Word Play: Adapt Ability - Monday
1 Corinthians 9:22
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. (NIV)
My first full-time ministry role was with a growing church that had opened its doors just nine months prior to my joining the staff. Shortly before I was hired, another church in the area reached out to the new church and essentially offered to hand over all of its assets, including their facility. Their leadership also decided to willingly step aside and let the new church leadership fully take over.
The newer church began using some innovative methods to reach unchurched people, so not everyone in the older church decided to stay. Except for one precious lady. She was past retirement age and had lost her husband a few years earlier. She was a constant source of encouragement. She sat on the front row every Sunday in the same seat and in the same building that she had donated money to help the previous church build. But it didn’t matter to her that a new church now occupied it, or that the music style and feel of the service had drastically changed from what she was used to. As she walked through the door every week, what mattered to her was that lots of younger people were coming. Week after week more new families would show up, and this brought her great joy. Sure, she missed the hymns she was used to singing, and missed many of the people who had decided the new church wasn’t for them, but she never thought about leaving. The lesson she taught me was that it isn’t about me! She had the maturity to know when to set aside preferences—ones that she could have seen as rightfully hers—in exchange for the good of others. I will never, ever forget the example of Miss Thelma, and I strive to be like her, as best I can, to this day.
The words this week from our Word Play teaching series are adapt ability. We’ll spend some time talking about what that means for followers of Jesus.
Monday’s Reflection
Is there a personal preference you have that could be getting in the way of your ability to reach other people who might think differently? Are you willing to let that go if it might mean someone could get to know Jesus?
