Reforming a Church

The church we recently joined is about 15 years old. For approximately the first 13 years it was as "contemporary" as one can be; I'm told it didn't even have an order of worship. About two years ago, just before it was about to bankrupt, the Session called a new pastor, purportedly without knowing him too well.

The Session was open to change. Man, did they get it. A prescribed Order of Worship. Redemptive-Historical preaching. Weekly Lord's Supper. But most of all, the fetters that had held back the fullness of the gospel were unbound. Like the proverbial iceberg, the application of the gospel gradually got bigger and bigger.

I've been listening to recordings of the first sermons the pastor preached here. The nervousness in the congregation can be subtly detected. I get the sense they weren't sure what to think; it was all so different. But they must have been pleased that so many new people were showing up. Still, I'm told some complained, "why preach about the gospel so much to Christians?"

I'd like to say I was wiser than that. But months later when we found the church, I wondered why this reformed pastor didn't take some action about the way the teen-agers dressed, the women-dominated committees, the American flag in the sanctuary, etc, etc. If I were pastor, I would have convinced the Session to correct all the things I saw at once.

But now I see that lasting change comes by teaching the congregation to bring the gospel to bear on all areas of their life; not by a coerced mandate from the Session. When Christians sit under the preached Word and Sacraments we are gradually tranformed into what God created us to be. As our church realizes the fullness of the gospel we're also developing a greater desire for it. Reformation is coming.