Pastor's Message
July / August 2008
To the Children of God:
Jill Hudson writes, in When Better Isn't Enough: Evaluation Tools for the 21st Century Church:
Everything has a cost. We know this in our hearts, and yet we try to avoid it. We want the 'old' church just as it was with comforting hymns, informally claimed pews, and familiar liturgies. We also want the benefits of the 'new church,' full of young families and hope for the future. We want new believers who mature in Christ and share the responsibilities of church membership. We don't want anyone mad -- ever! We want it both ways. We want the comfort of the past and the promise of the future without alienating anyone.
That quote seems to be at the heart of the problem for so many congregations. Most people and leaders in a congregation want to believe two myths that can be connected with the above statement. First of all, they want to believe that a church can grow without changing. Secondly, they want to believe a congregation can change without conflict. In some circles this would be labeled as denial. This denial in the end will get you nowhere quickly. If you are going to grow there MUST be change and such change will lead to conflict. How a congregation will deal with this inevitable conflict that comes with change and growth will ultimately determine its future. Will a congregation form little circles of power to passively and actively attack one another? Will the congregation, instead, face these conflicts directly and honestly hear each other and love one another despite the conflict? Both actions will take energy and effort. What can happen to the community of faith when puts it energy and effort into passively and actively attacking one another? What can happen when its members work to love one another and resolve the conflict in a healthy way?
Change has been a part of the life of the church from its origins. So has conflict. When this is realized often a resurrection or new birth happens out of the conflict. Jesus changes the religious perspective of his day. The religious leaders of his day cannot deal with this change in a positive and constructive way so they seek to destroy Jesus. God raises Jesus from the dead and we find a true life. The early church is faced with change and conflict. Read what happens because that early church sought caring and constructive ways to deal with this conflict: Acts 6: 1-7; Acts 11:1-18; Acts 15:1-29; 1 Corinthians 15 . These are but a few examples of change that led to conflict in the early church. In most cases what happened was a growing respect of one another, a creative solution, and an increase in the numbers of people who believed in Jesus Christ.
I would like to close with a quote from A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation:
'Cherish yesterday, dream tomorrow, and live today' could well be the motto of a congregation willing to take the journey of transformation to becoming a missional church….While dreaming and planning to be a part of God's missional future, the people of God need to fully live in the moment, embracing God’s gracious call to serve fully in the present, and celebrating all that God’s Spirit is doing in our midst even now.
One of Christ’s servants,
Pastor David Hendricks-Child of God/I.I.M.