What if God started telling your church to do something we had never done before? How hard would you work against it - unwilling to change? There is an old saying – do you know what they put on the tombstone in front of a closed church? “WE NEVER DID IT THAT WAY BEFORE”
If that’s the case, we have to be willing to change and go in a new direction. We have to willing – unlike the scribe and Pharisees – to let go of the old and embrace the new.
This will be difficult for some because it means getting back on the court (since we are in the midst of the NCAA basketball tourney). God’s design for the local church was for the leader/pastor to be the coach – Ephesian 4 “11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” We cheer and encourage the team. We teach and preach trying to show you the way to play the game. That makes you the team. When the local church worked that way – we were winning! Somewhere along the way, the team left the court and moved into the stands. They became spectators and the coach was the only one left to move the ball or shoot the ball. Then the local church began to decline. (JD Walt, Seedbed Ministries)