Lately the books I’ve read communicate this insight: Little things and changes can make a big difference. I’ve read The 2-degree Difference: How Little Things Can Change Everything (B & H Publishing Group: Nashville, 2006) and Heart Shift (Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville, 2004) by John Trent. I am presently reading The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Little, Brown and Company: New York, 2002) by Malcolm Gladwell. Both authors describe how New York City was cleaned and made safer by paying attention to the little things. As a church minister and preacher, this provokes a question within me: What little things could make a difference for the church’s revival and growth? It’s an important question, but the answers must be weighed on a scale of stewardship fine tuned by sound doctrine in accordance with the gospel. We should want to avoid legalistic rules and shallow self-righteousness. Nevertheless, when our hearts are filled with faith and gratitude in praise of God’s grace, we should not fear exhortations, admonitions and encouragements from leaders to make the little changes and do the little things that would probably nurture a healthy atmosphere for spiritual growth.
There are two angles. First, there are many negative little things that can overwhelm us until we clean up the negative little things. Second, we must start positive little things or steps that steer and move us in the direction we should be going. What negative little things need to be changed? What positive little things need to be established? In a healthy, growing church you should be able to see the evidence of the grace of God in its devotion, enthusiasm, generosity, good works, spreading the news, and diligent attention to its spiritual health and responsibilities. There are examples of all these factors in the first 15 chapters of the book of Acts. (Read for example, Acts 2:42-47, 4:23-37, 5:41-42, 6:1-7, 8:4, 9:36-43, 11:19-26, 12:1-5,12, 13:1-3, Acts 14:19-28, and Acts 15:1-11). Acts 2:42 lists four little evidences of the devotion of the early Christians. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer. If that devotion is not present in today’s church then what is the problem? What little things can be fixed to turn this problem around? What little things can be consistently done to keep improving our devotion to what matters in our faith?
Two years ago our congregation held a men’s retreat that really was very edifying. However, it did suffer a moment of point-counter-point nitpicking. Someone asserted that things would improve if church members wore their “Sunday best” to church again. For brothers, that meant each one had to wear a suit and tie. Some brothers said, “I don’t think I own a suit.” I suspected as much, that the decline of the church started with the introduction of leisure suits in the 1970s. And now it appears revival hangs on a tie. A mission to revive us again by changing the little things could turn into agenda driven nitpicking. This is why I stated above that little changes “must be weighed on a scale of stewardship fine tuned by sound doctrine in accordance with the gospel”. (Galatians emphasizes the importance of conduct in line with the gospel). Recall that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for whitewashing their tombs while their hearts were full of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23). We should not reduce the Christian faith to whitewashing our environment and appearance, while leaving our hearts filled with corruption. The little things we emphasize should foster heart-felt devotion in line with the gospel.
I was very edified by a recent discussion in a Christian brothers’ leadership study. We discussed many things about how leaders can help their congregation grow spiritually. We all agreed that the fruit of the Spirit was the evidence of authentic spiritual growth. Fruit can be seen, picked, felt, tasted and shared. The list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Our brother Brad started the discussion that day with a reading from a classic revival passage, Revelation 3:1-6. If the church wakes up, what will it realize and need to change? It will need to strengthen what remains, complete its works in the sight of God, and stop the problem of its members getting their garments filthy. Therefore, strength in our foundation, determination to fulfill our calling, and purity of conduct are fundamental devotions for reviving a church that looks alive but is dead. What little changes must be made and little positive devotions admonished in order to make a big difference in cultivating genuine interest and fruitfulness that will please and honor our Lord Jesus? I’m not asking for a new to-do list for judging faithfulness; but I am appealing to wisdom, to explain the good conduct and habits characteristic of those who live worthy lives and bear fruit to the glory of God
