The Church and the "C" Word

You’ve heard the old joke about the seven last words of the church: "We’ve never done it that way before!" This is said to be the expected lament when someone brings up the "C" word in the church. I’m about to write that word now. Are you ready? Sit down and take a deep breath. Here it comes...here it comes...

Change.

There...I wrote it. And, yes, the word is "Change".

It is my growing conviction that the church must intentionally change–or it will change in another way by default. If the church holds on fiercely to the way it has been church for decades, it will die.

I don’t believe the church wants to die. Yes, in one sense, the church must die; it must live sacrificially, giving away for the sake of the world the life that God in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has given to the church.

This has been the question–the central question–that I’ve been pondering for the past 10-15 years of ordained ministry: How is God calling the church to change? How can God’s church–and how can I as a disciple of Christ–live faithfully in the 21st century?

Thank God, I’ve found some helpful guides! A good portion of my sabbatical reading is given to being in thought-conversation with those guides. At our Rocky Mountain Synod Assembly last week, I picked up a number of little books, and I’ve been chewing on two of them this week: Nathan Frambach’s Emerging Ministry: Being Church Today, and Diana Butler Bass’ The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church. Frambach has offered a concise and readable summary of the movement–is that what it is, or is it a new way of being church?– often called the "emerging" or "emergent" church. Butler Bass, whose Christianity for the Rest of Us has given me both hope and handles for addressing the questions posed above, is becoming a favorite of mine. It was my privilege to hear her at the Synod Assembly, and I’ll get to hear her again at the Washington Island Forum in late June. (And, yes, I imagine I’ll buy another of her books.)

Both these authors, and others as well, have clarified for me the journey as disciple and pastoral leader. In a nutshell: the cultural context(s) of our ministry has changed dramatically, and we as God’s church need to change in response. We need to change by being more intentional in our life together, forming and shaping disciples who are equipped to bear the gospel, the good news, in a world not necessarily eager to hear it. That’s how our context has changed!

Now, the church doesn’t have to change! But demographics and statistics of many mainline churches–like Holy Shepherd–indicate we have two choices: change the way we do God’s work in the world, or die of irrelevance.

I put it this way because I’ve personally tried a third choice: keep doing what we’ve been doing well for many decades, only do it harder and harder. I’ve tried that, and discovered it doesn’t work. It doesn’t reach unchurched people, and it wears me out. And isn’t that one popular definition of "insanity," after all? "Keep doing the same ineffective (or stupid) thing, and hope for a different outcome?"

I don’t think I want to go that route any longer! So I’m ready–in fact, well past ready–to embrace the "C" word. Because the choice for the mainline/old line churches like ours is pretty stark: we can change, or we can die.

Maybe this is my sabbatical prayer, paraphrasing the United Nations hymn, Let There Be Peace on Earth. Let this be my prayer: "Lord, let there be change in the church, and let it begin with me."

I wonder what God will do next–-and I wonder if I’ll be willing to embrace and celebrate it?