Power and Control

Because I'm no expert on International Affairs, I'm perplexed by the actions of the Burmese military junta in restricting foreign aid to their people in need.  Perhaps it is because to give up control is to give up power. And to give up control is to be open to change - and change is unpredictable and difficult to manage.  It perplexes us that, to the Burmese leaders, exercising power by being in control is more important than the welfare of so many of their people.

Yet I observe a similar phenomenon in some churches.  Powerful people maintain control because of a fear of change and an inability to manage change.  And people suffer.

Perhaps we need to ponder the example of our Lord Jesus who gave up power and control and underwent the most phenomenal change: from the throne room of heaven to a cattle shed in Bethlehem; from the lordship of the universe to the cross - for our sake.

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Comments

[Stuart]

Change is tough... as it requires us to often go out of our comfort zone. However the big picture always needs to be looked at. If we look at the small picture, change will often look less appealing.

Change within the church is always a challenging one, because we are often dealing with many subjective opinions which may be very different, yet equally as valid. We must always try to respect and understand the opinions of others.

In saying that though, we must remember that change within the church doesn't mean teaching a different message... just maybe presenting it differently. I once heard a great analogy looking at change within the church and why it must continue to happen. If we take a box of weeties or Weetbix and look at it's packaging; over the years it has changed, but the contents have stayed fundementally the same. Packaging must change to promote it to the evolving market.

The same I feel must be said about the church. If the packaging doesn't change, then there will be a drop in appeal to different generations and therefore draw less attention. I feel the church needs to be sensitive to this and always look at how we can package the gospel to communicate it best to our current community... not the community that may have been present 40 years ago.

This will always create angst with people who have become accustomed to church being a certain way, so change should always be approached sensitively and respectively... but it must continue to happen otherwise we risk as a church body not presenting the gospel, without compromising the truth, in fresh and exciting new ways!

[Stuart]

I'm a bit surprised this blog from you David hasn't provoked more chit chat!

As I was reading your blog some more David, one part stood out to me. It maybe a little off the point, but when you spoke of Jesus leaving the sinless bliss of heaven to come to the sin-savaged earth for our sake, it reminds me of our obligation within the church to go out of our comfort zone for the sake of those around us. Just as Jesus chose to leave the comforts of heaven to endure the pinnacle of human suffering on earth for us, we too need to serve those around us at church, adventuring at times into unknown waters, and dare I say it, even to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others. How do we know we are gifted in a particular service or area at church unless we give it a shot? It can be intimidating, but also so rewarding when we trust in God with our service to the church. It is also truly inspirational when you see the sacrifice some make at church to serve others.

Although we all have different gifts and passions within the church, the consistent command from God is that we are ALL created to be "God's workmanship" to do the things God created in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). God knows what He created us for... He knows us better then ourselves. We have to take risks in discovering the specific good works Gods has all of us to do. To stay in our own comfort zone, just turning up each week to the service, is to miss the whole point of what God calls us do in loving those around us.

It's easy to give into fear, laziness and the conveniency of being "too busy" to not serve one another at church, but it's no excuse. God will ask us what we have done to help the church when we all come to his judgement seat. How will we respond? I suspect He won't accept the excuse "oh I didn't feel I could do it" or "I was just too busy". How we spend our time and invest our energy will indicate what matters to us most.

[Jon]

There is nothing worse than members of a congregation holding the keys to ministry areas. It usually stops a ministry from going forward. In some cases, and there are many, individuals can actually put a stranglehold on the entire minitry of a pastor which causes great conflict within and in the end it is usually the pastor looses out and has to leave. It's criminal. I think it usually stems out of pride, not wanting to give up the keys or the power to another person b/c it may indeed be different to how they have been doing it. It does seem to be more prone to Baptist churches as we work in a congregational style, but it only takes a few disgruntled people to cause havoc on ministry. It's a shame really.

[Julia]

Amen Jon and Stu!

I agree that so often in churches we get hung up on all of the wrong things. Whether its fear of change, inability to move out of our comfort zone or wanting to hold the keys to a certain ministry, all of these hindrances are crippling to the growth of communities of faith.

A positive thing that I have noticed is how far CBC has come in the past 12 months in a lot of these areas, particularly in being willing to try some new things and change old ways. I remember the days when something like the new sound desk or changing the PM service time would have inspired a myriad of complaints, and similarly when a new ministry like 'Community Connections' would recruit only two or three participants. I sense that change is in the air, and it is exciting to be a part of it! But, that said, I do agree with Jon that we as Christians have a LONG way to go, particularly in terms of stepping out into our community and doing the hard yards as disciples. It's never enough to just attend a church, drink in the love of Christ and then keep it to ourselves. As Beth so aptly commented in the last post, to be a disciple is to be in a constant state of mission.