Sanctification, the Gospel, and Change

I fear we’ve gotten it backwards in how we go about initiating change in our churches, whether that change be in something significant or something trivial. We too often come up with a list of things that “need” changed, come up with a strategy to implement that change, devise an additional strategy to deal with all those in the body who would disagree with our first strategy, and so on. Then, we’re surprised to see discord and division within the body in regards to the proposed changes.

As I’ve thought this through, it seems we’re missing some elements in our desire to change things. The first thing that needs noting though is that changing things (I’m being intentionally ambiguous in regards to what those things would be) is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, often change (forgive me for using the word almost as much as a politician) is a necessary and good thing. Sometimes, in our churches, we do need to make changes here and there so our ministry can be more effective and better glorify to God.

That said, I think sanctification—growing in the Lord—is crucial to this process. You see, if we attempt to implement change on that change’s merit, we’ll fall flat on our face. It’s only as we grow in Christlikeness that we can begin to see things like He would. The more we think like Him and the more we view the church through the lens of the gospel, the more our perspective will become a godly rather than human one. Instead of finding ourselves thinking “What do I think about this or that change?”, we’ll find ourselves asking what God would think and if this or that change would help us glorify Him. We want things that are important to God to be important to us, and we want things that don’t rise to that level to be treated appropriately as well.

Another thing that I think will help us to think clearly and Biblically about certain things is to view change within the context of the gospel and the cross. When the gospel is at the center of what we do, and the cross is ever before us, other more insignificant things will be correctly viewed as just that—insignificant in comparison. When our thoughts begin to center on the cross and the gospel, a proper perspective begins to emerge. When we meditate on the centrality of that which is important, other more trivial things and issues cannot help but bow their figurative knee to that which is supremely important—the gospel and the cross.

So I think that when we think about change in the church, or in ourselves for that matter, we must view it in a different way. Instead of ramming change through a congregation, or scheming change through a congregation, we ought to first seek to become more Christlike and gospel-centered. As that happens, we’ll begin to see things in a more Christlike and gospel-centered way.

By Matt Monge