The Wilderness Way #39

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”[1] The imperative “be transformed” is lodged at the core of my being when I consider the church today. We need transformation not just renewal or revitalization. Such transformation is anchored on passages like Romans 12:1-2. Transformation that is holy and acceptable to God calls not only to the heart of who we are and whose we are but also to the essence of what we are about.

Building on The Wilderness Way #38, attitudes are crucial to the transformation process. An attitude of preservation focuses on the past, the building, the program, the members, the budgets, and traditions. A local church (or Conference or Denomination) would do well to ask what the basic attitude of our church is. Is it on the past—buildings, programs, members, budgets, traditions—or is it an attitude of transformation where the focus is on the present and future, the community, unchurched people and changing our world. If we focus on reaching out to serve people in the community who aren’t members of our church, we will paradoxically end up serving ourselves better. (I think this is the paradox of God’s incredible genius.)

Consider the difference between a transformation focus and a survival focus. Transformation focus is Christ-centered; it’s based on mission and purpose. Transformation is vision led, value anchored and mission driven. It deals with outreach in love, justice and mercy.

Evangelism is central to transformation. It’s about kingdom building. Survival is about recruiting members, maintaining buildings, finance, programs, and tradition. A survival attitude focuses on peace and safety. It is about not rocking the boat.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I know that things like buildings, finances and tradition are important. I’m not saying that they don’t matter; I am asserting that what is crucial is where you put the emphasis. Too often we put the emphasis on protecting things rather than on kingdom building. We desperately need a transformation of attitude and focus, but that does not mean ignoring important institutional survival issues. Both are needed. But churches thrive when they are transformed by being a living sacrifice for the Lord. When the focus is on transformation, churches (and individuals) not only survive, they thrive!

What is transformation? I think, ultimately, it’s about connecting people to God, transforming lives and the world. Larry Howard (then District Superintendent of the McAllen District of the United Methodist Church in the Southwest Texas Conference) commented to me once that when people come to our churches we offer them all kinds of things. We offer them a Sunday School class, or a youth group or a children’s mission; we offer them fellowship; we offer them a church. But we forget that what we need to do first is offer them Christ. We need to connect them to God. What do we want most from worship? We want to be connected to God and a sense of the holy. People want to know and experience God other than secondhand.[2]

Transformation begins in prayer, discerning what is the will of God. Pray for a new and right spirit, for the courage to reach out, for discernment of God’s will, for faithfulness and fruitfulness. If you’re not sure what we ought to do, the first thing we ought to do is really, really bring the church into prayer on this issue. Prayer is a dangerous thing. I’m often reminded of the little girl who was asked by her parents or her aunt and uncle or by somebody, “Well, did you pray to God and ask God about that?” She said, “Yes, I did, and He said ‘no’.” She was clear about submitting her life to God. When we do so, both for ourselves and our church, we experience divine transformation.

[1] Romans 12:1-2

[2] Thomas Carlyle

By: Bishop Mike Lowry On 7/1/2010