Creating a Secure CHURCH
PART 2 : Secure in Relationships
Chapter 4 : Imperfect People!
4.3 Gradual Change, a Reminder
As we said in the previous chapter, it’s easy to hear these sorts of examples and say we accept the truth of them, but when it comes down to the practical reality of people, there in church alongside me, that’s different. If we are to create a secure church, a church where everyone feels secure, loved and accepted, it means we have to take them where they are and at the pace they are changing (which is slower than we’d like!).
We need to face these two things. These are the things that get to us, these are the things that upset us. We expect people to be instantly changed, glorious, lovely, caring, perfect Christians, fully mature, able to respond graciously in every adverse circumstance.
Why? We weren’t like that when we came to Christ, and in fact we may not be like that now! So why expect other people to be like that?
Accepting them where they are today
Let’s keep on saying it and be honest about it: we expect people to be further on in Christ than they are. They come to Christ, and we expect instant change. They’ve known Christ five years, and we expect maturity. In so many ways we expect Christians to change – and in some ways that IS a right expectation – but first we must accept people just where they are today.
Over the years in our church we’ve done every sort of Course possible: commitment courses, discipling courses, growth courses, evangelism courses, counselling courses, warfare courses, preparing for revival courses, all aimed at taking people on in Christ. Yes, they have all benefited the people on them, they have all grown in some measure, but does it mean that every person who has been on one of these courses is now fully mature? No, because maturity involves far more than mere knowledge. It involves obedience to that knowledge, it involves learning to be sensitive to God, it involves letting Him work the fruit and gifts of His Spirit into us, it involves a change of heart, a change of life, and all of that takes time.
We live in this ‘instant’ society where people take courses at work and are then expected to be experts. I said earlier in Book One that I was recently browsing in a well known book store and was amazed at the number of self-help books that there are around today. There is this deceptive belief that you can be instantly changed by taking a course, by reading a book or by listening to a sermon.
Please hear me correctly. There are good and helpful things to read but they won’t cause instant transformation. There will be those times when we will find books etc. having a profound influence on us, but it is more that it helps the process of change along than creating instant transformation.
Conclusion? Changes in us take time plus knowledge plus love. That’s true for others as well as me!
