If we had conducted a survey in January asking what the greatest needs of our community are, I doubt we would have had a single person say, “What this community needs is another online church.” Or “What this town needs is for all of its churches to broadcast their services on Facebook Live. That will really help our community.” Yet, here we are. Thousands of churches have, in a matter of weeks, gone from being face-to-face only to entirely online. Most, out of necessity, have largely taken their previous worship format and moved it online, with few actual structural changes. First, this is has demonstrated the incredible resiliency of the church to change to address current cultural realities. We often feel like we cannot change and are fearful of change. We have learned it is possible and we can do it. Still, in the midst of our changes what we have not done is asked the questions, why are we doing what we are doing? Is this the most effective method of serving our church and the wider community? What new strategies, tools, and practices need to be implemented to serve in this new reality effectively?
We have all seen the pictures of people evacuating from an airplane crash dragging their carry-on luggage behind them. Despite everyone being told in the in-flight briefing to leave these items behind. The reason we are told to leave our laptops is that grabbing our stuff in a crisis slows the evacuation and threatens the life of our self and other passengers. People have died because someone could not leave their rolling suitcase behind. I recently heard of further research conducted into firefighter deaths in structural and range-land fires. What was found was that, in many cases, firefighters could have escaped the fire if they had put down their tools and gear and evacuated. What kept a range-land firefighter from getting to the next ridge from safety was their heavy packs on their backs or chainsaws still in their hands. If they had dropped the tools they were carrying, equipment that was essential for their job, and moved quickly to the next ridge without the weight encumbering them, they would have significantly increased their chance of survival. What do these illustrations have to do with the church? We are in a time of crisis, and many of us have instinctively held onto our tools, instead of dropping them and moving to the new reality. If we are going to climb the new ridge into effective ministry, we are going to need to let go of our old tools. These tools were effective and essential in our past ministry world but are no longer useful in this new crisis reality. Bluntly, many of us in the church are dying right now and will die, because we are hanging onto our old tools and trying to carry them up the next ridge to safety.
What are some tools we may need to let go of? I am sure you can think of more, and I would love to hear what you are seeing. Still, just a few I can think of include, large group gatherings, elaborate programmatic driven children’s ministries, refined efficient worship services led by professionals on the stage, and professional clergy as the dispensers of religious goods and services.
To say it all another way: A chainsaw is an excellent tool for cutting down trees, it is a terrible tool for washing your car. We would do well in this new reality, to put down our chainsaws and pick up a basin and towel and get to work meeting the real needs of our communities. And if the day should come we need a chainsaw again, we will always be able to find one.
Blessings,
Stephen