You’ll have heard the one that asks, “How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?”

“Change! Change! Really, is there something wrong with the old one!”

What if we flip it and ask, “How many light bulbs does it take to change the church?” Light bulbs are a metaphor for ideas… and I’ve heard countless ideas over the years, I’ve had countless ideas, and shared them… only for them all to be kicked into the long grass (I rather like metaphors!)

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a ‘forcing function’1 – an unexpected event that accelerated change in expected ways. It has been a catalyst to some of the change that we knew was needed, but resistance to change has maintained the status quo..

Why change? Does the church need to change? Yes, not because eternal truths change, but because the context and culture around changes. We must change to keep up with and remain relevant in changing times…

Some may say, “If it ain’t broke, dont fix it”, but what if it’s working perfectly as it did a generation ago, but fails to interact with current context and practice.

How many light bulbs does it take to change the church..?

  1. See https://medium.com/@johnpcutler/forcing-functions-and-continuous-improvement-7d06e4702da0 for helpful definition and explanation