While there are risks to adopting business language and models for leading and living as the church, it is a good idea for us to evaluate who we are, what we do, and why we do it as the church to make sure, first, that we know and, second, that we’re doing it. For the past few months, we have been pursuing “re-mission,” that is, restoring our health by refocusing on the church’s mission as Jesus described it: making disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).
Honestly, evaluating our foundations and direction is difficult, but reestablishing the right foundation and direction may be more difficult. Not only do we find ourselves questioning the past and challenging our traditions and preferences, but we find ourselves questioning and challenging people. We find ourselves questioning and challenging ourselves as individuals: what do I know, believe, and do? We also find ourselves questioning and challenging the people around us – the people we’ve known for years, the people we love as brothers and sisters, and especially the people who are questioning and challenging us.
Suddenly, we discover that our evaluation isn’t merely technical but also relational. The issues are not just practical but cultural. It seems easy to evaluate what we do from a functional perspective and identify things that work or do not, but it gets messy when those things involve people. Change – even good change, even the right change – can hurt, and when it does, we all hurt. Paul told the church in 1 Corinthians 12:26-27: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Simply because the church is the body of Christ, each of us has a place and a purpose, and none of us is independent from the rest of the body. Again, Paul told the church in Romans 12:4-5: “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Paul went on to explain that because we don’t all have the same function, we all have gifts, so we need to use them so that we can accomplish our mission of making disciples. The problem is, however, when we, the body of Christ, get off mission and are not doing what we need to be doing in the way we need to be doing it, that likely means that we are not using those gifts in the right way, if at all.
That is when it’s time to change, not the mission but ourselves, both as individuals and as the body. That’s when it hurts, again, all of us. Hopefully, each of us is mature enough to understand that not everything that hurts us harms us. That’s the nature of discipline, both for ourselves and for others, right? Hebrews 12:11 reminds us, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” When the discipline of change hurts, we need to remember that God disciplines us because he loves us, otherwise we are not really his children (Hebrews 12:5-8).
Just as God disciplines us because he loves us, we need to love each other through the changes. This needs to be the culture of the church as we work together in our mission. Paul encouraged the church writing in Romans 12:9-11:
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Even when the changes hurt, if we work through them loving one another, they will help us grow not only as individuals but as the body of Christ as we serve God together in our mission.