When you don't get the answers, change the questions

I must be in the mood for a change. Maybe I am being prepared for a change. Last week I thought about how a little change can do you good. Then this week I saw something about change that caught my attention.

In a post on a United Methodist group page, clergy coach Val Hastings challenged readers to “Change Your Questions, Change Your Church.” He had heard a statement on the radio that had caught his attention. History changed when a single question changed; when we stopped asking, "How do we get to the water?" and started asking, "How do we get the water to us?" What a significant turn for human beings.
Hastings thought about how this relates to ministry. How would our churches change if churches were to change our questions?

This reminded me a lot of a class I took earlier this year. The instructor was enthusiastic that we need to change our slogan from re-thinking church to unthinking church. The required texts for the course and presentations during the course suggested that we need to change the questions we ask about church and our plans in order to move toward the future with more effective ideas. Traditional church growth and development strategies no longer work for the 21st century church and we must be prepared to make changes or be prepared to watch the institution of the church continue to become irrelevant in our culture.

God is always calling us to be more than we have been. If we change our questions, can we open new possibilities? Are we being called to redefine the mission and life of the church? Are we ready to change?

What needs to change? The basic mission of the church has not changed, but the means by which we carry out that mission have to change because the methods we currently use are in many ways no longer effective. The challenge is for the church to move in innovative ways without losing our values.

We constantly hear people lament over the current state of the church. We read reports and articles on the decline of Christianity (and religion in general). Leaders worry over the decline in denominational membership. People see the growing population who claim no church affiliation as an insurmountable obstacle. But the mission is not impossible. Our biggest obstacles may not be the ambiguous society, but our own church structure and our resistance to change. Change the questions. There are many questions that should be changed. We could start by reversing the water question. Stop asking, "How do we get people to church?" and start asking "How do we get to people?"

a little change will do you good

There is an old proverb that says change is the only constant. Another reminds us that “Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” Robert C. Gallagher said “Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.” Life is all about change. We fear change when we are unsure what that change will bring. We want change when we think it is a change for the better. We elected a president who campaigned on hope and change. Wait. That could lead this post in an entirely different direction. Let us change back to my original thought.

I am part of a denominational system where the clergy change churches several (many) times. This dates back to the circuit riders of our early church. Pastors travelled on horseback around defined circuits. After a year or two, they would be assigned to a different circuit. This rotation of appointments has continued. One would think that our congregations would be accustomed to change. While the clergy may be used to changing churches and churches adapt to changing preachers, other changes do not occur so easily. Resistance to change is not limited to the church.

I will admit I find great comfort in the familiar. Next month will be the 22nd anniversary of my employment with the law firm. I don’t upgrade my cell phone every 2 years just because I can. I don’t like the idea of changing just for the sake of change, but I do like to see progress. Change in the right direction is exciting. I try to adapt. I hate to say or hear “but we’ve always done it this way.”

I would hate to think I had to type legal documents using a typewriter and carbon paper. Although I don’t go that far back, I have seen many changes in the way things are done. When I get frustrated with the many drafts and changes to a document, I try to be thankful that I am doing this on a computer and most of the drafts are being emailed back and forth. How much paper was wasted as we printed out drafts that were marked up for edits to be re-typed? As we have changed, we have cut down on waste. Documents are e-filed instead. No printed copy to be delivered to a courthouse to be filed and hard copies distributed to all parties. Trial presentation evolved from select items being enlarged on foam board to having most, if not all, documents scanned to the computer and ready to be projected to screens or monitors in the courtroom. Change can be a good thing.

There are so many possibilities today. So why is worship often boring and predictable? Worship is not supposed to be just something we do out of habit. It is not supposed to be just going through the motions. This does not mean we have to do something outrageous just to get attention or draw a crowd. The message has not changed, but the world has changed and we need to find new ways to present the message.

When my great-grandparents travelled from the Britain to North America, they crossed the Atlantic via ship. I fly Delta. Same journey. Different means of transportation.

Let’s think about ways we can change things up. Change can be exciting. Change can bring progress.

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