VillagePastor

Joining the Resistance

Whether it is the French people confronted with austerity measures, or the introduction of a new product like New Coke, people generally resist change. Change is unsettling—it splashes cold water on our complacency. Mixing up the order of worship, changing classrooms, or leaving out an annual tradition can send people to the moon. It’s little wonder that nearly every day, the doors of another church close, as yet another community dies of inertia—dies because of the resistance, a force dedicated to slowing down or stopping movement.

In his book, Beyond the Walls of Resistance, Rick Maurer proposes some unconventional strategies that build support for change. It’s a helpful work, for most of us in ministry are well acquainted with resistance forces (and most of us need all the help we can with bringing needed change).  Forces can gang up, whether it is because of cosmetic changes to the bulletin or changes in the worship style.  If their signs are not recognized and addressed, one may not survive the inevitable blast.  Among the indicators are these: confusion (so why are we adding another service?); immediate criticism (like a man in my first church who—like Groucho Marx-- prided himself on always voting no- “Whatever it is—I’m against it”); malicious compliance (they smile and appear to go along, something I experience often as a father); sabotage (the innocent small group meeting that has morphed into a war room); silence (never assume silence means agreement!). 

Resistance may be caused by the idea itself. People just think it is a poor idea, or it is the wrong time.  But often resistance is more deeply embedded. Maybe there is an entrenched mistrust of leadership (the result of moral failure of a predecessor), or some deep fears of an identity we might lose, a world we fear is passing away.  It might be racial.  I experienced this in a multicultural, multidenominational, multi-multi church in Holland.  Some of the resistance was directed at those who were Anglo, and some towards those of us who were American.

So what is a leader to do?  Maurer gives several default positions, each ineffective: Aim to overpower (can be either subtle or blatant); manipulation (conveniently leave out the details—or conveniently use a sermon to coerce); overwhelm with facts (turn up the volume of information); ignore (treat as a minor nuisance, like that fly that won’t quit buzzing around the food); play off others (use friendships to get others to agree); make deals (give me your vote and I won’t say anything about your designated offering); give up too soon (this must be a sign God has called me to another ministry).

There is an alternative.  Groups that have become effective in promoting change have done a number of things. Here are some:

-taken resistance seriously

-treated resistors with respect

-maximized communication

-slowed down

-looked for the win-win

Part of taking resistance seriously is to do something counter-intuitive—embrace it. Get into the minds and hearts of those who oppose. Look for their fears and anxieties. Listen to their stories. Find the common ground, for ways to actually join the resistance (we both want to reach your grandchildren).  Aim to come to a shared dissatisfaction with the status quo. Often, people just want to know you are giving them the dignity of respect, involvement.  They want to know you understand their history, and that it will play a role in future change.  Key to this, according to Maurer, is to relax, something hard for visionary, destinational leaders to do. It comes back to something Paul was instructing Timothy—“the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged” (2:25).  Behind these words is the need to stay calm in order to stay engaged.

Ultimately, just about anyone wants change—it’s how to get there.  Even those who prefer the adage “If it ain’t broke-don’t fix it” must realize that such language only consigns them to stay stuck in the present.  Anyone who is reasonable does not want to stay frozen in place, any more than they want to keep watching reruns of NCIS (okay, maybe there are some exceptions). But amidst the resistance, you do have to ultimately move forward. The train has to leave the station. Some resistors will have to be left behind. Some moments will have to be seized—for life is too terribly short, and the stakes are too high.

 

 

Our Disturbing Contemporary Culture

A few weeks ago, at the Q Conference I attended in Washington, DC, we were greeted by the US President (via video). I initially found it remarkable and assuring that we have a President who affirms his stance with us in the cause of Christ. In fact, he wanted us to know he had just come from an Easter prayer breakfast, which reinforced his message of solidarity with the 700-800 Christian leaders in the audience, as well as underscored how meaningful is the resurrection of Christ for him and us.  But I was sitting next to a member of a conservative think tank in DC, and I couldn’t help but ask him how genuine the remarks were. His assessment, given the ongoing actions of the administrative, was somewhat skeptical (and cynical).  He reminded me that this is the same administration that recently signed off on withholding any government funding to those in the medical field who withhold surgeries due to conscience (e.g. performing an abortion). And then there was ABC interview, and his statement affirming gay marriage, and in the process, radically redefining marriage.

More recently, I was at a major Portland event, a fundraiser for a major Christian ministry, and again, a political leader (the mayor of Portland) came and praised the cause in which we share in. And yes, I admit, there was a part of me (naïve perhaps) that wanted to again believe he really stands with us (stands for something).  But given his celebration this morning of the action the President took yesterday on gay marriage (“I’m so fricken happy”), as well as his own professed gay lifestyle, you can’t help but wonder—are we just being used? Politicians are so artful in saying what people want to hear, that I find it hard to avoid a growing cynicism deep within myself. It’s not that I put my hope in politicians, nor that I have been prone to believe most of them.  I’m just amazed at how brazen they can be in saying one thing and doing another in these days.

But then, pastors can do this as well. Again, there was yet another disheartening news item regarding a Christian leader and sexual perversion. A nearby pastor of a Baptist church is being investigated for placing a camera in the women’s restroom of his church. It is both amazing and disturbing that people can say just the right things, preach just the right things, and posture themselves to suggest a certain stance with Jesus, and yet be so defiant in their behavior.

This is not directed towards homosexual behavior, so much as it is at the growing perverse sexual misbehavior that is defining our landscape. It is directed at a growing number who conveniently use Jesus or the Bible in their statements, and do it with a casualness (and often a thoughtlessness).  I find few have really taken any time to seriously search the Scriptures, interpret Scripture on its terms (not theirs), and truly hear what God has said and is saying on themes regarding the life of the unborn or sexual purity (let alone sit down with careful theologians to engage in serious dialogue).  Far more are interested in the subject of human rights (the right to an abortion, the right to a marital union, etc.), but few seriously are asking the question—by what authority (or to whom) should I be submitting my life to? Whose right is it really? Whose institution of marriage is it (divine or private)? If any union that is consensual is legitimate, where do we draw the line next?

All too many quote from Scripture without really studying Scripture—put words in Jesus’ mouth without pausing to truly listen to what He has said regarding, life, sex, marriage, holiness, and godliness.

There is hesitancy in letting my thoughts be posted, as I work hard as a pastor at showing grace, not getting involved in politics, and not allowing my ministry to be defined by single issues (like gay marriage or abortion).  The church has too often been known for what it is against, and not for what it is for—for being graceless rather than graceful.  But there are times you have to speak, lest a moral confusion pervade and consume our age. We are radically redefining what is not ours to define and affirming latitude on subjects where there is no latitude. 

The irony is that some of the headlines would suggest the President took the moral high ground on what might be the great civil rights struggle of our time.  Really?  If the high ground is defined today as redrawing the design of marriage (what I would say is actually defying what God intended-a faithful and pure union between a man and a woman), or providing funding and law so women can have an abortion (with no one speaking up for the unborn), or defining people largely by their sexual orientation (when our identity as people made in the image of God is so much higher)—then you can’t help but wonder—what is the low ground?