ELASTICICITY IN THE CHURCH

Echoes pass through the church corridors.  We have heard it; always heard it said.  The church no longer stands for anything anymore.  

I found that constant assertion to be backed by more bellar than truth.  Interpreted, I quickly learned, such a call is not honestly regarding the Word of God.  Rather, it is dead-centered upon the preferences of man.  But....to many it surely sounded bold, courageous, and necessarily sober.

Today's church landscape is suffering greatly from it's unbiblical inheritance of rigidity.  Such didn't come from God; therefore, it cannot bear godly, productive fruit. Barking never stops a passing car.

The place we should be looking is the very place the barking gets the loudest.  Anytime the barking decibels increase, there is a good chance we are on to something holy. Change in the church isn't optional.  The born-again text of John 3 assures believers that if the Holy Spirit is about anything, He is about the disciples being flexible.

What happens, when a group realizes the need to change, is that the first tendency is to evaluate what needs to be added.  A Youth Minister?  A remodeled kitchen? Relocation?

Now this is purely my opinion; but since it's my article I give myself the floor.

It seems to me that the change that might help the most churches the quickest would be to eliminate some key works of the church which have become more church-habit rather than Spirit-led.  Church leadership is in a glorious fight for progress.  I'm sympathetic for I am one.  Tradition has always been a church killer.  Jesus said as much in Matthew 15:8-9.

I can't speak for other generations trying to serve God in their social climates.  This one, however, deeply challenges us.  The Word will always remain dominantly current. Our congregational habits, though, may be stuck in a combination of the 50s and the 80s policies.

Some of these were quite bold and cutting-edge in those distant decades.  But some of their strategies have faded simply due to a new horizon of both needs and challenges. We would not have a physician nor medical team who stopped learning past those same decades.  Truthfully, none of us would stand for it.

The answer would seem to be to possess the bravery of the Spirit to ask Him what needs to change about us?  Not only what could we/should we add; but what needs to be stopped?

In our bold stances toward the kingdom system one of the most elementary truths is the urgent and perpetual need for elasticity in the church.  It is not uncommon for those of us who want to see the church grow are often the ones who stand in the way.

As I approach this important topic I will be most challenged to watch the beam in my own eye.  How about you?