By examining Isaiah 43, Rev. John Kasper, superintendent of the Central Bay District, explains how we can prepare for God’s new thing.
JOHN KASPER
Superintendent, Central Bay District
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
— Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV
For some of us, church has always been a part of life. We grew up in an environment that showed us how much God loves us. We learned Bible stories and how God wants us to live. We met Jesus and learned he died and rose again to save us. Along the way, we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Now, we live for him. Others didn’t have that formative experience. But the Holy Spirit still touched our lives, and we have found real blessings with God’s people in church.
It is far too easy for us to say, “Ah, this is comfortable. I like it just the way it is, so please don’t change a thing. Thank you very much.” Comfortable is good. We like routine. We like knowing what to expect. And when it comes to the church, we have specific ideas about what it is and how things should function.
Would it distress you to discover that God never intended for the church to exist in a relaxed, business-as-usual mode? God wants to bless the church and the world through the church, but a comfortable, contented church hinders that desire.
“Business as usual” in the church robs us of the holy. It takes our focus off Jesus and onto the stuff of religion. When that happens, we keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. I believe that’s the definition of insanity. “Business as usual” also robs us because God cannot bless his church, no matter how much he wants to, unless we are willing to let go of what is comfortable and accept what God wants to give.
I often say that God accepts us as we are but is unwilling to leave us as we are. We cannot encounter the living Lord Jesus and stay the same. John Wesley taught, and we continue to teach, that life with Christ is an ongoing transformation of our lives. We are being brought on to perfection. The same is true for the church. The church is to be in a constant state of being perfected, of transforming, so it can carry out the purposes it has been given to fulfill. The minute we become content with the way things are is the minute we stop being perfected, and the minute we stop fulfilling our purpose and carrying out our mission.
God has something better for us than stagnation. “I am doing a new thing,” God proclaims through the prophet Isaiah. In fact, God is always doing a new thing. Nothing in creation is the same. Every snowflake is unique. Every leaf of any plant is different. Even identical twins are not totally identical. Jesus never performed similar miracles in the same way.
God is always doing new things in new ways. The message of salvation and God’s love for us will never change, but how it is heard and experienced will always be new. So, we should expect and constantly look for God’s new thing.
How do we ready ourselves for God’s new thing? God, in Isaiah 43:18-19, tells us how.
Forget the former things. This has reference to what God has done. At the beginning of Isaiah 43, God reviews awesome acts of the past, specifically how God brought Israel out of Egypt. Yet God says, “Forget the former things,” not to stop remembering and celebrating, but to keep what God has done in the past from hindering what God wants to do in the future. We limit what God will do if we base it only on what God has done. The fact is, what God is doing is even more spectacular than what God has already done.
Do not dwell on the past. This has reference to us. It would be easy to say, “Yes, I believe God is doing, or will do, or can do a new thing. However, based on my record, I’ll mess it up if God wants me to be involved.” God isn’t concerned with whether we get it right but whether we will be part of the new thing. And if God is doing it, can we ever mess it up so badly that God can’t fix it? That’s why Paul confidently said, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Looking back at what we have done means denying who we are, what God has done, and what God can do.
Look for, be open to, and see what God is doing. This may be the most difficult part. So many things can get in the way, including our ideas and desires for what God ought to do. I truly believe God is doing something new and inviting us to participate. But I confess that I only see the cracks in the ground; I don’t see it springing up. But the way God couches the question, “Do you not perceive it?” causes me to envision God smiling and saying, “You will, just keep looking.”
Here’s the rub: To perceive what God is doing will require us to be willing to change, think differently, and do things that will be uncomfortable. The Bible tells us that God’s new thing will take us out of our comfort zones and into the world of the unknown. Abraham was called to a place he did not know. The people of Israel were called out of the familiar of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land to become a nation, a new thing for them. Disciples were called away from the familiarity of their occupations to go with Jesus and, ultimately, to birth a church and become missionaries of Jesus Christ.
If we complete the mission Jesus has given us to make disciples for the transformation of the world, we must recognize that we cannot and will not if we are unwilling to do new things. The culture is different, the demographics are different, the economy is different, perceptions are different, and how information is shared is different. Nearly everything is different. We must be willing to take the unchanging message and love of God to our world in different ways so that as many people as possible can hear, know, and believe. And that means being willing to look at every aspect of what we do in new ways.
In the Central Bay District, two sets of churches — one set of four and one set of three — realized the best way for them to be church was to let go of their individual church mentality. It was a several-year process for one set and several months for the other. In both cases, they chose to blend into one entity while retaining all the facilities as campuses, each campus being used for a unique aspect of ministry not possible as separate churches. It was a new concept that, even at the denominational level, caused head-scratching because it didn’t fit into the typical codes for mergers.
Another out-of-the-box opportunity is selling a church facility to a nonprofit with a lease from the nonprofit to continue church ministry. This has already happened in the Western Waters District at Wyoming Park and is being considered at a church in the Heritage District. In the Central Bay District, a similar proposal is being made with a church facility of a congregation that decided to close. At present, decisions are being made that could have the facility purchased by a nonprofit and turned into a resource center for area agencies while providing space to resurrect a United Methodist presence and, ultimately, a new congregation.
God is doing a new thing. The obvious question we need to answer is this: Will we settle for the status quo in our church because that is what we are comfortable with, or will we reach out for what God can do and is doing supernaturally in and through us? The Lord is eager to make spiritual changes among us and shower us with the blessing of new life. God wants us — God’s people — to experience the greatness of God’s power and the depth of God’s love in new ways.
Last Updated on September 23, 2024