How many Presbyterians does it take to change a lightbulb?

• None. It was predestined to perish.
• Ten. One to notice it's out; five to form a committee to investigate the reason it went out; three to secure competitive bids on its replacement and make a recommendation to session; and one to wonder why it's still out a month later and just buy a bulb and fix it.
• CHANGE??!!

We joke about change, but when it comes to significant changes in our lives, our church, or our society, we are less likely to laugh. Change is disorienting.  Whether the change is welcome (such as the birth of a child) or unwanted (such as the death of a loved one), it requires us to say goodbye to what is familiar, to adapt our patterns of living, to learn new skills or form new relationships. Change produces fear of the unknown, which creates anxiety and resistance.

Many people value the church as an anchor in the midst of change. For many, the church stands for timeless, unchanging truths which serve as a constant, a comfort, and a corrective for a changing world. We encounter so much change in the rest of our lives, we want the church to remain the same. After all, doesn't the Bible remind us, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever"?

But the church must change, and inevitably does. We no longer read from papyrus scrolls written in Ancient Greek. We meet in church buildings, not catacombs. We have organs and guitars and electronic keyboards not lyres and timbrels.

But the genius of the gospel is that while it is unchanging in its essentials, it is adaptable to changing times and cultures. We see it even in the early church. The Book of Acts could also be called the Book of Change. It begins with the leadership change following Jesus' ascension. As the Word spreads, we see the church adapt to different cultural contexts: baptizing an African eunuch; receiving Samaritans and gentiles as equals; declaring the kosher requirements of the Law and even the covenant sign of circumcision as no longer necessary or binding.

Changes in American society over the past 50 years have caused the church to become increasingly marginalized in our society. Sunday worship has become just one of many options in an increasingly secular and consumerist nation. Ministry has changed from a high-status, relatively low-stress vocation to a low-status, high stress one. Families have shrunk in size¸ and fewer of our children are staying in the church as adults. People talk, first in whispers, and now aloud, about "the death of the church."

Nevertheless, I am excited about our future. Why? Because the changes confronting the church are forcing us not to take our faith for granted. We are in a "new apostolic age" in which the church, like the first Christians, must move out into the world, take risks, be creative, and live the gospel (not just hear it). As Presbyterians, we are challenged to adapt our long-standing structures that worked for 250 years, but are no longer nimble enough to meet the pace of change. We are becoming more flexible, entrepreneurial, and responsive in our governance and mission, and all while we adapt to having fewer resources at our disposal.