Driving Nails In The Church's Coffin

Brave Hearts - Prerequisite for Change

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I often write about change and change as the evidence of faith and "normal" Christian life. But, for most people, change is difficult. Our fallen nature seeks for equilibrium. Something inside us views change as a threat to our routine and to the emotional base we call equilibrium.

In the average workplace, the average worker tends to do the minimum required, barely enough to satisfy the needs of the business. If the work output slips below this threshold, whether unbeknown to the employees or by employee design, the lagging workers begin the decline of the business.  When the business eventually folds, the workers have actually worked themselves out of a job.

The same dynamic happens in the church and in our individual Christian lives. When people withdraw from attendance and from programs of ministry, they create the death of spiritual life in the church and eventually the death of the church organization. Each time a church programs dies and is not replaced with the new ministry needed for the spiritual health of the church and it members, the people have driven another nail in that church's coffin. Few churches close their doors for any other reason. God may keep providing nursing care workers for the period of decline. These ministers ease the pain and bring emotional comfort, but are not there to restore health and rehabilitate the body.

In individual Christian lives refusing the change God is calling you to, declining or refusing to let God use your spiritual gifting for the building of the faith and the church, and failure to take up your cross and follow Christ are death knells of faith, righteous living and a vital life.

"Changing things -- pushing the envelope and creating a future that doesn't exist yet (at the same time you're criticized by everyone else) -- requires bravery.... our inclination is to do barely enough. It takes something extraordinary, a call to action that is irresistible, and a cause worth fighting for to make people actually join in." Seth Godin

Brave hearts are a prerequisite to change.

Photo:

Brave heart character in Edinburgh - this photo belongs to http://www.victoriajohnson.co.uk . All Rights reserved.