There Must Be Change

Our group is a special group, I don't question that. We have it pretty good in this fellowship of assemblies. It's not a terrible place to be as some would say, neither is it a cult as some have claimed. We are made up of the children of God, people striving to do what's right as a result of the work that Jesus has done in their lives.

To say that we are the restored church however is just not true. I think that the majority of people in this group believe that we are striving for restoration, but we're just not there yet and this is a good goal (Phil 3:12). It brings a sense of purpose to our group and yearning for more than we have today when we consider ourselves this way. I don't know anyone who believes that we are already where we need to be, have everything we need to have, and are already the restored church made manifest. Simply put, we all have a way to go to get to where God wants us.

The truth in the last two paragraphs can be summed up by saying that to get where we need to go, we will have to change. Does anyone deny this? I don't know really. Are we welcoming change? I think not. In the Des Moines meeting last year, several ministers spoke out about fearing change, being slow to change, or being cautious about changing. I realize that some change is negative, and change just for it's own sake can often be exactly that, but if we adopt a spirit of intransigence, we will miss out on the leading of the Lord.

I'm reminded of the person trying to hold sand in his hands. The tighter he bears down, the more sand slips through his fingers. We are at this phase as a group. We are trying to hold on so hard to the things that make us special, the blessings that still have are starting to just slip away. We need to be willing to change.

I'm also reminded of the children of Israel in the wilderness who were always looking back to how good things were in Egypt and never how good things were promised to be in the land of milk and honey (Numbers 11:5-6). If God is going to lead us into a full realization of a restored church, He can't do it if we are stuck defending our position, unwilling to change. Let me take that a step farther. If God is going to lead our leaders into a full realization of a restored ministry, He can't do that if they are stuck defending their position, unwilling to change either. Bro. Atwell said in a sermon way back in 1983 that if in our Christian walk we can look around and see the same issues around us that we have always seen, it's because we have stopped journeying. I don't ever want to get stuck in a position where I've stopped progressing and the only positive thought I can think is how good God used to be when I was still under His covering.

We sing a song about wanting to move when God moves if we move, but I ask everyone in our group, is that what we're doing? I submit instead that we are either waiting to move or don't really have moving on on our agenda. I want to be willing to move on with Jesus, and the only way for that to happen is for us to allow it to happen.

Brothers and Sisters, There Must Be Change.