The Next Change You See May Be Your Own

I’m serving on the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) at my church. Every step of the process has presented us with the opportunity to

• recognize where we are as a congregation,
• visualize where we want to be, and
• analyze whether we can get there from here.

Many times, the answer is that we need to change to go wherever God is leading us.

In his blog, Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) posted a link to a video that addresses the pervasive need for change and the reasons why the pressures to change are so strong these days. I had seen it before but never in the context of change in the church,  or the presbytery.

Palm Sunday is this week. There’s a point during Holy Week where the crowd switches from crying out Palm Sunday Hosannas to yelling Maundy Thursday jeers to “Crucify!” The change in the crowd is a response to religious and socioeconomic pressure. That makes it real change but it doesn’t make it good change.

Watch the video. Think about the pressure on your presbytery… your church…your life…  Can we change to meet those pressures? Can the outcome be good?

Adele Hensley, Resource Center Coordinator
Presbytery of Chicago