A Move to Permanence

I've had an interesting conversation with some of our members since we met over the weekend to discern vision for the church.  I mentioned in previous posts the difficult conversations we had.  One in particular had to do with our willingness to change.  Area demographics show people in our area have very low resistance to change, which makes sense, given that most of them are newcomers to the area and are experiencing personal change almost daily.

That one little demographic sparked some raw emotion in some people.  At first, there was joking about how the people of the church are probably represented at the other end of the spectrum - totally resistant to change.  Some saw that as callous and took objection.  I personally believe that the truth was somewhere in the middle. 

Mt. Bethel, like many churches, has tried new things over the years.  New programs are viewed as change that has been embraced.  In the case of this church, most of those new programs have lasted only a while and are added to most people's lists of "things that didn't succeed."  At the same time, I see personally, an unwillingness to change on the part of others.  New programs are embraced as long as it doesn't interfere with what we already do, dirty the floors, or require people to spend extra time doing ministry.  Some here are entrenched and are quick to point out that they have seen pastors come and go (the joys of being United Methodist), but they have been and will be the constant and they like things the way they like them.  Before you ask, yes, people have said these things directly to my face.

I've read over the last few years about the changing perception of how to approach ministry.  For years the solution to a problem was to add a program or ministry.  In many churches, this is still the case.  Eventually this model becomes cumbersome and instead of doing a few things with excellence, a church begins to do many things with mediocrity.

Mt. Bethel, over the years has fallen into this category.

What we need is a new model.  When we try to program our problems/opportunities to death, we see our programs as patches or temporary fixes.  We might try 4 different programs that have been successful elsewhere and never see any fruit from our labors.  Because they're temporary, we never grow as a church either - we simply have added appendages. 

Instead of asking "what should we do?" perhaps churches should ask "who should we be?"  That's where a powerful vision comes into play.  When we seek a new identity, we look to more permanent change - we expect transformation.  When we are becoming a new creation, as individuals and as the church, the strategies that we deploy in the name of transformation have greater importance and permanence.  The church says has a whole, "This is what we are becoming.  It's time to move ahead and everyone has a duty to be involved."  If we fail to be involved in the plans God has for us, then we are slowing down and hindering the rest of the Body.

So why are there so many churches who have tried new things, but fail to succeed?  I believe it's because we fail to recognize that we are being transformed and sanctified in community.  We fail to realize that churches are works in progress, not perfected shrines.  Instead, we need to take a lesson from Peter and put both feet out of the boat and start walking.