I once made a lady very angry.
I had only been assigned to this church for three months or so and had agonized with the Board over what was evident to all. No baptisms for five years, virtually no young families in attendance, a dwindling pool of people who could provide leadership. You know, those kinds of crisis markers.
And with a membership of about 120, average attendance was thirty…thirty-five on a good day. Everybody had their own idea of why it was happening; none of them were right. So, now what?
The symptoms I’ve described above are generally not just the outcome of bad planning. And the remedy is not simply formula-driven because bad habits, acquired over time, become almost sacred and are not readily broken. Satisfaction seeps into the pores and is not quickly routed. Where do we even start?
Well, first off, when the leaders met we spent more time praying than planning. We decided that’s where the power lay so we changed the mid-week service to become the centerpiece of church life. Wednesday evening attendance slowly moved from an average of four to sometimes twenty. Worship service became a worship service. Steeped in prayer. Big music. I don’t mean obscure arias, I mean majestic hymns…the kind that increase your heart rate when you sing them. “Closing song,” instead of a predictable congregational hymn that is only distantly related to the desired response, we might play a moving choral video. Quite often followed by an altar call. Powerful.
And that’s when the lady got angry.
She cornered me in the foyer one week just before I was going up to preach. (I must confess that’s the time I least like confrontation…) She wanted to complain. She didn’t like “all the changes going on around here…” She was not subtle; she was on a mission. Things had been just fine before I got here and she didn’t like having to adjust to change. It was clear to her that I was the cause of the pain.
In retrospect, here are some of the things that hurtful conversation taught me: (1) Those who suggest changes in the church are not always received warmly. Although every change we incorporated was processed – and often created – by the Board, still, you don’t want to get so far ahead of the troops that you begin to look like the enemy. (2) Change is often a friend or a foe depending on whether you are part of creating it or are simply affected by it. (3) To hide from change is to admit that everything is just as it should be, there is no room to improve. (4) Be sure to filter all change through the will of God. Not all change is healthy; not all non-change is healthy, either.
What have you learned from the change process? Write and share it with me.
By Don Jacobsen
Dear Don, We here in Alabama are going thru changes too. It can be tough. Sometimes it would help to explain to the congregation who are not aware of Board decisions, why the change is being considered. I am getting older, slower, more hard of hearing, poorer, . So I am not there as much any more. But it helps to get my support if they tell me, ‘We are changing this, because…’
Don,
I totally agree with your summation in getting “CHANGE” to take place in a church. As an Elder in my church, I see many of the same things you have mentioned. We make plans at board meetings, and try to institute them, but things don’t go always as we had planned. We pray over these things, yet the reticence of our members holds the process hostage.
I don’t necessarily like change either, but I have found that if I am not willing to look carefully at my church, the people within the body of the church, and then talk to individuals and pray with them about our situation, I think that we can affect change in a way that helps us to grow individually and as a church, but it takes time.
I believe that God recognizes when we realize this, and then the TRUE CHANGE will happen within all. But you are truthfully right, that God Needs to hear our pleadings to know we are willing to begin the process of change.
DH
I think change is inevitable. In every single aspect of life it does affect. How we adapt and handle those situations makes a difference. The Serenity prayer is what comes to mind. I know the Bible says God never changes and that’s great news although I guess I’ll have to study that out because I’m thinking of several stories of God changing His mind….. Maybe that’s what He was going to do all along. I did write a sermon on change before leaving a previous church, I need to reread that also. Thanks again for this blog Don. May God continue to bless you and Ruthie!