When I was a kid, I had a standard 10 gallon fish tank in my room with goldfish. The contents of the tank were pretty sparse--some fish, water, a bed of green stones, a small filter, and a piece of plastic vegetation. I'm hoping the fish liked their existence--their existence was one of safety, predictability, and getting fed on a regular schedule.
There was only one problem, I wasn't cleaning the fish tank--ever. I never checked the conditions of the water. One day, my father walked into my room, shoved his hand down to the bottom of the tank, swirled the stones all around, and walked out. He never said a word--he didn't have to...unlike the water, his message was crystal clear. In his wake he left a tank whose water was so nasty, I'm not sure the fish could see through it all. Through the now hazy water, I could see by the reaction of the fish that they did not like the sudden change to their environment--someone had stirred up their predictable routine and they were upset and a bit scared. What they didn't know, is that the stirring up would lead to a clean and healthier tank, that they would adjust much more seamlessly to a new routine than they thought, and that at the end of the day, one thing remained the same--the stability of the tank walls were untouched and unfazed. The contents had been stirred up, but the tank itself was still its same stable self.
Last Sunday, we pulled the trigger on some big changes at NEHBC by moving classes around to get people out of the 11:10 service and to create new bible study rooms at 10am. In essence, we put our hand down to the bottom of the NEHBC fish tank and stirred up the stones. The waters very quickly became hazy--routines were upended, comfortable became uncomfortable, predictable became unpredictable, convenience became inconvenience, and some family traditions got upended.
If I may, as the shepherd of this flock, I want to make a few comments to our flock:
1. This shake up is going to help us not only physically (more physical space), but spiritually. This week, I watched the video of the very 1st worship service NEHBC ever had--Sept. 8, 2002, at Timbers Elementary School. As the camera panned the congregation and the stage the biggest thing that jumped out at me was a room full of people, most of whom had left a comfortable, financially well off, luxurious church to come and plant NEHBC in a school where we sat on folding chairs, had no facility of our own, and were facing a very uncertain future. And in the midst of all that we were still so excited and overjoyed. Why? Because we couldn't have been more like Jesus than we were at that moment--sacrificing, giving up everything, doing whatever it took just so people we had never yet met could meet the Lord. We didn't do it to the degree He did, but when we left the familiar to reach lost people, we imitated Jesus when He left Heaven for earth, took on the form of man, and voluntarily got flogged, abused, and killed so lost people could be reached. A short 84 months later we have a few folks struggling with moving classes, services, and maybe having to be at the church for 3 hours instead of 2 on Sunday mornings. 84 months ago, our church family's Sunday morning routine was showing up at the school at 7am and leaving at 12:30pm b/c we had to set up an entire church in a school, worship, and break it all down and we did it in the sun, sleet, and rain, week after week, month after month.
NEHBC exists to make disciples. Sometimes, that means unpredictability and schedules and traditions getting upended. But, how can we be satisfied to do less to reach the lost than Christ did to reach us? For Jesus to reach us, His "family" got split up. The Son left Heaven to come to earth and take on the form of man. When He hung on the cross for me, He did so alone, separated from the Heavenly Father. He left Heaven for well over 30 years--hardly a temporary measure the way we count time. This recent NEHBC Sunday morning shake up will cause us to grow spiritually b/c it is forcing us to adopt the mindset that we are a church that exists to make disciples and disciple making comes at great cost to the disciple makers.
This week, for at least the 5th time, I had this conversation with Colton: "Daddy, it makes me sad that you and I never get to sit together for all of big church, like other boys and their dads, because you always have to preach. You never sit with us for all of big church." "Colton, mommy and daddy are followers of Jesus Christ. We are willing to do whatever it takes to make disciples, and in our case that means between now and the time you finish high school, you and I MIGHT get to sit together in 50 worship services total. Most other boys have the opportunity to do that every year. But, we embrace our lot in life because we exist to make disciples." All of us have to pay a price if we are going to make disciples.
These changes will cause us to grow spiritually because they force us to live lives disciple making lives. This will only make us a cleaner and healthier church.
2. We are going to adjust to these changes more seamlessly than a few of us think. It has only been one Sunday. As I told our church family, it is going to take a few weeks for us to find new routines and adapt to the changes. As I reminded the staff this week, we are going to get a little push back on these changes, but be kind and patient, the Lord has already begun to show us these changes are good, and we will see it confirmed over and over in the near future.
3. The waters have been stirred, but the fish tank is still as stable as ever. Jesus Christ is the head of NEHBC. He has guided us through many changes in the past and He will do it again this time. He is simply preparing us for the next step in the life of our church. As we just saw in our journey through Philippians, we are not all expected to be at the same mile marker on our journey to being conformed to the image of Christ, but we are all called by God to be pushing ahead to the next mile marker from the one where we are now. We are never more like Jesus than when we are emptying ourselves so others we do not even yet know, can become His disciples.
I deeply love the people of NEHBC--all of us. Though I ultimately can't prevent it, my prayer is not one person is left behind because of the changes.
Posts
