I remember a time at Bible school as a twenty-year-old when the whole student body sat in the dining room engaged in deep discussion about church and what’s wrong and how things need to be done differently.
Almost all of us had something to say. We had our opinions on structure, standards, and outreach. As I recall, the tenor of the discussion indicated that there was a general unrest with how things were currently being run, and it felt like a good discussion (not all of them were). We weren’t tearing people apart, rather we were acknowledging the frustrations almost everyone felt and saying, “something needs to change.”
That was over five years ago. I still have discussions like that with people, but anymore there is something deep within my heart that unsettles me even more than how things are being run right now. It’s a growing conviction that both scares and thrills me because it carries tremendous potential for good while at the same time revealing enormous responsibility.
What unsettles me now is this nagging question: “I’ve gotten good at analyzing, can I actually bring about change?”
Anyone can point out faults or critique the church and how we’re doing ministry. It doesn’t take skill to point out how the older generation failed. That’s pretty obvious to those of us who grew up in the wake of their mistakes. But we as Christians are called to a changed life both personally, as Christ changes us, and to bring others into a changed life.
Maybe it is in simple ways like teaching others to manage time better or live more healthily. Or maybe it is in learning how to love one another, cultivating transparency in a group of people that have grown fake and withdrawn.
Bringing about change is not always as easy as stepping into a factory, identifying the inefficiencies, correcting a few behaviors and watching productivity increase. Sometimes it’s that easy. But cultivating belief where someone is struggling with doubt is a lot harder to measure.
How do we bring about that change?
Here’s the thing: it’s easy for us to critique the older generation. It is risky for us to actually start taking action towards change.
We can look at the older generation who took action. We see their weaknesses—they glare at us.
“Can’t you see this? How in the world could you do that? You’ve made life so miserable for us.”
We sit here and critique their mistakes, and in a way it makes us feel that just because we’re talking about problems and able to identify them means we’re doing something better. But we’re not, necessarily. We’re just still kind of passing around ideas. We’re analyzing. That’s good! We need to analyze. We feel things and we need to put words to what we’re feeling.
But we need much more than analyzation.
We haven’t done anything better until we have actually brought about change.
We cannot do it in and of ourselves, but Christ invites us and calls us to be apart of His change process.
What are we going to do join Him?
There is a risk here because we will fail. We will take action, doing our dead-level best using our deepest wisdom and it will still be the wrong action. We will still fail at times, and the next generation will see those failures and weaknesses. Our faults will glare at them and they’ll critique us and they will have to learn this same lesson over again. But what are we doing right now as twenty year olds, twenty-five year olds to create good change? We are old enough to be doing something that steps towards positive change.
Are we?
Are we practically living out a better way than what we’re analyzing and criticizing? What is our generation going to do to correct the weaknesses and the wrongs of the previous generation? What are we going to do to enhance the good things that they did? And what areas aren’t even on our radar that we should think about changing?
You see, I believe everyone longs to be a part of a community where we belong and are creating real value in the world.
But I also know that community, especially church community, can be frustrating at times. With the all the denominationalism, politics, cliche answers, church soon doesn’t feel like a place we belong or like a place creating value.
Furthermore, if we express our frustrations or question something the church is doing or believes, people tend to write us off. We end up feeling judged, criticized, and even wonder what the point of church is.
But shouldn’t Christians be the most loving people around?
Didn’t Jesus teach something different from what we see in many churches today?
If these are questions you’re asking yourself, you are not alone. You are not rebellious or overly idealistic for wanting church to be more authentically what Christ intended it to be.
But what do we do? How do we make things better?
I love Jesus, and I love His people. Which is why it grieves me to see so many frustrated with church.
In the five years since my time at Bible school, I’ve been challenged to put into action what I believe should be different. I am excited to be a part of a church that doesn’t just do things because that’s how we’ve always done them. Instead, we seek to live out life, church community, and discipleship as Christ taught us to. I’m not saying we do it perfectly, but we are headed in a good direction.
There’s been several observations I’ve made in this process. I’ve noticed seven stages that good change typically goes through.
One of them is simply getting to know the vision of the current leadership of your church. If you have a vision that contradicts your church’s vision, you won’t be able to create change. First, you’ll have to figure out the vision and whether it’s something others want to get on board with.
This is just one of seven stages I’ve observed in creating positive change.
Because of my love for the church, and because many within the church long for more than what they have, I have entered the conversation on how to create positive change. I desire to cultivate a place where people can dialogue openly and sort through their frustrations so they can live vibrantly for Christ.
As a part of this dialogue, I developed an eBook where I suggest each of us are made for more than analyzing life. We are made to be difference-makers. And in this eBook, I propose seven ways we can begin making a difference in our church, today.
Most of us simply aren’t sure where to start. What do we focus on first? Do we need to leave our church and find one that already fits what we’re looking for, or can we help bring about a reality in the church we’re already a part of?
Stop Criticizing Your Church and Start Creating Change discusses all this and more. This eBook is practical, but it’s not a formula. It’s a place to start. And many have found it helpful in sorting through the frustrations they feel with their church, and beginning to create change.
Here’s what readers have said:
This is excellent. This is full of rich meat- I could spend years referring back to this article, working on these points bit by bit, revolutionizing my spiritual life and that of those around me. Thank you for writing this very needed, very practical article! -Treva Eicher
God has used your writing to minister to me so deeply. I’ve just plain hated the church situation I find myself in but I’ve been so inspired by this perspective. God bless you!! Here I go, taking it to the next level!! -Annonymous
This ebook comes as a part of the Advanced Level membership of the blog. With this membership, you get all three of my ebooks on dealing with church issues, as well as access to over 100 exclusive members-only articles and videos. If you’re interested in this ebook and the membership, check it out here.
Download your copy today!
Change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process. If we try forcing change without understanding the stages of creating change, people usually resent what we’re trying to do. On the flip side, when we understand and know how to navigate through the stages of change people better receive what we have to say, and slowly, but surely, we become agents of positive change.
And if you’re not ready to buy, you may be interested in checking out these FREE resources:
- 3 Kinds of Millennial Christians
- A Prayer for My Generation
- What This Generation of Anabaptists Wants
- What This Generation of Anabaptists Needs
- Overcome Frustrations with Church and Live Vibrantly for Christ
You are not alone. You are not overly idealistic or rebellious. You’re human, like the rest of us. Thanks for refusing to quit pursuing more in Christ.
