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22 October 2009
I have been working on this blog for two weeks. Most of the time I was simply second guessing the direction God was leading me in because I was afraid to post this. I was a reluctant servant, and I apologize Lord for questioning you. I am answering the urging and am finally posting this. For the last few weeks, one phrase has echoed in my mind like a broken record begun only to haunt my thoughts. The phrase in itself is not really the problem, it’s the context it’s used in. It’s a phrase I’ve heard from every person who has voiced their concerns about the small changes in the church service as we transition to a more modern, more effective style of worship. Only a handful of people have come to me to express their discomfort with the changes to the church service, but each and every one of them have said to me “You don’t understand, I was married in this church.” I’m guessing the reasoning for choosing this phrase is to explain how long they’ve been there. I love that the church has a history, after all my husband was raised in this church, but it got me thinking about my own upbringing and the changes that have occurred to the settings of my own milestones. I was born in a small country hospital staffed with a multitude of the sweetest Catholic nuns you could ever meet. It was about 45 minutes away from my hometown, but still the closest option for childbirth (other than your house of course). During my late teenage years, the hospital was consolidated with another hospital in the area and all labors and deliveries were moved to the partner hospital. Although I thought it was sad to not have the care of nuns anymore in the nursery, I was thrilled to learn about the improvements of services and upgrades to equipment made available by consolidating and moving all services to one location. When I started high school, I was thrilled to get to the same building my mother and brother had told me so much about. But the stay was short-lived. During my sophomore year, the former mansion was sold and we moved to a new, state-of-the art facility outside of town. I was sad to leave the old high school, but the opportunities available to us at the new school were priceless. I came up with dozens of examples in my own life when things have evolved to keep up with the needs of the surrounding area, but none of the memories or even experiences I still have today at those locations were affected in the slightest by any of the elements that have changed. I guess I’ve never looked at changes for the purpose of improvement as a bad thing. I grew up knowing that change was an inevitable part of life. Without change, we would still be living in caves and rubbing sticks together to make fire. Before I continue, I know there are some of you reading this thinking this example is a little extreme. I know most of you have never lived in a cave, and it’s not fair to go that far back in time. You don’t care about anyone else changing, you just would rather not change yourself. This is actually a real conversation I’ve had before. The thing is that you change every day. You get a little older, hopefully a little smarter, and you develop a deeper character. Our outsides give in to time and what’s inside is shaped by every experience we have. In the case of the handful of people who have expressed concerns about modernizing our Sunday services, they too are changing even when they try not to. They are losing grip with the reason for the changes, which at this point have been only to some of the music. They are also losing grip with the needs of the community, something this church excelled at during its heydays. Eric Walker, a seasoned worship pastor in Illinois, recently blogged about this exact subject. He said a gentleman came to him and told him “I haven’t been able to worship for a year and a half.” Here’s what Eric wrote about this conversation: “A gentleman at my church had pulled me aside to express his displeasure at the music style in our services. My astonishment at his confession was hard to conceal. Without meaning to, my brother had revealed more about himself and his understanding of worship than he had intended. This gentleman shared a perspective held by many in the church today. “If the song is right, and the key is right, and the volume is right, and the instrumentation is right, and the right person is leading… Then I’ll worship.” For those with an “I’ll worship if…” or “I’ll worship then…” attitude, the decision to worship is based on specific criteria. This worship is conditional.” But the Bible doesn’t say worship if you want to or if you feel comfortable. Psalms 34:1 says “I will bless the Lord at ALL times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” The psalmist doesn’t say if the time is right or under these preconditions. It’s about God’s glory, not our comfort. And it stretches far beyond Sunday morning service. Worship is to be our lifestyle. Almost ten years ago, Gene Appel and Alan Nelson, wrote about this subject in their book “How to Change Your Church (Without Killing It). This book was the result of countless articles, interviews and research about how to implant change without losing your congregation. They say, “Whether we realize it or not, pure status quo is a myth. Unfortunately, if everything but the church is changing, we are changing too, because we lose our grip of service and influence on society. Yet many people strive to perpetuate the myth, supposing that doing what we’ve always done somehow maintains the good old days.” For this church, I hear about the good old days all of the time. I hear about the time when the church had to add seats to the aisle just to accommodate everyone in attendance. I hear about the closeness of the church, and the excitement they felt every Sunday. In all of these stories, the focus is the number of people touched by the church and the closeness of their relationship with God. I have never heard anyone mention they loved the church during those good old days because they sang the same hymn every week or said the same prayer. The church is the primary vehicle for growing God’s kingdom. That’s a huge responsibility, so as churches we should do whatever is necessary to become more effective and fruitful. Our society is so fluid, and that’s a good thing. It forces us to re–examine our methods for reaching those who don’t have Christ in their lives. Despite our discomfort, we need to embrace times of change and see the opportunity for growth in the church. We’re all in this for the same purpose and that is share Christ with those who need Him most.
