As I sit and reflect back on the past several months of ministry I have begun to realize that the Church is struggling with memory loss...In so many congregations around the country we see a people hindered by fear. No. We see a people strangled to death by fear...We fear change. So we don't do anything different and yet expect in some miraculous way our churches that are dying will come back to life...Even those of us who seek to be agents of change fear it somewhat. We fear inadequacy...What if we seek to follow Christ into the unknown and we fail. What if in the end we just aren't capable of pulling it off, of getting the job done, of covering the cost, or of sticking to the commitment...We fear the unknown...So many times we stick with what is known, even though we know it is a terribly inefficient choice for the times we face. But it is known, and it is comfortable...So in our fear we stay with what we know, even when we know it is failing...We fear what people think. I feel that so many decisions in churches are based not on what God thinks but on what other people think. We fear that following God might make the "wrong people" angry, so they might quit coming or giving. So we base our decisions on what we perceive to be the response of others, rather than on the call of God...And we fear leading. I believe that the church in America is in a desperate stage in her life. And we need godly, brazen, courageous, fearless leaders know more than ever. But when I look at the Church, I see so many people who ought to be leading in a better, more visionary way, simply step back and watch because they are afraid. They fear for their paychecks, their jobs, the security in which those things provide for their family...They fear failing and being told "I told you so." They fear others in power who resist change because it might mean a change in power. And instead of the church being lead by brazen, courageous, godly leaders who fear only God and follow only God, it becomes lead by a group of cowards afraid to follow God because of what men might think or say...
And in the midst of all this fear, I say that we have a short term memory loss. In fact, we have a long term memory loss too...We have forgotten the power and the ability of the God we choose to serve...We have forgotten that God qualifies and empowers those He chooses to use...We have forgotten that the same God who calls us to step out on faith and follow Him into the unknown is the God who parted the Red Sea, who delivered powerful enemies into the hands of the Israelites, and gave the promise land to His people. We have forgotten that this God is the same God who saved His people from the Egyptians, who turned water into wine, who healed the sick, made the blind see, and brought the dead back to life...And in our forgetfulness we have become controlled and ruled by our fears. We have a memory problem.
It is time for those of us who are leading in the Church here in America to Remember. Our churches and our communities do not need those who will sit idly by and watch as fear overtakes the people of God and the Church of God...Our communities and our neighbors need leaders who will remember. They need leaders who will look back at what God has done and remember his power, his stregnth, his ability, and his faithfulness. We need leaders who will stand and say, "I may not know the future, the outcome, or how it will all work out, but I know and follow the One who does." What the Church needs most is leaders who remember. And whose memory causes them to follow...
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