I have recently been reading about the Crystal Cathedral and its financial problems as well as its diminishing attendance at worship. One of the things that was stated in the newspaper article is that along with the diminishing attendance, the age of the congregation is older. It was also stated that Schuler had not thrown out the organ and replaced it with a rock band. It is a fact that if we do not change with the times, the church seems to die. We have main line denominations that are dwindling away because they are stooped in tradition.

I am not saying that tradition is bad. What I am saying is that when tradition stifles the life of the church, you need to try something new. What is tradition? Could it be that tradition is what God would have for us to do today to meet the needs of the people of our time? As I read the Scripture, it appears to me that God did whatever it took to win the people to Himself. So then tradition is “winning souls and making disciples.” Is that not what the Great Commission is all about? If I remember correctly, God criticized the Pharisees for being too steeped in tradition because it was hindering bringing souls into the kingdom.

The founder of the Methodist Movement, John Wesley, was a man who stepped outside of tradition. He went to the place where the lost lived — in the gutters, the bars, the ghettos, as well as the church. As he went his brother, Charles, wrote songs to tunes people knew and were accustomed to singing — bar tunes if you will. He did this because he was about winning the lost to Jesus Christ. He did that very thing very well because he started a movement that has lasted until today. Yet the movement Wesley started with unorthodox methods seems now to be so steeped in tradition that we have lost our pioneering spirit.

I don’t intend to criticize the Methodist, the Presbyterian, the Lutheran, or any other denomination. I just want us to step back and consider what it is that we are about. Are we here to perpetuate tradition or to win the lost for Jesus Christ? I think Jesus gives us the answer to this question very clearly. We are to win the lost for Him, and we are to do whatever it takes to complete the job. So let’s be instruments of His Spirit and do the work to which He has called His Church.

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