Which White? by Andy McDonald

Depending on your perspective, our lives are either blessed or plagued by paradox. Life would seem much more comfortable if every situation, every thought, every belief was an “either or.” How convenient would it be if all of life was either black or white? It would make it so much easier to line ourselves, and everyone else, up behind one of those two options.  But that isn’t reality.  The reality we face is a seemingly infinite variety of shades between pure white and the blackest black. In my office is a piece of art I created by collecting paint samples of the color white.  These are literal samples all the same shape and size and all “white.” They are mounted on a black background, and matted and framed with the title, “which white.”  In person, it is easy to see that each sample, were it alone, would simply be called “white,” but beside the other “whites,” we notice a slight blue, green, pink, gray, buff, etc. Each one is white in contrast to black, but how dull would the white need to be to no longer be called white?  How gray would a black need to become for it not to be thought black?

This would not be troubling in the least if it only concerned color. The truth is, so much of life doesn’t fit so well in the “either/or” and may best be managed by the “both/and.” All the variations of white are still white, and all the variations of black are still black, with a huge undecided bunch of gray in the middle!

In the church, I think this speaks to our giant task of preserving the core and stimulating progress. There seems to be an undying tension between those bent on stimulating progress and those dedicated to preserving the core. But at its very best, it’s most healthy state is this careful preservation of the core and simultaneous stimulating of progress. 

At the most simple level of church life and number of members, the tension exists. There are those who wish to grow.  Their campaign is that we are commissioned to make disciples of Jesus, and that means new people, while the preservers of the core may voice concern that we need to simply do a better job of making the members already with us more faithful to the core.  Fears will be voiced by the preservers that, if we grow, all those new people will make it not “feel the same” (We won’t know everybody!), while the progress stimulators will fear that, without progress, we will die. “If you aren’t growing, you’re dying” is one of their mantras.

Here’s what might need to be done.  All the “Preservers of the Core” acknowledge that preservation of what is does not equal faithfulness to God’s commission for us to be loving people into a lifelong friendship with God. And all the “Stimulators of Progress” acknowledge that all progress must be true to our core. Progress for progress sake—more people present who are not moving into a lifelong friendship with God—isn’t progress at all.

Like our nation, we must recognize the need for BOTH: “We hold these truths to be self-evident” AND “I have a dream.” Florida Hospital Church, to be the faithful church that God calls us to be, must not hunker down to only preserve, nor rush headlong for progress that isn’t.  Instead, we must do the hard, difficult, unifying work of holding the core and changing the practice.

What we do and who we are as a church family is too important to capitulate to either/or. We must be willing to set aside personal preferences, be willing to participate in creative destruction, and be willing to share in the pain and loss to do whatever it takes to be faithful in partnering with God to build a church that honors him.

Will we make mistakes along the way? Yes. But we cannot be content worshipping at church each week at the juncture of three zip codes where more than 25,000 people live that claim no relationship with Jesus. We can make a difference.  Whether your bent is to preserve the core or your bent is to stimulate progress, the answer isn’t either/or, but BOTH/AND! Together we can hold the core and change the practice.

Andy McDonald