Making The Old New Again
I recently returned home from visiting my four daughters. After attending church service with one of them, it dawned on me that three of them attend churches that are very similar. Although they are in different cities, they are all fairly new churches, all have similar pastoral styles, and all sing the same type
of songs in worship. The most interesting similarity, though, is that they all meet in very old church buildings.While I’m not aware of the extensive history of each of these churches, I discovered they were churches with declining memberships in downtown locations that failed to transition along with the neighborhoods they were in.One of the churches, Redemption Church in Spokane, Washington includes this statement in their vision, “ there has existed a church on this corner for over 100 years and we share in the joy and privilege of being called by God to continue in the gospel work that over the decades has slowly and somewhat unknowingly faded into the surrounding culture. But there is another gospel that remains popular and comfortable throughout our region and it is the gospel of social action. This gospel has stalled many churches in the city. It has driven many of the churches to their knees, bending them to its will of social change, and a theology of liberation and not repentance. This gospel is at best only superficial, incomplete, and at worst, not redemptive.”In 2012, another of the churches, The First Congregational Church of Tacoma sold its 106 year old location to Mars Hill Church for $1.9 million in order to stave off mounting bills. “Though 40 people had been coming to the services regularly for the past few months, the generally shrinking congregation didn’t come close to filling the 40,000-square-foot building on most weekends,” said the church’s trustees chairman Phillip Blackledge. (More recently, Mars Hill Church disbanded and Resurrection Church has assumed the building.)
In Isaiah 43.19, God declares to us that "I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert. "He loves to take the old and replace it with something that is beautiful and worthy
and priceless. 2 Corinthians 5.17 tells us that when we become believers, He makes us a new creation. The old is gone; the new is here! The idea that God can use the old to make something new and beautiful is very evident in these old church buildings. I sat and pondered the irony of old wooden floors and ornately carved pews, of intricately stained glass windows that shown brilliantly colored light on large multi-media screens with ancient scripture and lyrics of “new and trendy” worship songs. Thank you, Lord that you are all about doing a new thing in our lives and especially in our hearts. May we ever be mindful of the masterpiece You continue to create us to be and may we sense with great anticipation Your making all things new. Amen.
of songs in worship. The most interesting similarity, though, is that they all meet in very old church buildings.While I’m not aware of the extensive history of each of these churches, I discovered they were churches with declining memberships in downtown locations that failed to transition along with the neighborhoods they were in.One of the churches, Redemption Church in Spokane, Washington includes this statement in their vision, “ there has existed a church on this corner for over 100 years and we share in the joy and privilege of being called by God to continue in the gospel work that over the decades has slowly and somewhat unknowingly faded into the surrounding culture. But there is another gospel that remains popular and comfortable throughout our region and it is the gospel of social action. This gospel has stalled many churches in the city. It has driven many of the churches to their knees, bending them to its will of social change, and a theology of liberation and not repentance. This gospel is at best only superficial, incomplete, and at worst, not redemptive.”In 2012, another of the churches, The First Congregational Church of Tacoma sold its 106 year old location to Mars Hill Church for $1.9 million in order to stave off mounting bills. “Though 40 people had been coming to the services regularly for the past few months, the generally shrinking congregation didn’t come close to filling the 40,000-square-foot building on most weekends,” said the church’s trustees chairman Phillip Blackledge. (More recently, Mars Hill Church disbanded and Resurrection Church has assumed the building.)In Isaiah 43.19, God declares to us that "I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert. "He loves to take the old and replace it with something that is beautiful and worthyand priceless. 2 Corinthians 5.17 tells us that when we become believers, He makes us a new creation. The old is gone; the new is here! The idea that God can use the old to make something new and beautiful is very evident in these old church buildings. I sat and pondered the irony of old wooden floors and ornately carved pews, of intricately stained glass windows that shown brilliantly colored light on large multi-media screens with ancient scripture and lyrics of “new and trendy” worship songs. Thank you, Lord that you are all about doing a new thing in our lives and especially in our hearts. May we ever be mindful of the masterpiece You continue to create us to be and may we sense with great anticipation Your making all things new. Amen.