Inertia

Out of everything I was forced to study in school, science was easily my most loathed subject.

In college, I had to have eight hours of science to graduate (two classes and two accompanying labs). I wound up essentially auditing botany, intro to biology, microbiology, and chemistry before I managed to pass geology and astronomy.

So, even though I want to talk about a scientific term today (inertia), you know I can't do it from a science perspective.

I know, technically, that inertia is "the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest." But, for me -- in my profession -- inertia is "the resistance of any church to a change in its state of motion or rest."

There's something about church culture that seems to breed this disease of inertia. If I haven't described it properly, let me give you a simple quiz to determine if you are infected.

If, when you hear of a change at your church, your first question is, "How does that affect me?" then you can be confident you have the disease of inertia.

Or, equally, when you hear of a change at your church, your first thought is, "But I would prefer this instead," then you can be confident you have the disease of inertia.

Even though Christ never modeled values of inertia that involve protecting our own turf, our own preferences, and our interests, especially at the expense of others, the disease of inertia certainly does . . . and it spreads like wildfire.

As author and pastor Thom Ranier has accurately said, "Too often the church has become a symbol of gathering together for one another rather than scattering for the sake of others."

Inertia causes us to be internally focused rather than looking out for the interests of others. Or, as John Bisagno has said, "The satisfied church is the church doomed to die."

If our mission is just to keep our members happy, inertia will reign. But if it's our desire to reach the lost, to disciple, to challenge and change lives . . . well, inertia must be defeated and innovation, change, and creativity must be embraced.

I love the fact that I've been blessed to serve in a church that's always looking to reach new people, to impact our community, to reach the nations . . . inertia isn't a core value. But that doesn't mean we don't occasionally hear, "But how does that affect me?" or "But I would prefer this instead . . ."

And I did learn something in all those science classes: the best way to eliminate inertia is to set the inert object into motion. And we're moving forward, always forward, friends!