Real "Change"

Last week I had to do a couple of presentations about Diversity to groups of young people recently promoted into management positions with our company.  Of course, to this point, all of their training was centered around the day in day out procedures of running our business.  I could tell, shortly into both presentations, there had been little, if any, training around actually managing people.  The strategy I take in my Diversity course is how to capitalize on the different perspectives people bring to our business while still managing behaviors, conflict and productivity.  It is a lot to grasp in a two and a half hour presentation.

I always try to take my experiences with the training class and assess what I have learned.  First thing I learned is that I'm getting old, the second is that impacting real change is a very difficult thing to accomplish.  We all have biases that were developed from our background and social circles.  Putting aside these biases sometimes challenges the beliefs and social standards that were instilled in us from an early age.  Its hard to let these things go, they shape who we are and the lifestyle we want to live.  We surround ourselves with people who feel and believe as we do.  This is not a bad thing...until...we ponder this question: What are we doing to fulfill the command that Jesus gave us in Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV):

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

I fear that Christians have moved to being judgemental of people that are not living Christian lives and not practicing the examples of Jesus.  We have forgotten his methods of love and acceptance of all sinners (us included) in order to bring everyone to him.  Jesus preached a message of love not heaping condemnation on people like the prophets of the Old Testament.  The Old Testament prophets were justified in their condemnations of their fellow Jews because they knew the Law and chose not to follow it.  There are many people in our society today who are aware of Christianity, but have not been taught correctly, assume the wrong ideas about our faith or have witnessed Christians not behaving in a Christian manner.  We need to remember the teachings of Jesus in Luke 6:27-38 (NIV):

"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.  If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

This is a tough lesson for generations of Christians who have been provided weekly laundry lists of immoral living.  The thing to remember is that these standards are to be applied to ourselves, not to others, because just like the Jewish nation in the Old Testament, we know what God expects.  We should overlook the lifestyles of others with Christian love and be working in that loving manner to help them understand the blessings of living a Christian life.  We are not bound to the Old Testament Law any longer, Christ has created a new covenant with us.  Therefore, we should not be holding non-practicing Christians to a standard that they do not yet understand.

This puts us in an uncomfortable situation.  We must now seperate what we accept from what we condone.  In order to bring others to Christ, we must accept them as they are and try to be a loving influence and simply let God work through us to change their heart and eventually their lifestyle.  This is a difficult attitude change for individual Christians much less whole congregations.

I recently saw a sign in front of a church that said, "Wearing the cross and not living the life is idolotry!"  While there is some truth to this statement, is that the message we want at the front door of our church?  Churches should be welcoming, inviting and offering an atmosphere of acceptance and forgiveness.  If we offer this culture then, we have opened the door for the Holy Spirit to do his work.  If we continue to present an attitude of "Do not enter until you are worthy" we are failing miserably in fulfilling Christ's Great Commission as outlined in Matthew.

I heard a disturbing statistic recently that gave me some insight to why there seems to be a feeling among people in the community that church isn't relavent to their lives.  Apparently 80% of adults age 30-45 have not begun saving for retirement.  There seems to be a short sighted approach to life due to necessity or upbringing.  People today have immediate problems and while salvation is always our primary message, God's word provides many lessons for living every day and making life in this world a blessing too.  Even during Jesus' ministry, he didn't overlook people's immediate needs.  He did numerous miracles to help improve the lives of those he ministered too.  Until our churches provide resources that impact people on a personal level, we will never be provided the opportunities to bring people to Christ.  I'm not talking about giving out money, that is unreasonable and not Biblical.  I'm talking about providing spiritual training through support groups, counseling and true fellowship. 

This change needs to take place in church leadership not just the Pastors.  The Pastor's job is to teach the "teachers", to provide them the guidance and support to provide these resources.  It's time for members that hold leadership positions for the sake of prestige or ego, yet have no desire to do any real work, to step aside and allow those who are willing to lead a congregational change in culture, to begin that work.   It's time for congregations to hold their leaders accountable for the resources their church should be providing.  It's time for congregations to become active and support the efforts of those that are attempting to provide these resources.

As long as we continue to be judgemental instead of loving, demanding instead of accepting and exclusionary instead of inclusionary, we will continue to be under attack from non-Christians.  Our pews will continue to be empty, our Pastors will remain frustrated and our churches will be exactly as described by our critics...irrelevant and unnecessary.   Not because of the message, but because of the messengers.