Change by the inch is a cinch

Several years ago an older minister friend of mine said something that I thought was the kind of thing old guys say to justify not changing. In referring to church leadership he said, "Change by the inch is a cinch, but change by the yard is hard." He was encouraging me not to be in so much of an all-fired hurry to make things happen and look the way I wanted them to be. I dismissed his comment at the time and stayed aggravated at anyone who didn't share my exact vision for how things "should be".

Now, a few years and many experiences later, I see the wisdom in his statement. Now that I lead a congregation, I understand. I am blessed by having people of all age groups represented. I have people who are recent converts and those who have been in church their entire life. I understand that I will never get all of them to agree with 100% of anything I do, but that is not a reason to intentionally leave any of them behind.

I know that it is possible to become paralyzed into inaction by fear of the reaction of the people I lead, but I can also see that thinking of how my decisions may affect different people causes me to  think things through and make sure that they are God's idea and not my own path to Pastor Randy awesomness. As most any pastor can attest, I have some in my church who would like things to change faster, and I have some who think I am going too fast already. So, instead of threatening or frustrating me, the variety of opinions drive me to my knees to pray for wisdom in each decision and new direction, and I am grateful for that. It keeps me going in a consistent direction. And when I am sure that I am following God's leading, I can live with the outcomes.

I have a vision of our church as being much different a few years from now than it is currently, but I don't feel rushed to get there by Easter or even by Christmas. I will strive to continually nudge our folks toward the goal, hoping that all will make the trip with us. So far, this change by the inch has been a cinch.