Time for a Change?
Reprint from April 2003
The longer I am a Christian, the more I realize that risk-taking is central to growth, both as individuals and as a church. By taking risks, I mean trying something that may be uncomfortable or unusual to you that you believe God wants you to do. The church must constantly evolve to be able to present an extremely relevant, unchanging message to the world in a relevant, changing manner.
A struggle often occurs when the church defines what the “message” is too broadly to include non-essential things. If we make this mistake when we plan the worship, the liturgy—or the way we worship, like the songs we sing, how we collect offering, the method of communion, etc.—everything starts becoming locked in stone as if they all are timeless truths like the central messages of the Bible. The fact is, if we do not take risks and continually update and re-evaluate our methods, our worship will be appealing only to a very small segment of society.
Attracting new members, especially youth members, is a constant challenge facing us today. Many parents have difficulty keeping their children in the church as they grow up. If worship continues to not be understandable and somewhat familiar to people, particularly younger people, it will be a stumbling block to their becoming interested.
By change, I don’t mean that the message of the church should be altered or watered down in any way, but the method in which we present the unchanging truth should definitely change. As technology, language, culture, and musical tastes evolve in the general society, we need to adapt so that the good news we offer will get across. Doesn’t it make sense that we should make it as easy as possible for people to receive and understand the gospel?
From a guest’s point of view, your church can be a foreign, frightening place where they don’t know anyone. Why make it even harder for them to be attracted to God by by blasting sixteenth-century music at them on a pipe organ when most of the time they listen to rap, country, alternative, or whatever? Is it absolutely necessary to use a translation of the Bible that is hundreds of years old and requires further translation to understand? Must we always point out the nervous guests and further pain them by forcing them to introduce themselves? Do the people that go up front have to wear suits and ties when informality is most associated with sincerity in our society today? I’m sure there are dozens of things that we could do to make our worship a better vehicle for witness, if we thought about it more carefully. I believe that changing our worship to be relevant is critical to the health and vitality of the church.
However, don’t expect it to be easy. People can get very attached to ways of running a church. Many Christians have become so accustomed to their own particular liturgy that they confess having trouble receiving a blessing if the music is different, or the people are dressed differently, or the setting is not what they feel a church should look like.
One pastor friend confided in me that there was an amazing uproar at his church when he simply suggested adding an extra service on Sabbath. Members like to sing songs that have sentimental value to them and are familiar to them in a manner and tempo that they are comfortable with. To alter even a small thing at your church is likely to garner some serious opposition.
Some time ago God sent my church a drummer in the form of an eighteen-year old Chinese immigrant. He had piercings in several interesting places and didn’t know much about Christianity. For a few months, I saw God working in his life, and he ultimately gave his heart to Jesus. His fantastic talent in the drums has dramatically changed the way we praise.
Despite these God-inspired events, not everyone was happy. One individual told me that I would be among the lost at the end of time for using “worldly music,” and he urged me to turn from my sinful ways. Some people do not feel as I do that it’s the lyrics and the message, not the music that makes praise holy.
If you go through a similar experience as I have, please don’t be surprised or discouraged if your suggestions are not received well. Be patient and acquire the most important and absolutely necessary ingredient that will allow the church to change: love. Not just love for friends or people who treat us well, but love for people we don’t know well and aren’t the kind of people that we would normally hang around with. We need love for those strangers who are going to visit our church on Sabbath, who come a little nervous and not knowing what to expect.
Love for them is what should motivate us and inspire us. It is the kind of love that only comes from being born again. If we do not have this love, then we should probably think about that before we try to change the way we worship. When we want them to be comfortable more than we ourselves want to be comfortable, then we truly are in the right frame of mind to make changes in worship.
If you have a little desire to make worship more friendly and open to visitors, don’t resist God’s call to share your ideas and tweak the way things work. It will most definitely be worth the effort.
Tom Kim is an active member of Upper Room Fellowship in southern California, and is a tired but happy father of two energetic boys.