Extreme Church Makeover

There are a ton of reality TV shows these days.  I've found myself, lately, with nothing better to watch than one that deals with Bars getting a makeover.  It's like Extreme Home Makeover...no wait it's like Tabitha's Salon Take Over only Bar edition.  Fascinating stuff, I tell you.

This mornings episode dealt with a bar owner and employee who really didn't want to change their ways.  They were afraid of making the changes that they needed to make in order for their business to succeed.  The bar makeover host dude came in and said "You're doing so many things wrong.  Your business will die in a matter of weeks.  Here are some changes that can be made that will put you back into business."  The bar owner was in denial, the employee tried to sabotage things at every stage and...it reminded me of the church.

We church folks are really good at doing things the way we've always done them.  We like routine, we like our language, we like the little bit of exclusivity we get from belonging to a certain place.  The thing that we don't like is change.  Big time don't like change, like will stonewall even the slightest bit of change (new soap dispensers in the restrooms!  What is wrong with the old ones??) and it eventually leads to a church that lives in fear.  Fear of change but really I think deep down it's fear of failure.  If we change something, it's like admitting failure, isn't it?

I've been a Church Chick for my whole life, basically.  I've been the one leading the charge for change and the one putting up resistance to change.  These days, I'm looking around the church at large and thinking, "It's time for an overhaul.  It's time to change the decor, redo the menu, put some of same items on there, just arrange them in a way that brings the bottom line to the surface."  Just in case you were wondering, the bottom line for me is Jesus.  How can we truly reflect the Jesus that we keep uncovering in the Bible.  Every time I read the Bible something new pops out and I see Jesus in a whole different light...which is one of the coolest things about this life of faith in my opinion.  Jesus NEVER gets boring or outdated or old.  Jesus is relevant and hip and cool.

It seems to me the church needs a makeover/takeover.  We need to get back to the bottom line, Jesus, and get update our image to attract the people of today.  I can see a TV reality show on its way...