It is, perhaps, a graphic way to put it: equilibrium is death. Moments of peace are to be encouraged. But a lifetime of stagnation, lacking in change, is to be avoided at all costs. This is just as true in Christian ministry or Christian missions as it is in Beanie Babies and Political Campaigns.
Unfortunately, we in the Christian world have too often developed what I call an “industrial mindset.” We prefer long, settled periods in which we do the same kind of ministry over and over again, reducing costs and becoming an expert at it. But then, one day, we wake up and discover that we have become more about the specific actions we are doing now, the specific tract we give out, the specific way we evangelize, the specific sermon we preach… and less about the overall vision we are called to.
And then, one day, we find that our “widget”—our tract, our film, our sermon, our whatever—is no longer relevant. No one wants it. Perhaps someone has found a way to give the “widget” away for free (e.g. free Bibles and Bible studies on the web?). Or, someone else’s sermon voice, distributed for free, drowns out ours. It is more compelling than ours, slicker, more polished. Or, the people we were sharing with no longer want our widget. They’ve found something that interests them more.
When that happens, change is required. But we don’t like to change. Grappling with change is hard.
Some ministries were once effective, but no longer. For example, consider the JESUS Film, developed and distributed through the ministry of Campus Crusade. This has been an awesome tool, seen by hundreds of millions of people, with hundreds of millions of decisions for Christ. It has been a massively successful force for evangelism. It still is, in certain parts of the world. But just try getting a 10-year-old child who has grown up saturated in a Western media-rich culture to sit down and watch it: it’s not likely to work. Should the message change? No, obviously. But in some places, the medium of the message must change if the message is to be heard (at least for longer than a few minutes). So how must the medium of the message change? What can be done? In fact, one of the most exciting things I ever saw was the JESUS Film—cut and remixed to be shown in under 3 minutes. (In fact, reflecting on it, I think it was cut to about 30 seconds.) I really have no advice for the JESUS film folks—they are far more professional than I, and thinking about this already I’m sure. I use it merely to illustrate how a once-effective resource can suddenly be superseded by outside forces.
- Update 6/1/2011: here’s a very interesting example of changing the medium of the JESUS Film. It’s a pretty cool 9-minute short that is done in an anime format and tells the story of the thief on the cross from his perspective. It’s called “my last day.”
Some ministries were effective in one place but not in another. Sometimes we import our way of witnessing, evangelizing and planting churches from one environment into another, and expect them to work. “This is the way it has always been done,” we feel like. We almost have the attitude, “If house-to-house tract distribution was good enough for Paul, it’s good enough for me.” The reality is that what worked in one place and one culture likely will not work in another place and another culture. Worse, what got us to one point might not take us to the next.
Some feel that to change ministry methods is to deny the Message. For example, some have called for Christians to abandon Facebook. Unfortunately this is to deny the fact that we must adapt to new places and spaces, be they physical or virtual. Our role as Christ-followers is to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth—the whole of the earth—so that the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Is there any place—physical or virtual—where we cannot incarnate the living presence of Christ?
One reality, for example, is that many young people, when they first leave home, stop attending church. As Rodney Stark has demonstrated, this is not something new. It has been a reality for as long as church growth has been studied. Later, when they are married and have children, they become regular attenders once again. But during the period of, say, late teens to early 20s and 30s, they aren’t hearing sermons in church. And you won’t find them on Facebook, either (which is becoming a consistently “older” demographic). Instead, you’ll find them on Instant Messenger clients and using SMS from their smart phones. Any strategy to reach out to young people, then, must take into account when they socialize and how they communicate.
The reality is that, difficult or not, change in the world requires us either to change and adapt, or be superseded and left in irrelevance. For some, the latter option might be successful. They had a good run, they have finished the course, and now it’s for younger people to move forward. But for others, it’s time to grapple with the change that is so necessary.
To keep our vision going, we cannot afford to settle into a rut. Our world is a complex place, and we must constantly be adapting to what is happening around us. Avoid making an idol of our specific methods, and keep the vision in front of us. Be constantly experimenting, constantly tweaking, constantly innovating. We must be servants to the people we are trying to serve—not salesmen. Build relationships and learn where and why people meet, what keeps them awake at night, what they love, what they fear—and find appropriate ways to incarnate the love of Christ in response.
Don’t die! We need your God-given calling and vision too much. Change the method so that the message can go forth!
This article is being written mostly on behalf of the Reset blog for the forthcoming Mission Exchange conference. We aren’t trying to hold another event—we’re provoking a conversation: about deep change. Visit http://www.themissionexchange.org/reset for more details. If you’re a younger leader I urge you to consider coming to this event.
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