Change

I’ve just finished reading a book by Gordon MacDonald called Who Stole My Church? A very thought-provoking book! I ordered it on the recommendation of Bryan Burton on his blog in an entry posted in August. The description on the back cover of the books says: “Who Stole My Church? is a fictional story that reflects the all-too-real situation of many church communities today, where loyal and long-standing members can feel pushed aside by the new demands of evangelism in the twenty-first century.” I was intrigued because I have felt this way sometimes.

The focus of the book is a journey with a group of “loyal and long-standing members” in their fifties and up as they discuss with the pastor their fears and concerns about the changes happening in the church. Music changes; technological changes; changes in the style of dress; all this is happening a little too fast for some of these folks. This group makes some great progress in understanding change and why the younger people want to make these changes, and the book handles that well. It does address the topic of helping the younger worship team to understand why these “long-standing members” are resistant to change and how to address their “worship needs” but I wish it had been developed a little more.

Change in the church is necessary. The church needs to speak in a language common to its surroundings. If I moved to France, I would enjoy myself and have more success in understanding and working within the culture if I learned to speak French. In the same way the church needs to learn the language of the people around it. Just as some of the vocabulary of the French language changes periodically, so the vocabulary of the church needs to change periodically. Not completely, and certainly not the message, but as the culture around us changes we need to be able to modify our language and communicate the message of Jesus.

It’s not that I object to change, but change is a process, not an overnight event with no preparation or explanation. It seems to me that pastors and leaders need to talk about change a lot with the congregation ahead of time, planting seeds in the minds and hearts of the people so they might be ready for the change when it happens. Changing the course of a church is more like steering a cruise ship rather than a ski boat. Churches can’t turn on a dime, especially if you don’t want it to tip over! Many churches desire to be intergenerational and to be that, the leadership must be considerate of all the generations.

Often, the solution to this need for change is to have two services with completely different styles (i.e. “traditional” with organ and hymns and “contemporary” with guitar and praise songs). I have found that having two different services generally does not encourage unity, but could easily promote a feeling of “us and them” (us vs. them?). This may often mean that if I’m not able to attend the service I prefer on a particular Sunday, I have an easy excuse for just not going at all because I don’t like the style of the other service. Having two services that are the same enables (and encourages) members of the congregation to attend either service. There is more likelihood then that the church has one unified congregation rather than two (possibly) competing ones.

This may instigate a big discussion about music styles and use of technology (i.e. Whose style takes precedence which week? Isn’t that just going to create a service that isn’t “satisfying” or worshipful to anyone? etc.), but my suggestion is that the teaching from the pastor and leaders over the years promote understanding and acceptance of change; consideration, kindness, thoughtfulness, and acceptance must be shown to all members of the Body of Christ, both young and old.