Don't be that couch!

OK, so growing up my mom and dad had the ugliest couch you could ever dream of. I believe they got it in the seventies when orange was the thing. It had orange and brown flowers all over it. I would bring up to my mom every once in a while that it was probably time to get a new couch. After all, she had new carpet, new blinds and a new chair. Right before she passed away she even had a new LCD television. But for some reason, she wouldn't give up the couch. It didn't match anything in the house and stood out like a sore thumb. Now I realize why my mom wouldn't give up the couch. There were lots of memories on that couch. My dad sat on that couch, all of us children sat on that couch. We celebrated Christmases, birthday's and other special occasions and the couch was there for them all. Good memories that go along with the couch.

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Chicago for One Day Catalyst and Andy Stanley was speaking on that old couch. I had to laugh because as he was illustrating the old couch to old ways of doing ministries, I could relate as I thought about my moms couch. What Stanley said makes perfect sense. Here are some thoughts on a few of his points:

1. Church programming always began with an answer to a question, over time though the answer becomes a part of the churches culture. Here's the problem, as the culture changes, many of the questions remain the same but the answers don't. For example, we still need couches to sit on but probably not orange and brown ones from the seventies. Many churches are still doing church like it was the seventies. We no longer live in the seventies and that means church may look a little different. The message is still the same but our methods have to change with the culture.

2. We must be more committed to our mission than our programming. Programs are never the mission of the church. Winning the lost is the mission of the church. Sadly, some churches are more concerned about their way of doing church than reaching the lost.

It is easy to get comfortable on the old couch. Over time we get used to the old couch that we don't even notice that it sticks out. The funny thing is, when new people enter your home, they notice it right away. They think, how strange. I wonder why they kept that old couch over all these years. I wonder how many people who enter the church wonder the same thing. Here is the question I think we need to be asking ourselves as a church body and a good question for many churches today; 'Are we falling in love with the methods of doing church that may not be effective in reaching people anymore?' Remember, mission not methods wins people. The mission is to reach the lost. The message of the Gospel never changes but methods must change with the culture. Let's not be that old couch!