This weekend, our local assembly is celebrating its fortieth anniversary. That’s both a huge milestone and a stepping stone for our little church.
Statistically, over 80% of new church plants last less than five years, so this one has done very well. Depending on which source you look at, churches that make it past the first 5 years last somewhere between 75 and 100+ years. There’s lots of time to go yet.
Like most congregations, this one has ebbed and waned over the years. It’s presently undergoing significant change, with a much larger multicultural makeup reflecting our community as a whole. That’s a good thing.
I’ve often spoken of the need for unity in the church, and an area that doesn’t often get touched on are cultural differences between what differing communities think of as “church.” I’m excited to see what we will look like at our 45th and 50thanniversaries,
Will the music change? The service format? What about the ministries we are involved in? It’s likely. The question is by how much. Will we even recognize the church?
Will you move as the Spirit leads, or will we fight change it tooth and nail because it isn’t the way we think church should be done? Probably some combination of both.
We can forget that it is never “our church”. The church in all its forms belongs to God. His pleasure is to use the church (both as the body of believers and the organizations therein) to fulfill His goal, of seeing all who will be saved come to Him, and as a training ground for believers to be shaped into His image.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23
He is preparing His bride (the church) to present to the Father and will shape her as He wills.
That’s great news for us. We don’t have to fret about change. We are free to simply follow the Lord as He leads and walk by faith.
I don’t know what the next 40 years hold for Immanuel: growth, decline, or even demise. I do know I needed worry. I can celebrate what God has done, is doing, and will do.
That’s a good place to be.
Be blessed
Kevin
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