Change

I have been at my church for a year now, a little more actually. My thoery coming in was to make only essential changes to the youth ministry program to really be able to evaluate the current program as honestly as I could and to base a new program on actually knowing the people I was developing it for. So the first year has been pretty easy. Minor, surface changes only. Not too painful, at least they shouldn’t be. But kids weren’t too fond of the changes at first, but by the end of it all I think they adapted for the most part. But now it’s time for the hard part. Unfortunately after more than 10 years of the same format for youth group it just isn’t working anymore (this is really only unfortunate because it means I am faced with the challenge of convincing an entire church that change is good). Ha, who am I kidding! I hate change, we all hate change. It goes against our nature. We like to be comfortable and change forces us out of our comfort zone into a new place. So having spent a year doing nothing and receiving praise for this (it makes me especially concerned about the response to the changes being made) I am moving ahead like a bulldozer essentially destroying everything that was. Typically this would not be my approach. But this is not a typical situation. People are set and comfortable with a way that has been around so long it almost qualifies as a “but that’s the way we’ve always done it!” (aah Calvinists). So working with a group of people including a parent, a volunteer leader, a church leader, and a couple of students we have developed a program. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Is it going to be tough…definitely. But how do we encourage youth and parents to be on board and give it a shot? We are changing a program that has always met only twice a month to meeting every week and occassionally more than once a week. We have changed the old model of music, lesson, and then small groups and instead we have worship and small groups on different nights. Yikes. What if no one comes? What if the only people who like this idea are the ones sitting in the crowded office for hours each week working on developing a purpose and program that fulfills the purpose? How do I convince people change is good? Should I just relegate myself to accepting the fact that we will loose a lot of kids the first year, or is this the wrong approach to take? Should I be trying harder to accomadate students so we at least have them or should I be doing what I am and creating environments where the purpose is to be very intentional about helping students grow? Are 8 people promoting this vision enough or do we need more people on board? These are all thoughts that cram my mind as I move forward with this vision and this plan to accomplish the vision. And then as I think I might just keep doing the same thing and forget about change I am reminded by a gentle reminder from a friend, or a hard slap from a Bible passage, or a quiet peace from God that despite the challenges ahead, despite our natural resistance to change, we are following God’s plan, we are seeking God’s guidance, and we must move ahead. So for now I rest assured of God’s hand in this change, and I pray for the people most affected by it- the youth, our leaders, and the parents, that they may catch the vision, that they may be excited about this change even in their hesistance and uncomfort. I pray that as we all go through this process of change we may grow in our faith and love for one another, because really, that’s what it’s all about.