The message never changes, but if we are ever going to reach our world, our methods must change. But how can the church embrace change and still be itself? The premise of Sweet's book, Carpe Manana, is that “for better or worse, a new world is no longer coming – it is here. Our minds, our bodies, our professions, our morals, our relationships, our spirituality – our lives – are being radically reshaped by postmodernism. What does this mean for the church? Is our influence waning in a godless society? Or could this be the dawn of our greatest opportunity?”
For some, this whole discussion of change is anathema. When the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia (CRCA) adopted the vision to be “a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ,” some dissenters predicted the doom of the denomination. In honour of John Calvin's 500th birthday, Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, wrote about Calvin’s relevance to Christianity today, the spiritual leaders who profess Calvinism, and how to keep the richness of his legacy alive. She writes: “Perhaps, then, the greater challenge is to broaden the conversation beyond the religious left, the religious right, and the secular humanist. The challenge becomes learning to drink from different wells and reflect seriously on the insights we might learn from Islamic Sharia or from Buddhist notions of silence and breath. Reformed. And always reforming. What better gift to bring to Calvin on his birthday?” (http://www.beliefnet.com) But is this the challenge that we face as churches when we see to advance the whole notion to be reformed and always reforming? I submit not. This is not the change required. To be reforming beckons us as Christians and churches to return to the Bible which is useful for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). We need to keep submitting ourselves to God’s Word and aligning everything we do to the contours of God’s will for our lives, our churches, our communities. The message never changes. Full stop!
But yet, here is the crunch. What about our methods? As churches our influence on the godless society around us is waning. If we are ever going to reach the lost for Christ, we need to shape our methods to reach an ever changing world. Sweet makes the point in his book: “No matter what your profession or company [or church], you will need to reinvent yourself at least every seven years.” (93) I wonder what that might mean for the CRCA, or the Christian church in Australia, or even myself as an ordained minister. And what might this mean for the strategies we implement in our local churches? Unless we are willing to allow our methods to change, our gospel impact will continue to be diminished. This past week I sat down with a church volunteer who is discipling a number of young men to reach the lost for Christ. Their point of contact with the unchurched is local pub. This is church planting of a whole different kind. The message is unchanging but the methods are being shaped by the context. And they are reaching people for Christ. Like the apostle Paul, they are becoming all things to all people so that all possible means they might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).
So what do you think? How are you reinventing yourself in order to maximise the impact you are making for the gospel? What needs to change in the church? What are you doing to reinvent yourself, your church?