Change and Challenge
from JAC Issue #12
by
Commissioner Wesley Harris
As a corps
officer I once had a songster leader who was a dentist by
profession. With a wry smile he used to quote a line of a
hymn: “Change and decay in all around I see”. He could say
that again! A humorist has remarked that the moment Adam and
Eve were turned out of the Garden of Eden, Eve may have
remarked, “My dear, we live in changing times!” In fact, of
course, all times are changing. Where there is life there is
change; that has always been the case and always will be so.
What is new is the rate of change which has been accelerated
by many factors including scientific and technological
advances.
During my lifetime the world has been affected by the
introduction of television, computers, space travel and many
other developments which have had far-reaching effects. H. C.
N. Williams, a former provost of Coventry Cathedral, England,
has said that history may be seen to flow like a great river
carrying the commerce and communication of human society and
providing the means for cleansing and refreshing humanity as
it flows on its course. Then from time to time the river
changes its level and flows in confusion and at a greater
speed down the rapids from one level to another. Its course is
broken by jagged rocks and there are whirl pools and a great
deal of froth.
The period through which we are living is like the river
flowing down the rapids. Whereas in the past there may have
been times when change was gradual and predictable now it is
speedy and unpredictable. Some find change intimidating and,
so to speak, are liable to clutch the bank and try to avoid
the rapids. Others face the challenge of change and determine
to ride the rough water, keep their balance and avoid the
rocks that would wreck their best intentions. Not every change
may be for the best but the trick is to find the best in every
change.
In the midst of change, in some parts of the Army a lot of
people seem to have an identity crisis and are unsure about
the mission of our movement. But in our history we may
discover ‘His story’ and abundant evidence of God working
through his people. It appears that God has not made us just
another religious denomination but something else as well. Our
social and evangelical work are two sides of the same coin of
caring. Our mission is not only to the soul of a person but
the whole of a person - and indeed the whole of society.
Church growth need not be ‘churchy growth’. It may incorporate
our ‘distinctives’ and can and should embrace our social as
well as our corps work.
Loren B. Mead in, The once and future Church, describes the
polarity in the Church’s understanding of its mission. Is it
the conversion of the world or the serving of the world? Part
of the glory of the Army is that it has embodied both of these
concepts as contained in the teaching of Jesus. We are out to
save and serve the world and whatever happens we must maintain
that critical balance through all the changes taking place in
and around our movement.
Some changes will come whatever we may or may not do and we
must be ready to adapt and adopt accordingly. In other cases
we should have the courage to be agents of change, moving
ahead with cautious courage and prayerfully seeking for
insight and foresight - knowing that one day people will judge
our actions with the advantage of hindsight! But in all this
we should not become addicted to change for the sake of
change. There is wisdom in the old adage, “If it ain’t broke
don’t fix it” and it may help to sober some who have become
high on change and can’t resist altering any thing which has
been even when it is perfectly all right!
As we face new situations our attitude will make all the
difference. The founder of the Bata shoe company spoke of
sending two representatives to different parts of Africa to
check out possibilities for business development. After a
couple of weeks one wired back to say that there were no
prospects because no on-one wore shoes anyway. The other
representative said that the market was wide open. Nobody had
shoes therefore they all need what the firm had to offer!
Turning out an old trunk I came across a plaque bearing some
words I wrote years ago: “Think positively, act decisively,
live creatively”. As I ‘ate my own words’ I found that they
didn’t taste too bad and were not unrelated to what may be
required in these days.
It is natural that we will sometimes fear change because it
leads into the unknown. But there is no need to think that the
bend of the road is the end of the road or that God who has
helped us in the past will fail to undertake for us in the
future. We have his promise that he will not let us down, so
why worry? We might well make our own the prayer of Reinhold
Niebuhr, “Give us the serenity to accept what cannot be
changed, the courage to change what should be changed, and the
wisdom to know the difference”.
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