If you google the phrase, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" you will find the following definition.
If something is reasonably successful or effective,
there is no need to change or replace it.
Ironically how this old axiom is seen somewhat differently today in many circles. You will find people criticizing this saying and approach as obsolete saying in maintaining the status quo you stymie change. Take the quote from Bill Gates in the photo to the right. Our culture has moved to embracing the idea that change for the sake of change is somehow necessarily better and that heritage is most likely obsolete, ineffective, likely even oppressive. This author thinks this viewpoint is full of stuffing.We could write a book about all the influences that are informing the drive for change. And this author is not arguing that change cannot lead to improvement. But there is too often this rush to judgment of the heritage (what people will label the status quo) and a rush into change with the assumption it must lead to something better.
The roots of this methodology are planted all the way in the middle 1800s with the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and Charles Darwin. Nietzsche was a philosopher of culture examining how people live and make their lives together. One of his most famous expressions is "will to power". Now Nietzsche didn't have much appreciation for absolutes or outside authorities imposed on humanity and hence didn't have a great deal of appreciation for the Christian concept of God and our human relations to God. In fact his statement "God is dead" is one of his most well known claims in which he sought to communicate the value of the concept of God for humanity had been gutted and was hence dead to the human race. He believed all human behavior came down to one thing: survival. Hence the "will to power". All human dynamics in his eyes were about people trying to come to power over the other. He was critical of the herd instincts that he saw as people with power using to keep other people in their powerless and servant state. It is a good thing according to him when people break free of the herd. This uber mensch or "over man" will have his own independent and free values and he is free from all the influences that dominate most people (the herd) and creates independent thinking over against the herd instinct. One can read in Nietzsche a justification that some are superior and not all are capable of breaking free of the herd so it is a good thing when the right "over man" is in charge. We know from history that the fascists and Nazi party took his philosophy to heart and used it as a justification to build the theory of a master race.
Nietzsche came after Darwin who was a product of the earlier 1800s. Darwin influenced Nietzsche in that Nietzsche was deeply shaped by Darwin's teaching that no species is unchanging, that the world is not built on eternal fixity but rather in pervasive change. Out of Darwin we find the theory of evolution and the premise of the "survival of the fittest" as being in the best interest of life. Hence again the seeds of the "over man."
Now we jump over many links in the chain of history to today. There are many influences in today's culture that suggest change is superior to heritage. New is better than old. And unfortunately the idea "if it ain't broke, break it" is becoming more operative. One influential philosopher of what has come to be known as the postmodern era is Jacques Derrida whose advocated for an approach to culture and society called deconstruction. Now what follows is a simplistic explanation but in general Derrida and his proponents following the idea of "social evolution" and believing that humanity has fallen into locked and stagnant systems of doing things, call for the general deconstruction of social rules, norms and institutions. It is not enough to destroy but to deconstruct. They need to be taken apart down to their very base components so they leave a vacuum. Only in this vacuum can something new and truly progressive be given birth. What that would look like no one knows it is so radically new. But in this postmodern revolt against absolutes, authorities, foundations, even truth itself for in their eyes nothing exists for how humans live their lives but what we have fabricated for ourselves, nothing is sacred.
Of course as Christians we see the lie and the danger in these ideas. All of them. For God is. Truth is. Foundations do exist. Humanity is a created being and we live our lives within boundaries and parameters created and defined by God. It is true that God gives us a great deal of wiggle room between the boundaries for how we build our lives together. But only a person blind to the greater whole and to God Himself would think all things human are all things fabricated by humanity alone.
So we return to the idea of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I think back to my seminary days. I didn't hear this phrase in seminary but it did inform my theological education. Lutheran theology (at least in the LCMS) finds great value in its heritage and finds ultimate and unquestionable value in the given foundation of the truths of Holy Scripture. You could sum up four years of seminary education with "this is the truth of God, it isn't broken so don't go trying to fix it!". But unfortunately the seminary doesn't always do such a great job of teaching how this applies to coming into a congregation and shepherding a group of people. That most pastors have to learn in the trenches.
Most pastors learn pretty quickly when they come into a new pastorate that its been there a lot longer than they have. I started out with two small churches (a dual parish) of farming folk for the most part. And they had their way of doing church. They had their way of doing worship, fellowship, serving their community, even paying the bills. We call this "congregational culture". When a new pastor starts out with his shiny black clerical (its new) and his pristine white collar (hasn't gotten dirty yet) he comes in by virtue of his call and his being new with so many pastor points. A smart pastor will invest those points in gaining more points (think influence points) through listening, learning, relationship building and respecting congregational culture.Now I can hear the criticism almost immediately "but what if they are doing something wrong, shouldn't I correct it?" There is a lot to this question. First, is it really wrong? It is plain flat out wrong against Biblical teaching? Or is it just not the way you the pastor are used to or have become convinced it must be done. Now it is true Scripture lays out some clear do's and don'ts for human life even how we do church. But sometimes we can confuse what we think is wrong with what is really our belief that this is better than that when in truth God has left the church a degree of freedom in that regard. For example in one church I was a bit uncomfortable because for communion all they had were trays of singles, there was not even a chalice. Now I could have made a big deal about it and soon but it would have required me to spend "pastor points" and started me off as being one critical of their culture. Instead I recognizing that God doesn't really care as its not in His book, I adjusted my preferences and respected the culture and they never knew it was even a challenge for me.
When a pastor respects the culture of the congregation it shows respect for the people. It was their church long before it was his.
When I came into my most recent congregation they were grieving a huge loss. Their beloved pastor of thirty years had died suddenly. But the congregation was healthy and stable and passed through this time of grief and loss well continuing to grow. In my first years at the congregation I confirmed more adults than in twenty years of previous ministry. The congregation had its act together. I came to realize the culture was built around three main pillars that worked for people: traditional liturgical worship without being too formal or high church, a strong emphasis on Christian education (lots of offerings and lots and lots of participation, more than I've ever seen in other churches), and a deep care and concern for one another. Now of course they were a Biblical church thoroughly grounded in Scripture and Gospel. But what made people stay and return when they visited was these three things creating a healthy and stable system.
When I first arrived I was newly retired from the military and serving as their vacancy pastor (it is a God story about how I became their Senior Pastor). Now vacancy pastors almost by instinct knowit is not their place to create change. They are to maintain stability and ministry until the new person is in place. But even when I accepted the call I intentionally did not institute change. For instance they were in the process of changing the altar paraments when their pastor had died. I asked them to wait for awhile to finish this to avoid a big change in a very visible cultural element so early in my pastorate. Why? To maintain stability and demonstrate respect. I deliberately learned the congregational culture. How do they worship? What is said and when? How is it said? How does the pastor stand? Where does he stand? ? (We had an associate who was trained by the former Senior so I took ques from him.) What hymns do they sing? How do they do the holy seasons of Lent and Advent, Easter and Christmas. When are Bible classes offered? And so forth. Now of course I couldn't be the previous guy. For one thing I didn't know him well enough and for another every pastor is their own person. But you can learn the culture and your can respect it and by respecting it you respect the people and show you love them.
Now there is a big difference between a church and a business. Bill Gates may have made a fortune and built a massive company by not listening to "if it ain't broke don't fix it". As I understand it Google is intentional on not slipping into heritage and legacy ways of doing things. Most leadership theory is geared around the creation of change. But the church is built on something not built by human hands. It is built on the Gospel. It is not a business or a company. It is not a social organization like a club. The church is a family. It is the family of God in a place and time.
The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God.
And we really are his children.
1 John 1:3
If we are God's children that means like it or not we are family and our fellow Christian believers are our very real brothers and sisters. Family by blood, the blood of Christ. Healthy families are ones that have a degree of stability. They can certainly adjust to change when it comes but they are very careful and intentional about change asking if that change brings value. For families need something in common, some stable ground. When a family system becomes to unstable it falls or even flies apart.
Many new pastors make the mistake of coming in and saying I know a better way. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. But the reality is the church you come into has a way of doing things. Maybe it functions well and is healthy. Maybe it functions but it isn't so healthy. But the key is this: knowing what should be changed and why, knowing when, and knowing what should be left alone because it works. And a wise pastor will listen when the folks communicate they don't like a change or they would like a change. (in the area of adiaphora) There is a very big difference between changing the way a church does worship for example because you are convinced from your personal values, beliefs, or even training that their way isn't quite good enough to realizing the way the church does something excludes others and saying that might need to change. But even when change is necessary, the wise pastor gets buy in from his flock. Seeking to understand congregational culture, adapt oneself to it as a pastor, and respecting it and the people doesn't mean having to sign off on unhealthy dysfunction. But it does mean going slow. Gaining respect. Gaining their love and letting them know you love them before you ask them to let go of things that maybe they need let go of and adopting some new ways of doing things. But when they have learned you love them with a deep abiding and respectful love they will more like to hear and follow. When you go to fast and push from a position of "I'm the pastor, you the parishioner" too often the wheels fall off and people get hurt. A church is a family system. Too much instability and it can fall apart at least to a degree.
And there is a flip side too. It also means recognizing the difference in oneself as a pastor between personal preferences and God given necessities. Too often we pastors fall into the trap of thinking our personal way has to be the best way. It is understandable because our personal values have all sorts of reinforcing layers in our brains from experience and learning telling us this is the way the world (and the church) is supposed to be.
Yes change comes. It is the nature of reality. There are things that certainly don't change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Gospel does not change. God's grace is ours through Word, Baptism and Communion. But there is so very much about "how we do church" that falls into the area of not commanded nor forbidden (what theologians call adiaphora). This author believes God left flexibility to the church on many matters so that we can build congregational cultures of ministry that communicate God's love to people. Now this author has some strong opinions about what kinds of cultures are effective versus those that may be less effective born from years of theological study and ministry experience. But this author recognizes none the less that in many things God has not says "thus says the Lord". Congregations have their way of doing things and often they do indeed work well in that place. Introducing new practices, eliminating old practices, creating anxiety and instability with the intent of creating change for this author sounds too much like the ungodly philosophies of postmodernism and less like the Godly philosophy of love of neighbor and the Godly revelation that indeed truth exists. If its broke then indeed fix it. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Can I get an amen?
So about change I really like a fellow Lutheran's prayer here with a modification.
God,
grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change
or should not be changed;
Courage to change the things I can
and should be changed
and
WISDOM
to know the difference.
Amen.
(based off Reinhold Niebur's Serenity Prayer)
