Bleakness in the sunshine

Well, that's one way to look at it. The church I serve is going through a difficult time of adjustment and considering the future - one likely without me in the picture, and possibly without either of the full time staff. Why? Well, in part the same difficulty so many churches are struggling with - the unwillingness for individual members to take full responsibility for their membership. If the church is to grow, it must grow through the efforts of professional leadership. We recently tried what was openly proclaimed a short term experiment in Christian Education - our youth knew the scriptures for the day, came together with their own paraphrases and developed the plan for the day with the help of the Christian Education Director and then taught the children later in the morning. It was resisted by a few from the start, though the Board agreed to try it. People who came to listen largely bought into the idea. Since it started, older members have complained about kids running wild after the Church School time has ended, some have stated their children will NOT attend as long as this continues - it's ending now. Yet the reason for trying it was that no one wanted to commit to teach Sunday school even a month at a time.

I see this, along with the news that this pattern is being repeated in other churches in the community, as a continuing sign of the changing of the times, and of the need for the church to understand that living in the past just won't do it. The difficulty is that the older members tend to be the more vocal, and they don't want their comfort zones challenged. When people begin to state expounding the scriptures in a way that addresses life today as being too political, I can only assume they have come with an agenda, rather than simply listening to information that is being shared. I have others in the church that on the same services speak to me of what a good service they think it was.

I draw courage from the stories of leaders throughout history who have faced the opposition of the larger faith community. I know we are not promised an easy road, but sure wish we could find a way to work with some trust in our training and considered thoughts about how to work. Along with others, I'll continue to pray that God's Spirit will move, and that the willingness to change will come before it is too late.

I hope others are finding an openness to change, for life is built on change. Only death is built on stasis and stagnation. Flow, Spirit, flow and move us into the promised realm!

Peace!