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THE #1 CHALLENGE IN ENACTING CHANGE
In 36 years of ministry (yes, I’ve been a pastor longer than some of you have been alive), I’ve been through two hymnal changes when Lutheran Worship came on the scene and then Lutheran Service Book, two carpet color changes in naves, and various staffing changes. I’ve dealt with dozens and dozens of changes.
I have learned that the #1 filter that most church members use in evaluating a change is this: “Will I like it? Will it make me comfortable? Will it be convenient for me?”
I wish the filter were: “How will it impact the preaching and teaching of God’s Word here?” or “How does this change help us to ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ (to quote St. Peter)?” or “How will this change help us to be active in ‘seeking and saving’ the lost, as ambassadors of Christ?”
But instead, not always but too often, it’s: “Will I like it?”
How does this happen in our churches? Well, the sin that is in me – and you – is certainly the culprit. Wretched people that we are!
Rampant individualism is a terrible reality in society today and, regrettably, it is something that wells up in you and me from time to time. For this, we must repent.
Soon, in the Church Year, we will be walking with our Lord from the Mount of Transfiguration to Jerusalem where He would suffer and die. Can you imagine the disciples saying to Jesus, “We don’t like it that you have to go through all that”? “It makes us uncomfortable. It’s not convenient for us as your followers.”
I guess we can imagine it, because Scripture testifies that the disciples didn’t like the plan. They questioned it. They even protested it.
But Jesus was lovingly relentless. He went the way of the cross. He paid for all sin, including that of the rampant individualism that resides deep in our hearts. He rose from the dead, and now lives and rules for all eternity as Lord of the Church and of our lives. He gives us His Spirit, and because that Spirit is always working through the Word of God, hearts and minds can change. They can be aligned with the will of the Lord.
And so, we teach and teach and teach some more. We share the Good News of God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ again and again and again. Over time, people change, because the grace that saves us also changes us. More and more, God’s people are led to know that it is not to be “What’s in it for me?” when a change is considered in the Church. Rather, they consider the purpose Christian churches exist in the first place – to be distributors of Christ’s forgiveness of sins via God’s Means of Grace. To be places of important relationships, where we support and encourage and correct each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Churches exist to equip God’s people to serve others in their various estates in life – as family members and workers and citizens. And churches exist for the sake of those who are not yet a part of the Church; we share the Gospel with those who do not yet believe the Good News. And the Spirit takes it from there. Because of Him alone, miraculous changes can occur: the blind see and the dead are made alive.
And less miraculous changes can happen, too! Some folks will see that the change from red carpet to gray really isn’t all that important, and they’ll quit raising a stink about it. And some (hopefully many) will see that the change from a red or blue hymnal to a maroon one is good for us as we worship the God of our salvation.
--Rev. Scott Sailer
District President
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