7 Signs of a Healthy Church - 4. Faces the cost of change and growth

To be quite honest with you, there aren’t many television programmes which really interest me these days. One that has grabbed my attention recently has been the new series of ‘Mary, Queen of Shops’, in which leading retail expert, Mary Portas, tries to turn around the fortunes of failing clothing stores and boutiques.

In most cases, these shops are failing, because they are behind the times – they don’t reflect the changing fashion trends and, as a result, they fail to attract new customers which is the prime basis for a healthy retail business. Mary Portas takes shop owners and staff through a re-education process, helping them to understand why their shop is failing and equipping them to re-vamp their store, so that it meets the requirements of their target customer. At the end, the shop usually looks completely different to how it did at the beginning of the programme and is attracting many more people in to do their clothes shopping.

But what makes it stimulating viewing for me is the transformation that takes place in the people – the owners and staff of the shops – and the process they go through to get there. It’s phenomenal: their minds are opened; they begin to look at things in a different way; and are prepared to learn and develop the skills they need to bring about change.

That really sums up the fourth of our ‘Seven signs of a healthy church’ that we have been looking at off and on over the past couple of months. The fourth sign of a healthy church is that it “faces the cost of change and growth” and that’s what we’re going to consider more closely this morning.

‘Church’ and ‘change’ – two words that you don’t often hear in the same sentence. The old light bulb jokes are corny and a little unfair, but they do often have a point:

How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?
One to actually change the bulb, and the rest of the church to say how much they really liked the old one.

How many Methodists does it take to change a light bulb?
What do you mean, “change”?

How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb?
Again, only one; but there first needs to be a church members’ meeting to debate what type of replacement bulb is most suitable and to approve the proposal to put it in place.

As I said, these jokes are a little unfair, but they do illustrate the fact that we Christians and our churches are just the same as everyone else, in that we find change difficult to come to terms with.

The first point I want to make this morning is: a healthy church …

embraces the past, but is open to new ways of doing things

The truth is that change often frightens people, and yet it’s also true that change is a fact of life. As Robert Warren points out: “All of us are changing all the time; indeed not a single atom now contributing to the make-up of our physical being was part of our body seven years ago.” We are then, in one sense, quite different people to those we used to be! And yet, in another sense, we are much the same, because we still look pretty much like we did before and, in many respects, we probably act much like we did before.

The very first church groups, established by the Apostles themselves, were like this. They were still Jews – they weren’t even called ‘Christians’ yet; they still attended synagogue or the Temple for worship; they still held to the ancient truths of Judaism; and they still worshipped in a traditional Jewish way. They didn’t suddenly reject their past – no, they embraced it as an important part of their very being – and yet, at the same time, they were aware that the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ demanded that things would now be different.

In our first reading from the Book of Acts – a well-known and well-loved passage – we see this mixture of continuity and change demonstrated. So, on the one hand, we note that the believers went to the Temple together to worship in a most orthodox way; but, on the other hand, we read that they also met together regularly to hear the teaching of the Apostles – this would have consisted of the passing on of Jesus’ teachings, together with the account of His resurrection and ascension, and, as such, was a radical departure from Jewish orthodoxy.

In the second half of that same Acts passage, we read how Peter and John went along to the Temple for the three o’clock prayer service – Jews had five fixed prayer times during the day which were indicated by the ringing of the forum bell. Three o’clock prayer was one of them, so Peter and John were following the traditional pattern of prayer. But when they met a lame man asking for money, instead of giving him some, they healed him in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth – this was truly revolutionary!

The healthy church of the twenty-first century is also true to its roots, but is equally eager to do new things for God.

It embraces the past, in that it holds on to the age-old, tried and trusted teaching that is found in the Bible: of God as the creator of all things in the very beginning; of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of all things through His death and resurrection; of the Holy Spirit as the Empowerer of God’s people; and of the promise of Christ’s return and of a new heaven and a new earth. So, then, embracing the past is about remaining faithful to fundamental Christian doctrine, rather than about retaining church pews, or singing only traditional hymns, or about slavishly following the old ways. The fact is that, while God is unchanging in character – He is always gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love – He has ever been prepared to do new things in exciting, new ways. Surely the Church must follow His example and, indeed, the church that does tends to be a healthy church.

David Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University, has said that “our calling is to improvise in ways which surprise and delight and yet ring true with the past.” Ultimately, it’s a question of getting the right balance, or emphasis. I believe that, often, churches don’t get that balance right and fall into one of two major mistakes: some hold so tightly and rigidly to the past that they completely lose their relevance within contemporary culture; or, they so completely reject the past and do everything new that they may be in danger of cutting themselves adrift of sound Christian teaching and producing believers whose understanding of the faith is pretty poor. Such churches must surely be considered to be in less than good health.

The healthy church, in contrast, embraces the past but is open to new ways of doing things.

It can also be said that the healthy church …

takes risks and learns from experience

Sometimes the way ahead is unclear. For instance, a church may well accept that God is calling it to share the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ, with the people on a particular housing estate, but feels it hasn’t been given a clear indication as to how it should do that – should it run an Alpha course? Or, should it engage in door-to-door evangelism? Or, should it hold a series of outdoor services? The possibilities are endless!

The church may well believe that the only way to proceed is to wait on the Lord. But what we should remember is that there are two different types of waiting:

- First, there is the type of waiting that we do when we stand at a bus stop – we stand, or sit, there doing virtually nothing until, eventually, the bus comes along. Apply that to the church and it means that the church clicks its heels while it waits for God to point unmistakably to the exact course of action it should take.

- Then, there is the type of waiting that we call ‘waiting on tables.’ In a restaurant, a good waiter, or waitress, is always on the go – showing customers to their tables, explaining the menu to them, bringing drinks, taking orders and serving the food, checking that everything is okay during the meal, etc., etc. The good waiter, or waitress, doesn’t hang around waiting for something to happen. Again, apply that to the church and we get a different picture – that of a church which is not afraid to try things out, a church which is prepared to take a few risks in order to serve the Lord.

Now, I’m not suggesting that the healthy church is one that makes itself busy, busy, busy without thought or strategy – you may remember that, a few weeks ago, I said in the message the Lord put on my heart that a church should avoid engaging in non-stop activity for the sake of it, and that a healthy church seeks to find out what God wants. That is completely true and isn’t in conflict with what the Lord is saying to us this morning – when God calls us to do something, He doesn’t always tell us exactly how to do it. Yes, sometimes He does, but often He expects us to use our gifts, our intelligence and our initiative to go ahead and do it for ourselves. That means that a church must be prepared to try things and, if they aren’t 100% successful, to try other things and to trust in God to achieve what He wants.

In his book, Robert Warren tells the true story of a local church that decided to plant a church in a large council estate. Ten people formed the new congregation, but, when the church plant was reviewed three years later, no one from the estate had joined them, so the congregation was withdrawn.

Six months later, the pub on the estate was closed down and, with the aid of a grant, the church decided to buy it and turn it into a youth and community centre. Local people started to use the centre and some of them decided they wanted to explore the Christian faith. Some subsequently became Christians and met weekly to pray, worship and support each other, receiving assistance from the vicar. A church had been planted after all!

In this case, the church tried something and it didn’t take off, so it had the courage to end it. But, then, when the opportunity arose, the church had the boldness to open a youth and community centre and it was this that led to the beginning of a new congregation.

A healthy church takes risks and learns from experience.

It’s also true to say that the healthy church …

responds creatively to challenges

I’m reminded of that situation that we read about in the Book of Acts, where Paul, Silas and Timothy headed towards the province of Asia, but the Holy Spirit prevented them from preaching there. So they travelled through Phrygia and Galatia, sharing the gospel as they went. Then, they tried to enter the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit wouldn’t let them in. So, they go a different way and arrive at Troas, where Paul has a vision of a man from Macedonia begging them to go and preach there. And, because they go there, the important church at Philippi is formed.

The church has to be adaptable in the face of challenges. Sometimes, as in this case, the challenge comes from God. Paul and his friends had it in their minds that they would go into Asia, but God said ‘No’ and they travelled a different way. Then, they were inclined to go to Bithynia, but God said ‘No’ again, and they changed route again. Eventually, they discovered where God really wanted them.

On other occasions, the challenge comes from the community. Robert Warren tells how a church which had always seen the pulpit as the main focus for evangelism suddenly realised that it wasn’t reaching the people who most needed the gospel, the folk that lived in the many bedsits that surrounded the church – they didn’t come near the place. So, the church opened up the church during the week to be a meeting place for many lonely people who had a whole host of problems, including relationship breakdowns, drug addiction and mental health difficulties. As they shared drinks and conversation with them, church members had a new understanding of their mission in their town and they began to see people converted.

A healthy church responds creatively to the challenges that confront it.

And, finally, the healthy church …

builds upon positive experiences of change

I’ll cover this very briefly. To put it very simply, healthiness is a journey, not a destination. On this earth, a church never reaches a place called ‘healthiness,’ it is an ongoing process. And that depends a willingness to build upon positive experiences of change and a determination not to get stuck in one time, or one attitude, or one approach. We need to remember that the Kingdom of Heaven is dynamic – like yeast working through bread dough, we’re told – and, as its earthly branch, the Church must also be dynamic, and adaptable, and willing to take risks.

Only as we face the cost of change and growth will we, as a church, enjoy the full blessing of God, to whom may all the glory and praise go.

Amen.