Change and
Challenge
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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