Church I’ve come across many objections.
“We’re Changing What?”
“We’ve Never Done That Before”
When local churches face large scale change, their members often feel upset. “Why do we have to change the way we do things?” “I thought the changes that we have already made was supposed to be the answer!” “How many changes does this make?” “How many more of these upheavals will we have to endure?”
Our church is no longer as We remember it in the past.” “If uncle John could see what is being done he’d roll over in his grave.”
These are some of the feelings that unavoidably come up when major changes in direction are presented to the church.
As the church keeps moving forward it sometimes appears that the local leadership keeps finding it necessary to call for new changes when they just got through asking for other changes? These request seem even more ridiculous when these same leaders have made provable errors in judgment that even they have admitted! It’s easy to reach the conclusion that somebody needs to say “Enough!” Then comes the “lets stop before the church is led on another goose-chase.”
A biblical and Godly response to these issues must include several points.
We will examine these points in our next blog
Tags: bible, change, christian, God is the same, Jesus, paradox
I believe that any culture, or group, or organization which spends most of its time defending its past or demanding that their traditions are the only right traditions, is dying. They believe, even in their subconscious, that what is ahead of them is not as great as what was part of their past. This is true of all cultures, all civilization, and all institutions that see themselves as above reproach. If we look at the average church, which is neither true nor sacred, we see how it is holding fast to traditions, and refusing to look to the future, we see an institution on the verge of collapse.
For a conceptual mind, the average church has become totally irrelevant to human life; that is not to say that God, spirituality, Jesus or his teachings are irrelevant, because they are not, they are totally relevant for today. While the average church holds less and less value in the human heart and mind, people are still searching a spiritual walk. People, all over, are seeking a deeper relationship with God – the idea is more God, less average church. It’s funny how that relationship works. What is even funnier, to me, is this unfounded fear of change.
Tags: bible, church, future, God, Jesus, relationship, spirituality, traditions
In recent months our church has undergone dramatic changes, from the way we have church, to the looks within the church. We have gone from traditional pews to table and chairs.
This has brought us face to face with opposition at time, (not from so much within our group but from without)
I guess the main statement that we come across is that the statement is made that “God never changes and that he is the same yesterday, today and forever and that these things that we are changing should not be changed.”
Tags: bible, church, God, God is the same, Jesus, spirituality, traditions
We want everyone who enters our Church to feel like “kinfolk’s”, that they are part of the family, Everyone is important to us.
Someone has said, “Home is where you can always come to, whether you have been good or bad, and know you won’t be kicked out.” One of our tasks is to help people feel welcome, often with total strangers.
Sad, but true… many an un-churched person got as far as the first contact with Christians, only to be made to feel “outside,” unloved.
Are you aware that about fifty percent of all church members are inactive? How does this happen? Imagine the shift in these people: they come into church membership happy, excited, filled with hope for a new walk with Christ. Perhaps the situation develops like this… many people shake hands with them. A few call them by name when they see them.
A Sunday School worker urges them to become regular in a class. Again, warm welcomes are given by class members, but no one offers to go out to lunch with the new member, and no one ever telephones– with the one exception of “Inreach Director” of the class, who constantly calls to be sure the person has planned to attend the class next Sunday: “It’s High Attendance Day. We really need you!” For what? For the attendance record? Then, it’s time for the annual Stewardship Drive. Finally… a visit from the Deacon’s Committee, to pick up the pledge card.
Who are these dropouts? Many of them are the shy People. All of them were searching for a deeper walk with the Lord. None of them realized at the start that such a deeper walk involved the love and commitment of true relationships, and none of them found such a condition in the church. Now confused, they drop out. Perhaps they are bitter because their attempt to meet God in a greater way has failed. Few are able to think through the dynamics of what has taken place. They simply conclude that they are not acceptable to the church or to God.
Meanwhile, the organizational church cranks on, visiting visitors, embellishing their offerings with building, parties, lounges, and fund drives. About ten to twelve per cent of all the members do ninety per cent of all the volunteer work, and contribute ninety five per cent of the money needed to keep the programs moving.
Our Church has a formal weekly gathering, but its life is really in the daily relationships and mutual sharing of life which is made possible through our descipleship program We want each person to be able to share in the life of the church. We want each person to grow in the Lord and become all that He has for them.
Here is a story that will illustrate clearly the purpose I am talking about.
She was a young mother, pregnant with her second child. She was also a “husband batterer.” When she would fly into fits of rage, her husband would try to defend himself from her fists and scratching nails, frying pans, or whatever was nearby which could be thrown. He had lived with this for four years, meekly trying to appease her and keep her anger from erupting.
Then, at the bank where he worked, a lonely divorcee encouraged him to take her out to lunch. Her warmth, loneliness, and gentle behavior captivated him. Before he knew what had happened, he was embroiled in an affair. When his wife found out, she went berserk! Thus, a few days before the birth of their second child, he moved into an apartment.
When the affair was discovered at the bank, both he and the girl were fired. The situation became more and more miserable. He spent time with his wife at the hospital, helping her bring the baby home, and returned to his empty apartment.
Six months before, they had linked themselves to a Caring Church. The other young couples in the church had struggled with what to do about this situation for many weeks. They had privately counseled both the wife and the husband, and they had fervently prayed for Christ to restore the home. Finally, on a Friday night, all the children in the group were taken to relatives and friends for the week end. As the wives arrived at the house of the young mother, their husbands knocked on the door of the apartment where the husband was living. They drove him to his house, pulled sleeping bags out of their trunks, and announced: “We are here for an indefinite period of time. Our Lord does not want your lives to be destroyed like this. We are going to talk, to pray, to do whatever we have to do—- and we are not going to leave until you two get your lives straightened out and establish a decent home for this baby!”
By Sunday morning, the exhausted group had broken through. For the first time in her life, the wife had faced the strongholds in her life and had been set free from their power. With guidance from these caring people, they had remembered their first love for one another, and why they had married. Christ was enthroned in their lives, and they were ready to grow in grace!
Our Church is like a small Christian community. Jesus Christ has formed it, and He is truly its Head. Perhaps you have experienced, or have observed groups in the church that sprang up quickly and disappeared just as rapidly. The reason? There was no true conversion: no renewal of persons, no ministry, no sacrificial love for others. These groups were simply meetings, regularly gathering on Sunday or Wednesday nights. Sometimes they piously reveled in their spirituality while ignoring the need-filled people around them. No room was made for the cross.
We are truly striving to have a Fellowship, where people build up one another. A church not based upon programs, but based upon the needs of people.
Whether you have talents and would like to help, of if you are just looking for a place to worship, you are most welcome.
On behalf of our entire church family, may we extend to you a warm invitation to join our family in reaching our community with the gospel. We are a church on the grow… a group of positive people reaching out to others with a message of faith and hope. A group of people that are striving to be the church that the Lord wants us to be, as the apostle Paul said “forgetting those things which are behind, I reach forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Tags: Caring Church, Christ Jesus, christian, church, Jesus, relationship, spirituality