20411 Douglas Crescent Langley, BC V3A 4B6 p: 604-533-2232 | f: 604-533-5405 e: office@bc.paoc.org | www.bc.paoc.org District Superintendent, Ken Russell
The Opportunities and Uncertainties of “CHANGE” Creatures of habit and routine like myself do not necessarily welcome change! Over the course of my life, I’ve been lovingly mocked for having a “Hebrews 13:8 hairstyle”… “Hair that is the same yesterday, today and forever!!” It also occurred to me recently, that I have been shaving my face the same way from the time I was fifteen years old. I always start with an application of shaving cream on the same cheek, and then begin removing my bristles with the same systematic shaving pattern. While this may not seem significant to some people, it made me realize how entrenched I had become in some patterns in my life. Whether in life or ministry, managing the tension and uncertainty of “change” is an essential component of growth and progress. No one ever stays the same. People are either progressing or regressing. No one has the option of staying the same. In fact, every cell of our body is renewing itself constantly. Micro changes are happening in our body, even as we read this article. Change confronts complacency and apathy. Stagnation is the hallmark of affection for the “status quo” and the “plateaued life.” Personally and vocationally, people must avoid stagnation by changing things around themselves, which will challenge their need for a static life. People can typically change their conduct—things they do and how they react—but only the Holy Spirit can change their character. Change creates renewal and revitalization. On New Year’s Day, most of us feel an automatic sense of renewal. Sure enough, the calendar rolls
over to a new number, but in reality December 31st is not much different than January 1st. With that being said, there is something beneficial about creating a deadline for change, new resolutions, altered habits, and transformed routines. Change censures our dependency on repetition. If you study successful business leaders today, you quickly discover that they aren’t reactive, they’re proactive. They make new things happen and seldom repeat old patterns. Apple, Microsoft, Walmart, Facebook, Starbucks, or Google…these organizations constantly apply new changes to their methodology and products in order to meet the needs of their clients. Churches that resist change cease to accomplish their mission or connect with their communities. The mission of Christ is too important. We must not allow our resistance to change to lead the church into irrelevancy. Our God specializes in change, deliverance and transformation. Isaiah 43:15-19 says, “I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King. This is what the LORD says--he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: ‘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 desert and streams in the wasteland.’” With all of this mind, I remind myself that Jesus took my life, when I was far from Him, and made me brand new. He took that which was broken and He transformed it. He broke my passive and aggressive disobedience and gave me a submissive, willful desire to emulate Him. Therefore I must embrace change, rather than fear it or grieve what was once my comfortable nature.
this issue District Superintendent 1 BCYD Global Workers 2 Aboriginal and Cultural Ministries 3 Assistant Superintendent 3 BC Campus Ministries 3 Youth, Young Adults, Family 4 Children & Preteen Ministry 4 Director of Crisis Intervention 5 Summit Pacific College 5 Happenings Around the District 6 District Calendar 7 BCYD COTM Promo 8
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