Dear Small Church Congregation,
In the letters on first impressions, I mentioned some things that may need to change in how you approach worship services and the overall state of your facilities. I hope you can realize that these changes will lead to better first impressions for visitors. Sometimes we just need to take a look at how we operate and make any changes that will help us to operate more effectively as we strive to help people experience the love, grace and mercy found in Jesus. After all, our goal is to lead to people to faith in Jesus and then guide them into becoming dedicated, productive disciples of Christ. If we need to make a change or two in our facilities or our services, let’s do that so we can be more productive disciples ourselves.
There is something about change that I have come to realize. Only the spiritual laws and principles God created stay constant. His laws and principles don’t change because He doesn’t change. Sin is still sin. Repentance is still repentance. Forgiveness is still forgiveness. Judgment of rebellion will still occur. Reward of faithfulness to God will still occur. And the physical laws that control nature, such as gravity, cause and effect relationships, etc., do not change, either. You can take those concepts “to the bank,” to use an old saying. Everything else changes.
Face it, we age, grass grows and has to be cut, rivers move their banks over time, seasons progress, tides don’t stay in one place. I could go on, but you get the idea. Change is inevitable in just about every aspect of our daily lives. Although we have daily, weekly or even monthly routines, if we think about what happens as we work and play, we will see small changes in our routines that affect us in small ways, or we might see big changes that make significant alterations in our lives. We learn to adapt to those changes and go on with our lives, whether the changes are enjoyable, like getting a raise at work, or not so enjoyable, like being the victim of downsizing in a company. We get used to the idea that changes occur, and we learn to deal with those changes to the best of our abilities so our lives can continue.
How does this idea of inevitable change affect us as a small church? We have to do the same thing when it comes to “church life” when changes occur, just like we do when other things change in life. We deal with the changes and go on with our goals of reaching the lost for Jesus and ministering to our communities as the body of Christ is admonished to do in the Bible. We know we can’t let changes in life defeat us, and we know that we shouldn’t let anything that changes at our place of worship defeat us, either.
What follows is a brief list of possible changes that we should understand could happen at a place of worship. These possible changes do not have influence on the spiritual principles and laws of God. They do not influence whether or not we can approach the throne of grace. They do not affect our personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus. They are transitory items that might change from time to time, but a change in these items will not affect whether or not we can experience the presence of the Holy Spirit of God.
Possible changes at “church”—
A Pastor/Deacon/Music Leader/Musician/Bible Teacher/Janitor/Door Greeter/Volunteer/Long-time Member/Anyone Else decides to resign or stop attending services.
The song books wear out and have to be discarded and replaced.
Furniture Styles/Decorating Themes/Equipment Upgrades create a new appearance or sound in the building.
The musicians want to try a new instrument/platform arrangement/song/music style/etc. during the singing portion of the service.
A safety inspection indicates doors, lighting, fire extinguishers, signage, handrails, entrance thresh holds, etc. have to be addressed and changed to meet safety requirements.
The average age of new attenders is twenty to forty years younger than the long-standing attenders, and they bring new outlooks on life that are different from the traditional outlooks of older attenders, because the new people have experienced a different kind of world than the long-standing attenders did.
These are just a few of the changes I have experienced as a small church pastor. There are numerous others that will occur over the course of time. The main thing we have to understand is that the vast majority of changes that will occur when it comes to “church life” deal with preferences and not the Biblical doctrines that are the bedrock of Christianity.
Biblical doctrines found in scriptures must not change.
Preferences, however, have a habit of changing. We should accept this reality and determine in our hearts that preferences will not determine if we make it to heaven. They do not establish the foundation for our faith. Christ’s life, death, burial, resurrection and promise to return do that. Preferences should never come between us and those who may hold other preferences than the ones we hold ourselves. And when changes in preferences bring about changes at church, we should never allow those changes to come between us and our worship of God.
If we attend worship services only when our preferences are met, are we attending for the sake of worship and to increase our faith in Christ, or are we attending because we like what is being done that agrees with our preferences? If we become upset with a change in something at “church,” where is our focus? (Remember, change is inevitable in the negotiables of life.) Is our focus on Jesus, or is it on what we want?
I know these are tough questions to ask, but they need to be asked. And we need to answer them honestly and ask God to help us deal in love with any changes we experience. After all, changes occur in every temporary area of life, and that includes what goes on in our worship services and building facilities.
Sincerely,
A Small Church Pastor