Change

John the Baptist and Jesus both began their ministries with the same word: repent. The word, repent, basically means to change and go in a different direction. Jesus would later tell his disciples, “unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Lent historically began as a time of preparation for new converts to the Christian faith who were to be baptized at Easter. The focus of that time was addressing the question, “what do I need to change in order to become a Christian?” For people today who still observe Lent, it is a time of self-examination and asking the question, “what do I need to change about myself to become more like Jesus?”

One of John Wesley’s most signification contributions to Christian thought was his teachings on the doctrine of sanctification. He taught that even after becoming a follower of Jesus, the grace of God can still work within a person to help them change to become more and more like Jesus. He used the phrase of “going on to perfection.” While we may not feel right today talking about perfection as a goal, is it very common for people to want things to improve. But that means change. So here is the challenge: it has been said that “everybody wants things to get better, but nobody wants to change.”

So the question that followers of Jesus should continually ask is: “what do I need to change to become more like Jesus?”  And since change is hard, who is going to help me make that change?

This is true for local churches as well. Several United Methodist churches in Iowa have been using the process known as the Healthy Church Initiative (HCI) to make the changes needed to become more effective at making disciples for the transformation of the world. It involves developing supportive relationships, getting an outside perspective and using a coach to help identify and make the changes.

Last June the members of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to undertake a process similar to HCI at the Conference level. The Bishop, superintendents and other conference leaders have begun a process under the guidance of an outside coach. (You can learn more about the coaches at http://spiritual-leadership.org/). We welcome your prayers as we seek to answer the question, “What do we need to change to become more effective at making disciples for the transformation of the world?”

Change is hard. People resist change at every level. But change needs to happen in all of us. When we remember that people are in danger apart from God, then it makes our efforts worthwhile. Jesus is our connection to God. The good news is that Jesus said to repent AND believe that the Kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:14). That means there is hope. But we will have to change.

So how about you? Unless your name is Jesus and you are already perfect, what do you need to change? And who is walking with you to help make that change?