Change or Die!

When I gave my life to Christ, I was radically CHANGED.  I quit smoking dope, quit drinking TOTALLY for about 10 years, gave up getting drunk forever, and believe it or not I even cleaned up my mouth (you think it’s bad now, you should have seen me then).

I turned my life over to Christ in a great church. It had a great preacher, some great leaders, a BRAND new building with a 900-seat auditorium, and was located in the fastest growing county in America at the time.  On top of that the church was full of great young guys who were called to full-ministry (There were probably 15 guys around there that should be in full-time ministry).  The church was a KNOWN church in the circles it ran in and truly was a great place.  That was 12 years ago.  Today that church doesn’t exist. The pastor is gone, a Russian congregation bought the building, and the few people who remained are meeting in a warehouse under a new name in a totally different community.

The problem is this church never changed and when you don’t change you die.

I still have contact with one person from those days (they rest think I am a heretic) and when I talk to him I always get upset as I hear stories of churches and pastors I use to follow.  The fact is it is a dying movement and those that are in it can deny it all day long, but the numbers don’t lie.

I see a couple of good things happening in this movement that gives me a little (very little) hope. My friend was telling me he just got back from a conference held by a very traditional group of churches and I was pleasantly surprised as he told me some of the speakers they had. It was a young, progressive group of guys. I was excited my friend got to experience it.

He then told me of some people we knew that he saw there. I asked how they responded and he admitted they were highly unlikely to be influenced or change as a result. That’s a shame.  These guys will pastor ineffective, struggling churches all their lives because they are more committed to their way of doing things than they are reaching people for Jesus. They would never admit that, but it is the truth whether they realize it or not.

The sad thing is these people that I know are sharp guys.  They are hard workers, some of them are really good preachers, they have a passion for lost people, and deep inside they have a burning desire to do great things for the Kingdom of God.  Yet, the won’t make the changes they KNOW deep inside they must make.

Perry Noble told me one time something that has rocked my world lately.  He said, “Every church is one major change from doubling in size.”  The problem is change is hard, especially when it is our ideas and thoughts that need to change.

The thing about not changing is we hinder the Gospel from being advanced. That is exactly what happened in Acts 6.  The church had grown in size and the way things had been operating need to change.  Widows were being neglected, but that isn’t what this portion of Scripture is about.  It is about the fact that changes were needed in the way the church was running.  As soon as they made the changes, I love what the Bible says in Acts 6:7.

Acts 6:7 (NIV) So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

After they were willing to change, the Gospel spread and the number of disciples increased.  The church grew and got healthier because they leaders were willing to make the necessary changes.  We are in a mode of change right now at Revolution.  We are evaluating everything and making the changes we think have the ability to stop us from reaching people for Christ.

I’ve thought alot about change lately and why churches won’t change. This week I am going to share some thoughts on this subject if for no other reason then to preach to myself.