Why Resist the Change?

As I sit down to write this morning before going about my job-related tasks, a burden has been laid on my heart to share my thoughts and opinion. We all know everyone has a right to his/her own opinion and everyone thinks his/her own opinion is the right one. In reality, that belief is true. My opinion is the right one for me, and yours is for you. At the end of the day, we can agree or we can agree to disagree, but still respect and love one another.

A topic for discussion has come up in our local church this week regarding the time given to the earlier morning worship services. 45 minutes have been historically allotted for these two services before the Sunday School hour that begins (also historically) at 9:45 for more classes. The idea of pushing back the earlier services to begin at 8:45 or possibly 8:30 has ruffled a number of feathers. Over the course of the last 8 months, our church has been experiencing a number of changes in worship format under the leadership of our newest senior pastor. Some congregants have embraced the changes readily while others have had a more reserved attitude. The truth is that our church has been in a slow and steady decline for the past ten years. If we continue the historical practices, we will continue the historical decline. We have to make some changes in order to grow. Isn't that true in every aspect of our lives? Changes are inevitable. We can resist them, but like it or not, something changes.

Back to the topic of changing the worship times to allow for a full hour of worship and Sunday School...what is the reason for objection? Is allowing an extra 15-30 minutes for God on a Sunday morning a bad thing? Are our Sundays so packed that we can only give God one hour and 45 minutes right now? What really happens if the 11:00 service runs past noon? Before you object to the time change, I just ask that you explore why you object. I am not a morning person, and the idea of getting up even 30 minutes earlier makes me groan, but is it really about me? I want spend time with God. I want to be fed thru the scriptures read, the dialogue with peers, the message from our pastor, whether senior or assistant pastor. I should be happy to be given the opportunity to have more time in worship of my Lord, because the Lord knows I don't devote as much time during the week to Him as I should.

As I said earlier, we all have our opinions and believe our own is the right one. I just ask that as you form your opinion, ask why you believe what you believe. Is it to suit yourself or do you truly believe it is for the good of the whole congregation?

Change is hard, but sometimes it is necessary in order to grow. I believe that both of our pastors have been sent to help revive our church, to stop the bleeding, and change the historical decline. They are  not the church however. "I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together."

I say all of this not to ruffle any more feathers or create division or even offend. We are all different, but we need to be together. The music would be so much sweeter...