Big Change

In 2005 I sat in an American mega-church, listening to one of it's founding pastors kick off a two-day conference they were hosting. His talk that evening was, "Are you ready to make the big change." He talked about how most church "leaders" avoided making big, sweeping changes, as this was usually the stuff that got people upset, and God knows we can't have the righteous assemblage getting upset...especially since that tends to lead to that pastor needing to find a new group to "lead." The pastor I listened to that evening, however, referred to what most pastors call change as anything but. "Slow, incremental change will kill you," he said. "It drains resources, passion and vision, plus it will frustrate the people who are actually depending on you to step up and lead."

As I sat there, I realized that the guy on stage was talking to me, and I've never forgotten what he said that night. He inspired me to both seek and create that which is truly change, as well as to begin to speak out against the small, cosmetic adjustments that most American pastors celebrate as change.

I've been surprised in the almost 4 years since that night how many times I've heard somebody refer to the "Big Change" they're making at their church. All this talk of change would be funny if it weren't so pathetic and self-congratulatory. So, I'd like to offer a few things that are definitely NOT "Big Change," as well as a few ideas about what it might actually be.

Big Change is NOT your brand new video screens in your worship space.
Big Change is NOT the fact your worship band plays a song from U2, Coldplay, Snow Patrol, The Killers, or whoever else it is you think will raise your cool factor. Playing songs from these bands means you're playing much better music than most churches do, but it does not qualify you for Big Change status.
Big Change is NOT the fact your entire staff wears jeans...it just means you're being smarter with your clothing purchases.
Big Change is NOT your coffee bar...although Bad Change would be removing the coffee.
Big Change is NOT devoting 90-95% of your financial and human resources to 2% of the week, be it Saturday night or Sunday morning.
Big Change is NOT bragging about how much money you send half-way around the world, while the neighborhood surrounding your church campus has no idea who you are or if you even remotely care that they live daily on the edge of hopelessness.
Big Change is NOT celebrating how much you do for the poor when that amount doesn't even equal 5% of your overall annual receipts.
Big Change is NOT adopting phrases like "post-modern," especially since post-moderns aren't even talking about post-modernism anymore. Showing up 10 years too late to the party is worse than not even showing up at all.

There are many other things I could list that are NOT Big Change, but I'm sure you get the point. Now, for a few ideas on those things that might actually be Big Change:

Calling our faith communities to begin to actually live out Jesus' words about bringing good news to the poor might be Big Change.
Being known for caring about more than just 2 political/social issues might be Big Change.
Abandoning the patriarchal, top-heavy leadership structures based on 1950's corporate America that almost all churches utilize might be Big Change.
Caring for the baby after it's born, as well as the mother who decided to take our advice and not abort him/her, might be Big Change.
Stopping our excuses as to why we can't do the previous things I've listed here and instead begin living like people who actually follow the teachings of Jesus might be Big Change.

I'm sure you could list many other things that would fit in either list, but I'm far more interested in what "might be" than that which is definitely NOT. I'm especially interested in how "might be" can then move to "should be" and then "will be," which finally simply becomes Big Change. I'm interested in doing this now and I'm interested in doing it with you.

If we agree on even a little bit of this, that in itself just might be Big Change.