Hi Everyone,
It was another full and inspiring day in Wenatchee. I want to share a story that was shared with us today. It’s about a change in culture that the church in general hasn’t adapted to very well.
It’s 1959, you’re a high school football player and your team just won a game on Friday night. Next Friday is the championship game and your coach says in the locker room, “If we only had time for one more practice.” If you suggested to the coach that you could practice on Sunday morning he would have absolutely refused to do it. The cultural norm was that you were to be in church on Sunday morning (whether you actually went or not). Jump ahead to today where soccer and volleyball and swimming and tennis and softball and many other sports and activities are scheduled over weekends and suggest to your coach that you’re going to church and can’t make that Sunday morning activity. Your coach would most likely inform you that you’re no longer a part of the team.
It used to be that ‘culture’ was pushing people through the doors of the church. Today ‘culture’ is like a giant vacuum sucking people out the doors of the church. The church can’t grow or even survive if we stick to the passive idea that “They’ll come to us.” We live in a world where we need to “go to them.” What does this look like? That’s the key to the future of the church. It can and will look like many things but one thing is for sure, it will be a change.
Shalom,
Jerry
