“How can I honor tradition and still lead my church through change?”
Q: Whenever I talk about new ways of doing ministry, I am accused of moving “an ancient boundary stone” established by our church’s forefathers. How can I honor tradition and still lead my church through change?
A: Though on the surface your congregation’s accusation appears to offer scriptural validity against change, it betrays flawed thinking that motivates your congregation to fight what may be healthy change. While their intentions may be sincere, it’s important to correct your congregation and encourage them to embrace transition, not fear it.
To do this, you have to first correctly understand and communicate the true meaning of “ancient boundary.” This phrase is referenced six times in Scripture to address the sins of lying, cheating and stealing. Land-owners could increase their productivity and prosperity by simply moving the stones their forefathers had set as legal markers of their property lines. These Bible passages prohibit lying and deception. They do not forbid changing any tradition, program or form that our predecessors held as important in the church during their generation.
If this passage were genuinely a prohibition of changing established traditions, it would mean that our language and clothing styles could never change, and that Jesus was wrong and the Pharisees were right about keeping to tradition. The boundary stones, however, represent that which is unchangeable, and only God’s truth fits that description. Therefore, a correct application of the phrase “ancient boundary” would be that whatever we do; we cannot compromise God’s truth for any reason.
Sadly, in the name of success, many churches are compromising biblical truth in an attempt to be accepted by today’s culture. No matter how successful these churches might become, they’re still resounding failures; only God’s Word has the power to transform lives and set people free.
On the other side of the equation, those fighting change are just as significantly compromising the truth. Those fighting cultural changes in the Church today make it impossible to communicate God’s truth in ways non-Christians can understand. Though the truth has power to change lives, its power will never be experienced until it’s communicated. That’s why Jesus communicated in the language of His day—not in the language of heaven. That’s why God inspired the New Testament in the common Greek rather than in classical Greek. And this is why we need to communicate God’s truth in the language of today’s culture.
To lead our churches through change, we must help our congregations understand the difference between God’s truth and our church traditions. The Church is not called to be a museum for the preservation of the previous generations’ way of ministry, and the pastor is not the curator of previous leaders’ methods. Rather, the pastor must lead the church to fulfill the Great Commission within today’s generation and culture.