Wineskins and Panic

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’ – Matthew 9:16-17

Any church seeking to make a change must be positioned correctly for it to have a better chance of succeeding. The plan of action, the attitude, the buy-in, the necessary conversations and communication and volunteers…there are a lot of moving parts. Or, at least, there could or should be.

I’ve seen this go both ways. I’ve been part of attempts to get something new started quickly and without much planning that fizzled shorty after. I’ve also advised people with high energy for starting something new to take a few beats to plan things out a bit more, and the slowdown caused the enthusiasm to wane. I’ve also been part of times where each of these scenarios did lead to a positive outcome.

There are many reasons why attempts to get a church to try something new don’t pan out, many of which I’ve listed above. There may not be enough of a plan, not enough energy, not enough explanation to the congregation.

One recurring reason for a failed change is that there aren’t enough people involved. I bet most pastors have at least one story of a member telling them that “the church should do this” that really meant “you, by yourself, should do this.” I have a few of those myself.

Another regular reason for a new church initiative not panning out has to do with it being done out of panic. The pastor or a member becomes so overcome by anxiety about dwindling attendance or an increasing budget deficit or losing families to the megachurch that they may take sudden drastic action to course correct. This may be done so suddenly that:

• There’s little attempt to get the congregation on board. It’s willed forward largely by the person or people doing it.
• There’s no assessment of how well the action fits the church’s culture. It’s just that surrounding churches are doing it, or this consultant I heard speak last weekend said it was a good idea, so now we’re doing it.
• Those involved put doing something before planning to do something, with exactly the results that such a reversal generally will produce.

In other words, the old wineskin (the church) can’t handle the new wine (the decision).

A church seeking to make new wine will need to temper its panic. It will need to weigh resources, lay a foundation, discuss how well a particular initiative will fit with the church’s identity (or change its identity first).

Panic doesn’t serve anyone well, especially faith communities called to prayerful discernment.

There will be time to make and pour new wine. But there’s much to do before reaching that point.