Leave me Alone!

I love growth, but I hate change! 

Everyone likes to see growth. This spring people will purchase flowers to plant around their homes with the expectation that they will grow tall, strong, and beautiful. Athletes strive to improve their game showcasing a growing skillset. Artistic types all desire to grow more talented, more experienced, and more mature. New parents spend every waking moment watching the growth of their child as he learns to roll over, crawl, stand, and eventually walk.

Pews and Hymnals in church

However, here's the ugly secret...growth involves change. And most of do not like change. Change makes us uncomfortable. Change implies what we were doing could be done better. Change disrupts our schedule. Change takes more time and is inefficient.

Growth is cool. Change is, well, hard. 

Have you had to make any of these changes in order to experience growth?

• Change your glasses prescription? 
• Change your city? State? Country?
• Change how you watch TV? Internet provider?
• Change your job? Career?
• Change your diet? Exercise routine?

Change is hard, but it leads to growth. And quite frankly, if something isn't growing, it's either dying or already dead! 

The very act of becoming a Christian involves tremendous change:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

As Christians, we must continue to grow in our faith.  

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." 1 Peter 2:2

Ultimately, Christians will experience a change to the imperishable.

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in  a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." 1 Corinthians 15:51,52

Worship at Kalkaska Church of Christ

Here's the bottom line: In order for your church to grow, it must change. Remember, the church is not a building. The church is the people of God, those who follow Jesus Christ. People are continually growing thus continually changing. What the church did 40 years ago, even 20 or 10 years ago, to reach people, may not work today. Methods change. Strategies change. Structures change. They have to change! Otherwise, we die.

When your church makes a change in order to reach new people, instead of pushing back and complaining, seek to understand why that change was made. How will it lead to growth? How will it make your church more relevant to people today? How will it share the Gospel with those who need to hear it? And in doing so, God may just make one more large change to you - a change to your heart!

Church "Sale" helps Woods Apartment Families in Kalkaska

The Kalkaska Community came together last week to assist the former residents of Kalkaska Woods Apartments in a big way. 16 families have been displaced due to an apartment fire. Donations were collected early in the week. Reminiscent of Moses telling the people to stop bringing their offerings to the sanctuary (Exodus 36:5,6), so many donations came in that the church had to ask people to stop giving!

KCC Workers sort donations to help Woods Apartment Families

The families were invited to shop freely Wednesday and Thursday for clothing, household goods, toiletries, toys, books, and other odds and ends.

Gift Cards for the Families

About Wednesday afternoon it dawned on those working that the number of supplies compared with the number of people shopping was lopsided. The church lobby was still chock full of items after all the families had gone through.

The church decided to make an ad-hoc garage sale open to the community on Friday taking donations for the items that would be passed on to the Woods families. Any items left over by the end of the day would be picked up by Sean Dagenhart and trucked down to Missouri to help flood victims.

Donations from Friday's sale totaled $879.38. This money along with other cash donations earlier in the week was used to purchases gift cards from BC Pizza, McDonalds, Burger King, and Shell.

These gift cards were passed out to the families on Tuesday afternoon at the United Way gathering.

Thank you Kalkaska and the Kalkaska Church of Christ for helping the families at this time of their loss!