In the first blog of this series, I spoke about the crossroad that many churches find themselves at, a crossroad that requires many churches to examine their fundamental approach to meeting the needs of a quickly changing congregation and society.
As a society, we are very wary and afraid of change. We become accustomed to the way life unfolds for us, get into comfortable routines and look down our noses at anything that disrupts the easy flow of our lives. We schedule our time to maximize its use and fall into complete panic when elements of our planning go awry. We become accustomed to the tools and aids at our disposal and dismiss anything different as not robust enough to meet our needs. The only time we openly accept change is when it makes life easier or more comfortable for us. For many of us, the only way we tackle difficult change is to have it forced on us. With no choice and as an unwilling participant, we struggle to find the flaws in whatever is being thrust upon us. The passage of time is often the only cure for our hesitation and fear, as change becomes routine and a new pattern of life is born.
I have witnessed and been a part of a number of efforts in our church over the last few years to change our focus, all in the name of making the church more effective. About three years ago, the US Army started announcing plans for huge troop realignments across the country, with a large number of troops moving from Fort Hood to Fort Carson. Thousands of people would be arriving in the area and we decided that we needed to be prepared to welcome these troops and their families to our church. After all, we have a number of active and retired military families already worshipping with us. What church could be better suited for these families than us?
Let me take a couple of minutes to describe our church to you. It is a Southern Baptist Church located in a conservative town just south of Colorado Springs and its location away from the major throughways makes it physically invisible to most who live in and travel through the area. The church was founded about 45 years ago and is still attended by a number of the charter members. The largest demographic of the church can be described as retired. The next largest group of folks would be described as parents under the age of 35 and their young children, many of them active military. We are blessed that the younger crowd respects the elder crowd and the elder crowd appreciates the younger one (to an extent). The generational challenges of leading a church with such varying demographics are daunting and the decisions made can cause strife. The physical facility is nice and in good physical condition, but in need of some updating. We are not a rich church financially, but very wealthy in terms of faith and belief. In short, it is a church like many others.
So, back to the influx of troops. As church leaders, many of us started looking at how we could modify our programs to reach out to these families. There stated being talk about taking some of our ministries directly on post. We did some holiday advertising in the post newspapers, convinced that folks would flock to us in response to it. We had church material included in the Welcome Packs they received. We were doing everything we could to draw attention. All we had to do was sit back and wait for them to find us. And so we did. Sit back, that is.
This ended up being a very discouraging time for the church. Due to war in Iraq, troop deployments were delayed. Church attendance started to decline, giving was down and frustration took up residence. As a part of getting ready for the troops, we had examined many of the current efforts of the church. We were asking ourselves if we were doing things because they came up on the calendar every year or if we were doing them because they were important to the church. Some were poorly attended and the decision was made to "retire" activities that didn't seem important enough to continue. Despite clear and frequent communication with the church family, these decisions upset segments of the church family and rifts started to appear in the congregation. Rumblings that the "young folks" were trying to take over the church permeated the building. Casual conversations about the feasible longevity of the church were happening. I even participated in a discussion one evening of a potential church split over the generational differences that were starting to appear. But the troops never did come.
We were experiencing a low point in the church. So, we did what any good church would do and went to God for the answers. The leaders prayed and the pastor preached about the need for prayer and hope. And somewhere along the line we started to understand where we strayed. I say this because God had a surprising answer to our prayers. I don't claim to have heard the voice of God itself, but I believe this is what he was telling us:
"Oh, faithful and loving children of My Church. For many months, you have toiled and prepared for the arrival of a new harvest field. You have made plans to watch over and lead a new flock. Your dedication to this is noteworthy, but I have a question: what makes the new flock so much more important than the old one? For I have already provided you with a bountiful harvest field, one that has been ignored and not cared for. It withers to its very roots because you are preparing the empty fields for the next season. Take heed and harvest the fields I have prepared for you, for in those fields are the answers to your prayers."
In our rush to prepare for a group of people that had never seen the city of Fountain, we had completely ignored the needs of the people living in the city of Fountain. God was telling us that the harvest we were preparing for was not the one he had prepared for us. Unknowingly, we were trying to get a step ahead of God and provide the harvest. We forgot:
"Then He said to His disciples: "The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."" Matthew 9:37-38
While we wanted to give God the glory of bringing people to know Him, we ignored the indisputable fact that it is God who decides where He wants us to find those people, as it is His harvest and not ours.
This message was slow to gain momentum at the church. One by one, ministry leaders started to refocus their energies to areas of the community that we had neglected. It was a slow and painful transition, because not everyone was able to see the error of our ways at the same time. Some thought that we needed to continue focusing our efforts on the military. For a few months, the same generational splits we were seeing continued to grow, but for different reasons now. Instead of an older generation being upset by the changes being put in place, we now had a younger generation upset by the change in focus to a group of people they were not familiar with.
The changes that we made to programs in anticipation of the troops were now used to interest neighbors and fellow townsmen. New ministries started popping up and some of the old ministries that had been neglected and put aside were once again thriving and growing. The community still may not have known where the church was located, but they were quickly coming to know and remember the name as "that church" that was providing programs and services to the community. People of all ages were coming alongside each other to serve in ways that we never experienced before. The energy and excitement was palpable. Attendance started to rise. We were starting to see new families just about every week, many of which were military families. The splits within the church slowly started to heal. By focusing our time and energy in the areas the God intended for us, prayers were answered and blessings received and nobody could deny the wonderful work that God was performing in the church.
This is a classic example of how churches can get lost by trying to get out ahead of God, instead of following God's lead. With the very best of intentions, churches can lose sight of the possibilities that exist just outside their property line. God had a very specific plan for our church- evangelize your community and be a beacon of hope to our neighbors and friends. We still have a lot of work to do to really glorify God and the list of programs we would like to put in place grows by the day. But we have learned not to rush any of it. He will show us the way and give us the timetable. We will move at the speed of God.
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