Church Wars: Episode 1 - Old Tyme Religion -vs- New Wineskins

"CHANGE" is a dirty word in many churches. The concept of changing programs, protocols and procedures in many churches is unthinkable. Far too many of God's people are locked into an immovable mentality because they believe God never changes (Hebrews 13:8).

While it is true that Christ is "the same yesterday, today and forever" it is also true that His methods of reaching people and communicating His message have changed quite frequently over the centuries. It is vital that God's people get this into their spirits; God's Word never changes, God's teachings never change, God's character never changes. The methods by which we minister those things better change or our efforts to reach people will die.

I have been involved in many different churches over the years. All of them were of the Denominational, Evangelical, Autonomous, Fundamental (D.E.A.F.) variety. While it is not true of all, a majority of these D.E.A.F. churches have chosen to lock into an "old wineskin" method of ministry while pining away for that "Old Tyme Religion". The sad fact is many of God's people are guilty of being willingly ignorant of the obvious; many of our methods aren't working like they used to.

For example, one of the first things I changed at the church I currently pastor was to put an end to Sunday evening services. They were scarcely attended when compared to the Sunday morning crowd and the only way I knew how to communicate the need for more attendance was to try to manipulate them to come through shaming tactics (If you don't come to Sunday Night Service, you're a bad Christian).

I remember I was fretting over how to compel more people to come to Sunday night service when a thought hit me; why do we even have Sunday night service? What purpose does it serve? It was basically just another church service, just like the one we had that morning. Different sermon subject but same format, same process, same 'ol, same 'ol. It really served no purpose other than to fulfill some format that had been started back in '40s and '50s (if not sooner) to help facilitate the farming communities of that period.

I quickly started looking at our ministries and using the "is this ministry accomplishing anything" philosophy I began to whittle away at the time honored traditions of our church that weren't doing anything except filling a time slot on the church calendar.

This kind of thinking can be scary. For some, to recognize when ministry methods have run its course is to acknowledge the end of an era in our nation's history that many people wish we could go back to. The older we get the more we romanticize the past. I know many people who wish it was still 1940 or 1950. Sure those were good times in some ways, but it is foolish to believe there weren't morality and sin problems in those days.

Sin has always been around and God is in the business of forgiving sinners and redeeming the lost. He'll use any method that isn't contradictory to His clearly written Word and if a method exists that doesn't do the job, He's got no problem changing it. Don't believe me? Check out Acts 10. Peter had a hard time learning the lesson that God is a God of change.

In our efforts to expose the elephants in our auditoriums, I have found the church's resistance to accepting God's fresh moves on the earth to be one of the foundational problems in our churches today. God's people must learn to discern when God says "Time to move". We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Our Great Shepherd is not content to let us sit beside the still waters and lay in the green pastures. There is a season for that to be sure but eventually God will compel His children to move. It is heartbreaking to me to watch once great churches slowly whither and die on the vine simply because the people had a mind to sit on their "blessed assurance" instead of having a mind to "Occupy till [He] comes".

We must not be afraid to change...but only when GOD is the author of the change. (to be continued)