Change agents!

Change – you either love it or hate it. It's like Marmite (for those with a UK connection).I spend a lot of time with all sorts of different people – church leaders, missional community leaders, business men, mums, young adults, suburban families – young and old, rich and poor.  And whenever change comes their way there is a reaction and a response.  There aren't many people who are ambivalent about change. It demands a response.Our world is changing and our culture is changing. And we have a choice about whether we will allow our churches and ourselves to change: we can either embrace or resist it.Now,  Jesus hasn't changed. The gospel hasn't changed. But the world He loves is changing. As the people of God, how will we choose to respond to the change around us?Do we need to throw out all that has gone before?  Absolutely not. But we should be building upon it. There is a new generation coming through – they think differently, dress differently, dream differently. Today’s technology affects the way we interact. There is a new set of children who have now grown to be adults and parents themselves. New, new, new.The irony is that whatever is changing around us the starting place to embrace or resist change is ourselves. Those that resist change may do so out of fear. We may not be happy with the status quo, but at least it’s known.  Too often it’s easier to blame external circumstances, changes in culture, 'the' church (the nameless, faceless culprit) without taking personal responsibility for ourselves, for what God wants to do in us.Often,  when we  embrace change we look at the external circumstances: we look for change in the organisation, the church, the ministry and then we work backwards. We think that if the church needs to change then this is what it means for the staff and therefore this is what it means for my family, therefore this is what it means for me. We’ve got it the wrong way round!We are called to be change agents for the Kingdom – whatever age, whatever track record, whatever position, whatever history. Change doesn’t start 'out there' - it starts with us. With me.  As I change, my family changes, and those we lead or influence are changed. And then we begin to influence the world around us.Jesus called his disciples in Mark 1:15 to “Repent and believe”. They were challenged to turn away from an old way of living, to change, and to walk into a new life of faith in Jesus. The challenge is the same for us today. Jesus is the one who will bring transformation in our hearts, our families, our church, our city and our nation.He is at work, and he is a God of change.Will we choose to embrace where he calls us to change? Will we say yes to the new thing God desires to do in  and through us? Will we choose to lay down the things he calls us to lay down? Will we choose to say yes to God's word (spoken through His Spirit and the Bible) - not just agreeing,  but truly taking hold of it and living it out so that we embody good news to those around us?Warm wishesRich RobinsonDirector  3dM UK