08/06/2014

Trinity's Midweek Blast for August 6, 2014

What Do We Want To Change?

Joy, hope, and new life to you in the name of the God who makes all things new.

It was simply terrific to be among some of our most faithful leaders last week in Traverse City, Michigan, for the Great Lakes Theological Academy. The theme for the event was this: Change that gives life... for the sake of the world.

Talk to most church goers about change in the church and they can speak to it. Perhaps they will tell you how their church has changed from a thriving, suburban congregation to a congregation half the size and twice as old in membership. Perhaps they can tell you about a building project that changed the space in which the church worshiped, or changes to the chancel area that divided the congregation, or changes in worship that brought in some new people at the expense of many who chose to leave.

The academy in Traverse City focused on another kind of change - not technical, but adaptive. It is not different building designs or different styles of worship that the world needs, though such change can serve a greater vision for transformation. It is change of the human heart, the change in people's devotion to God and in their life choices and behaviors as they truly seek to follow Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. We are talking about change that transforms the world and brings new life to it.

A brutal reality is that we function in an "unconverted" church, filled with unconverted parishioners, and mostly led by unconverted people. Yet, the church is blind to its un-conversion because of its rhetoric, rituals, and symbols. It is unable to think like Jesus, love like Jesus, imagine like Jesus, and act like Jesus. It is both "in" the world and "of" it, and is emotionally and missionally "stuck." The unconverted church asks the wrong questions. Why can't we get more youth involved? Why can't we get our people to give more? Why is the church always asking the same people to step up and give more?

The unconverted church blames others for its troubles and apathy - the "synod," the "fundies," the "mega-church down the road," the "alligators," and the "previous pastor." Symptoms of an unconverted church include people with this assumption: "The church is supposed to meet my needs." Functional atheism is another symptom. The unconverted church really does not believe with its heart the gospel, its promises, and its claims on us. Our lifestyles and our idols contradict the gospel's call of discipleship and kingdom living. Two statistics disclose the unconverted nature of the church: the percentage of weeks that members actually worship and the average giving to the church as a percentage of household income. Those numbers are 21% and 1.9% respectively. Jesus says, "Where you place your treasure, there also will be your heart" (Matthew 6:21). The evidence shows that our treasure is not in time spent in worship, in service to others, and in giving generously from what God has given us.

During a break at the academy, many participants came up to me and said, "You just described my church and my council and most of my staff." Let there be some controversy that develops or some technical change that threatens people's understanding of their church and what they hold to be most dear, and there is no fight like a good old church fight.

We can learn something from the tragedy in Rwanda. Prior to the genocide of 1994, which left more than 800,000 dead and twice as many maimed for life, 90% of Rwandans confessed to being "Christian" - 63% Roman Catholic, 19% Protestant, and 8% 7th Day Adventists. When the carnage was over, Cardinal Etchegary from the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace visited church leaders in Rwanda with this question: Could it be that the blood of tribalism runs more deeply than the waters of baptism? The answer was, "Yes." A similar question could be asked of us: Do we love being Lutheran or our certain style of worship or our status as good church members more than we love Jesus?

Trinity forms leaders for Christ's church at work in the world. Our mission is to form students to lead and to equip them to serve, so that inspired by the one who raised Jesus from the dead they will give themselves to changing the world. Changing the world starts with the leader. As the author of Ephesians wrote, "I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called." Only when we first have submitted ourselves to the formation of the crucified and risen Christ do we have the authority to call others into this crazy, life-giving, and world-changing journey known as discipleship.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

In the abiding hope of the empty tomb,

Rick Barger, '89
President
Trinity Lutheran Seminary