My mother was raised in Brooklyn, New York. She moved to Ohio when she got married. Through the years, we had many visitors from the Empire State. She wanted them to experience all the sites of Northeastern Ohio, so one by one, she took them to Burton, in Geauga County, to see the Amish. When I was young, I accompanied my mother on those trips. I found the Amish to be curious. I remember asking my mother why they live that way. My mother simply said, “Russell, they are good people, but the Amish hate change.” That little community of Amish is not alone. Ohio has approximately 84,000 Amish.
Did you know there are approximately 384,000 Amish in North America? The Amish are found in 32 different states. Pennsylvania has the largest Amish population, 90,000. Ohio is second. Indiana is third at approximately 64,000. There are approximately 6,100 Amish living in Canada. There are only 30 Amish in New Mexico. In my life, I have seen the Amish countless times. Never forget, they are a traditionalist Christian fellowship with Swiss Anabaptist roots. They are known for simple living, plain dress and a reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. My mother was right – the Amish hate change! Can I ask you a question? How Amish are you? How do you feel about change? That question takes us to our scripture lesson.
We are in the first nine verses of the seventeenth chapter of Acts. Paul and Silas are on their second missionary journey, in the city of Thessalonica. The scripture tells us they spent a minimum of three weeks there. At that time, Thessalonica had a population of approximately 200,000 residents and was the capital of the province of Macedonia. Part of that population was a colony of Jews who had established a synagogue. It was Paul’s custom to go to the synagogue to teach and tell people about Jesus. That is exactly what he did.
On Saturday, the Sabbath, they go to the synagogue to tell those who have gathered about Jesus. To be more exact, Paul tells them about the Good News of Jesus Christ on three consecutive Sabbaths. The good news is some believe Paul, they accept Jesus, and their souls were saved. In their numbers were some Jews and some God-fearing Greeks. The bad news is Paul’s success made some of the other Jews jealous and the scene turned ugly. They go to the marketplace and round up a mob, who go to the home of Jason to look for Paul and Silas, but they are gone. Frustrated, the mob turns on Jason and drags him in front of the city officials. They identify him as the source of the civil unrest. In the end, Paul and Silas slip out of town quietly.
That ancient synagogue did what we must never do – they became inflexible. At some point, their traditional ways became the most important thing. God had done something new, but they were more interested in the old. God had done a great thing through the ministry of Jesus Christ, but they didn’t care. The only thing they cared about was their traditional ways. They were more concerned about their “likes” and “dislikes” than what others needed. Just like the Amish, this ancient Jewish congregation hated change. Those who resisted change won the battle, but they lost the war. Their body was divided over change. Can I ask you a question? How Amish are you? How do you feel about change? This is the painful truth; the American Mainline Protestant church has become notorious for her inflexibility.
Years ago, I was involved in a pulpit exchange. It was the third Sunday in January, so the weather was cold and icy and the crowd was thin. When I arrived, I approached four men with the average age of one hundred. Without offering their names, they began to apologize for the poor attendance. They told me about their church’s glorious past. Their choir was the best in the county. The bowling team never threw a gutter ball. The pastor worked 120 hours a week and never asked for a raise. The nursery was filled with crying babies and the crowd was uncountable, standing room only!
When you are the guest preacher, you can ask questions that you can’t ask as the permanent pastor. I asked, “Where did everybody go?” The four of them shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders. They said, “The problem is the younger generation, they are just not committed like us. They just don’t appreciate the old ways. They just don’t appreciate the old songs.” One guy lit up when he looked at his bulletin and announced, “Good! We are singing Lilies of the Valley today!” I said, “Why don’t you start singing some songs younger generations may like?” One gentleman responded, “We are never going to sing that junk. Younger folks just need to grow up.” They were speaking in perfect English, but they might as well have grown beards and spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. They were Amish – they hated change! How Amish are you? Our inflexibility will be our demise.
The mainline Protestant church is dying at an alarming rate. The numbers are not pretty. According to the FASICLD (Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development), 4,000 churches close their doors annually. That averages out to be approximately 77 churches a week. Consider this fact with me, between 1990 and 2000, our national population grew 11%. During the same period, the membership of the mainline Protestant church dropped 9.5%. Did you know the number of Christians in America is smaller than the number of Christians in India and China? The reason the mainline Protestant church is shrinking is the inflexibility of our membership. It is the same theme found in our scripture lesson. The times had changed, but the people resisted the change. They hated change. You can call them “first century Amish.”
Why do people hate change? There is no single answer. According to the Harvard Review there are ten reasons why people hate change:
- Loss of control
- Excess uncertainty
- Surprises
- Everything seems different
- Loss of face
- Insecurity
- More work
- Ripple effect
- Past resentments
- Fear of failure
Can I add an eleventh reason? Most don’t like change at church because of selfishness. They are more concerned about their “likes” and “dislikes” than what is good for other people. They are more concerned about their “likes” and dislikes” than other generations. The mob was created because they didn’t like what was happening. They should have been happy because others were coming to Jesus, but no, they were Amish, they hated change. How Amish are you?
Years ago, I had some interior painting done in my home. The painter showed up at 8:00 on a Monday morning. He did not make the best first impression. I don’t know how else to describe him. He was stuck in the early 1970s. His stringy, graying hair hung down to his shoulders. His beard was ungroomed. His t-shirt was from some past concert. When I opened the door, he simply introduced himself as “the painter.” I said, “Your parents didn’t name you ‘the painter.’ What is your name?” He smiled a toothless smile and answered, “Just call me Squeaks.” I shook Squeak’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you, Squeaks!” In the next few minutes, he carried his equipment in, and he plugged in his boom box. The first song I heard was ACDC’s “Highway to Hell,” then came “Back in Black,” and “Running with the Devil.”
It took Squeaks about two days to finish the job, and he did a good job. Over those hours, I talked to him as I came and went. It didn’t take long for us to become comfortable. At one point, he looked at me and asked, “What do you do for a living?” I responded, “I am a preacher!” He said, “Wow! You save souls for a living? Does that pay well?” He laughed, but I didn’t respond. Then, Squeaks asked, “What kind of preacher are you?” I said, “I am a United Methodist.” He fired back, “Is that anything like the Amish?” I said, “No!” He shocked me when he said, “My girlfriend used to be Amish.” I thought to myself, “he has a girlfriend?” What I said was, “Really? She is a lucky young woman to have you.” Leading with some ugly language he said, “I am the lucky one. She is real sweet and pretty. She appreciates everything I do for her. Her name is Lydia.” I couldn’t leave it alone, so I asked him, “Where did you meet Lydia?” The answer was, at a Ted Nugent (born 1948) concert. I asked him, “What is an Amish girl doing at a Ted Nugent concert?” Squeaks said, “Oh, she isn’t Amish anymore, she walked away.” Squeaks told me because she walked away, her family and the entire Amish community shunned her. He said, “Lydia has tried to reach out to them, but they treat her like she is dead.” I didn’t know what to say, but Squeaks kept talking. Using more colorful ugly language he said, “They are the losers. They are missing out on so much. She is a wonderful, loving person.” Squeaks was right! Squeaks was wiser than he looked. Can I ask you a question?
How Amish are you? How much do you hate change? How many wonderful, loving people aren’t part of our lives because it is our way or the highway? Like it or not, many within the life of the church are like the Amish. They hate change, but the world has changed, God is always doing something new. Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) once said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, no one thinks of changing himself.”
Russ Adams 