Irreversible Change for the Church

“Once social change begins it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.”

                                                                     - Cesar Chavez

So what are the similar sentiments when it comes to structural or philosophical change? What needs to occur in order for structural and philosophical change to be irreversible – in and for the church?

Please understand, I do NOT want the church gone totally. I think there are many benefits that accrue and can accrue to us and to society generally due to the presence of the church – the organization, the people, not the buildings. I think many of those benefits are not being as adequately realized as they could be today because our focus is too much on tradition and buildings and what has been rather than on what could be – what God intends.

In many specific locales, loss of numbers resulting in loss of dollars has resulted in dramatic change for specific churches. New mission has been discovered. New zeal has been unleashed. But this is not yet the broad stroke of the church's presence in our world today. Many, too many, still cling tenaciously to what has been, what they know instead of opening up to the possibility of something different, new, better.

What I find overwhelmingly frustrating is that many people in these “standing still” situations openly acknowledge that the church must change or perish. They are even prepared to allow as how they too (their church) must change or perish. But they confess that they are not ready. Let somebody else do it. We are comfortable here. This is “home” for us and we can not see nor are we prepared to see any other.

I can acknowledge that there is truth in this dilemma on both sides of change. I am prepared to allow that this is not easy. What I am not prepared to do is let selfish individuals keep the church from opening up to others who are looking. Not sure what to do yet other than to keep beating this drum. God has a new purpose for God's church. We need to step aside from our clinging to what we think is important and let God's new purpose unfold in God's way. What an exciting thing to witness and embrace!...as is the accomplishment of pride and freedom and learning for people who embrace it in new ways as a result of societal change.