I’m trying to figure out why it is so hard to change. I dread change. I know change is necessary for growth. I know change is essential to keep up in an ever-changing world. I never have change in my pockets, but someone always needs change for a coke or a bus ride. Change essentially takes us from one place to another. Eventually the new change becomes old and habitual…even boring.
In the Christian world, a favorite buzzword is “transformation.” While change is simply moving from point A to point B, transformation requires acquiring a new identity. I think some of us will spend our entire lifetime attempting to transform from the ungainly caterpillar into the graceful butterfly. We will try and try and try to get everything right. I feel like this a lot. I usually cloak this imperfection with the guise of being a perfectionist. After all, aren’t we called to become more like Christ? And…wasn’t He perfect?
I think our new buzzword, “authentic,” is the perfectionists attempt to find a new perfection. It almost makes me want to give up talking to people. My life needs to look perfect and now you’re asking me to be authentic? Do you really want me to be authentic on Sunday morning? Do any of us want the rest of us to be truly authentic every time we meet together? Perhaps this is why we have the fruit of the Spirit…to keep our messy authenticity to a minimum.
The biggest change our faith community is going through right now is The City. Currently, we are implementing the Children’s Check-In Module. The only check-in we’ve ever had for our children when we meet together ends when they depart the nursery class. Now, we are requiring every parent to check-in every child from birth through fourth grade into class on Sunday mornings. This will eventually be required for Wednesday evenings also. The most obvious reason for this change in our Children’s Ministry is to enforce safety for our children. Perhaps a less obvious reason is to protect the would-be child predator from easily hurting one of our children, and as a result, hurting our entire family. Almost every day there is a story on the news or the Internet of a child that has been kidnapped, molested, or killed. Usually, the perpetrator is someone they know…a family member, a close friend of the family, a teacher, and shockingly, even a minister. The Leadership of this faith community does not want this to be a part of our story at Singing Oaks. I don’t want this to be a part of our story.
Join me, the ministry staff, and our amazing teachers as we adapt to this change in our faith community. We are not going backwards. We are changing because it is necessary. We are changing because we desperately need to “GO” from point A to point B, because this will take us to point C, where more people hear the Good News as they feel more confident in us to partner in spiritually raising their children. As we change, we will experience the transformation of our church as we are more able to embrace new people easily and stay relevant in an ever-changing world. For those of us that don’t like change, which is really all of us, find peace and comfort in this authentic truth, “For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.” (Heb. 13:8, The Message)