100 Years From Now

"100 Years From Now"
Romans 12:1-2

(Note to readers:  This was a round table discussion.  The three questions were given to groups of people at worship.  They discussed each one and wrote notes about the questions.  Then they reported back and answers were compiled during the discussion.  Following the discussion, I presented my thoughts that are written beneath the three questions.  If you have any thoughts about the questions that you'd like to share, please email me at wingspan19@gmail.com).



Imagine it's 100 years from now.  The people in Pratt Presbyterian Church are gathering to celebrate the history of the church.  As they look back, what would you hope they would say about this present time (2014 and beyond) in the church's history?

Pretend our church is an 100 year old person.  This person is being interviewed.  One of the questions is, "Of what are you most proud, as you look back over your 100 years?" What would you answer be if you were this person-church?  Another question you are asked is, "To what do you attribute your health and longevity?"  What is your answer?

Pretend you can time travel.  One of the places you decide to time travel to is Pratt Presbyterian Church 100 years from now.  Realistically, what do you think you will find? The reason I used the 100 year time frame is because we just celebrated the 100th anniversary of our church building.  I'm not sure if the people back then wondered what we'd be like in 100 years, and how things would change.





100 years from now is a long time.  Especially with as fast as things are changing now.  Change didn’t happen as fast over the last 100 years as it will the next hundred years.  100 years ago, what changes were coming could be anticipated.  Now, we have no idea how much change will be taking place—we assume A LOT!  Back 100 years ago, it was assumed not much will change, and if it does there would be plenty of time to adapt.

I think we're still infected with that way of thinking--that if things change, they will change slowly, and we will have plenty of time to adapt.  Things don't change very fast in churches anyway--right?  Our congregation in particular, has a 130 history.  We could call it a DNA, so-to-speak, that has determined a lot of who we are.  Changing that congregational DNA is hard--maybe as hard as changing our human DNA.  (Although that's not getting very hard either.)

There are two words I want you to pay attention to in these first couple of verses of Romans 12:  "...be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."  Transformed.  Renewing.  Other more modern versions have something like, "...change the way you think."

To be transformed literally comes from the word metamorphosis.  To go through a metamorphosis means to change from one thing into something else.  Maybe as a kid, or even as an adult, you watched a caterpillar create a chrysalis and emerge as a butterfly--two distinct biological entities.  That's the kind of transformation Paul is talking about here that needs to happen.

Metamorphosis is not a transformation that happens once and is over, but in Paul's way of thinking, it is a process that happens now and continues into the future.

And we do that by the "renewing of your mind."  This word, renewal, means to be new in nature, with the implication of becoming better.


My sense is that we are at a Y intersection.  Over the past 100 years we have come so far.  But what we have been doing over the past 30 or so years stopped working.  The two roads at this Y intersection are very different roads.  If we choose one of the roads at the Y, it will mean staying on the road we've been on.  Which will, in my estimation, get us closed down in the next 25 years.

The other road at this Y we are at would mean, metamorphosis and renewal.  It will mean becoming something very different than what we are now.  What we are doing now is not working.  What we need to do, if we are going to survive the next 25 years--and beyond--will be to take the road that will cause us to go through a process of complete and utter metamorphosis--to become something else, to start that now so that we can continue into the future.  Maybe for the next 100 years.  We are going to have to change the way we think about church, and what church is.  We are going to have to be willing to go through a painful process, but which pain will set this congregation up for long-term health.

When I was in Bakersfield at the church there, a 1200 member church, the senior pastor and the Session caught a vision for what needed to be done to turn that downtown church around.  The vision involved buying up a whole city block, and putting a gym and new administration building in.  It also meant buying an existing office building on the property and turn it into the home of a Hispanic and Chinese congregations.

The way they sold the plan to the congregation was to go to the  members and say, "We have a vision.  But some of you older members will never get to see the fruits of it.  It is a bold plan for the health and well being of the congregation into the next 50-75 years.  Are you willing to invest in something you will not see the ultimate fruits of?"

They ultimately said yes.  The whole project took $5 million dollars as well as supporting the churches annual $1.5 million dollar budget.  They paid everything off in 3 years.

Now I'm not saying we need to buy this whole block and build a gym.  We don't need another gym, thanks to the foresight of Porter and his bank.  But I think the choice of taking the other road in the Y intersection we are at will be just as costly in some ways, and painful, but amazing and exciting.  I think God is setting us up, through the Experiencing God study and some other ministries that are emerging, to begin to think BIGGER.  Think DIFFERENTLY.  Metamorphisically different.

But wouldn't it be just as painful, tragically so, rather than creatively so, to close this church down in 25 years because there's no one left?

We need to think differently, NOW, so that we can begin the process of metamorphosis change that will help this church not just survive, but grow, in the next 100 years.