I read Seth Godin’s blog daily. He’s a marketer, but I am often stimulated to solid ideas about ministry. On September 22 he talked about how we argue for the status quo when comparing something new with what we already have. It ends this way:

Sometimes, we end up simply arguing for or against a given status quo, instead of the issue that’s actually at hand. And the danger is pretending you’re being fair, when you’re not. In this silly article from the Times, the author (and their editors) are wondering if oat milk and pea milk are a “scam.” This is a classic case of defending the status quo. Here’s a simple way to tell if that’s what you’re doing: imagine for a second that milk was a new product, designed to take on existing beverages made from hemp, oats or nuts. Defending oat milk against the incursion of cow milk is pretty easy. The author could point out the often horrific conditions used to create cow milk. “Wait, you’re going to do what to that cow?” They could write about the biological difficulty many people have drinking it. Or they could focus on the significant environmental impact, not to mention how easily it spoils, etc.

Or imagine that solar power was everywhere, and someone invented kerosene, gasoline or whale oil. You get the idea…

There are endless arguments to be had when new ideas arrive. The challenge is in being clear that we’re about to take a side, and to do it on the effects, not on our emotional connection to the change that’s involved. –Seth Godin, September 22, 2021

In the church, new stuff is always compared with old. Music is a classic example. We like what we like and different is, well, different.

If we want to run a Sunday morning church service differently, with interaction, a shorter sermon, and prayer together in small groups, we get a comment like my pastor friend received from one of his elders: “That’s not church.” (This was a blog I wrote way back in back in 2014. It captures this idea perfectly. Check it out!)

Suppose we were used to “church” as coming together in small groups, perhaps in homes, to pray together, share from the word together, even break the bread and drink the wine to remember the Lord, and someone said, “Here’s a better way. We’ll all come together in one big building. I’ll share what I got from the word this week while you all listen. I’ll ‘lead us in prayer’ while you listen. And breaking bread and drinking wine doesn’t count unless I have prayed over it first.” Would we shoot that down as “That’s not church!”?

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43.18, 19 ESV)