{"id":4948,"date":"2014-01-16T08:51:13","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T08:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=4948"},"modified":"2015-02-16T10:48:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T10:48:11","slug":"the-challenge-of-rapid-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/the-challenge-of-rapid-change\/","title":{"rendered":"The challenge of rapid change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are living in exciting times, a period of volatile, rapid and even discontinuous change. I think that I can safely say that we 50 plus guys have seen more changes in our lifetimes than our dads and their dads did.<\/p>\n<p>Our churches can change either because they have to in order to survive or change because they want to. This involves embracing the opportunities that God is giving us. There is of course a third option of doing nothing!<\/p>\n<p>Where do we go from here? Most church leaders believe in &#8216;every member ministry&#8217; but many don`t act on it or encourage it. We church members could perhaps help and encourage them by focussing on making disciples and moving out of our comfort zones.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus said \u201cI will build my church\u201d. So let&#8217;s leave that to God and step out of our &#8216;front doors&#8217; where there is a big harvest waiting. We are not alone, the Holy Spirit is alongside us. This is what Jesus meant when he said, &#8220;When the Holy Spirit comes you will do even greater things than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let us move closer to the first century church with its movement, love and Spirit filled energy at the grass roots.<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/the-challenge-of-rapid-change\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are living in exciting times, a period of volatile, rapid and even discontinuous change. I think that I can safely say that we 50 plus guys have seen more changes in our lifetimes than our dads and their dads did. Our churches can change either because they have to in order to survive or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":5895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[435,129,878,877],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1hO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4536,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/reaching-the-over-50s\/","url_meta":{"origin":4948,"position":0},"title":"Reaching the over 50&#8217;s","date":"4 September 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Date:\u00a0Saturday 12th October 2013 Venue: St Thomas Church,\u00a0Chatsworth Road, Brampton, Chesterfield, S40 3AW Cost: \u00a35 Includes lunch and refreshments Contact: Steve Martin steve.martin@cvm.org.uk We are very aware of the unique challenges, opportunities and skills that exist with older men across the CVM Network. We are looking to expand, focus and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4230,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":4948,"position":1},"title":"REFLECTIONS: Is his spirit alive in our life?","date":"30 May 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Viewfinders, is an open church group that meets to help each other to take better photographs. Each month we set ourselves a photographic task\u00a0this month's subject is reflections, something to 'focus' on... We have recently downsized and moved into a small bungalow to be closer to our daughter and family.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5044,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/church-without-walls\/","url_meta":{"origin":4948,"position":2},"title":"Church Without Walls","date":"20 March 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The fastest growing churches are the ones without \u00a0'walls', the New Testament church, the persecuted underground church in China, the Pentecostal church in South America and parts of Africa. They have no buildings, no institutions, no professional leadership, but they have the body of Christ involved in all spheres of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1897,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/cvm-50-plus-group\/","url_meta":{"origin":4948,"position":3},"title":"CVM 50 plus group","date":"10 November 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Who are these guys? 50 plus ... that is ancient! I suppose it depends on how big the plus is! We are a group who meet twice a year to chat and pray together to encourage the churches to reach every man in our age group.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/CVMtoolbox1-300x237.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2540,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/standing-firm\/","url_meta":{"origin":4948,"position":4},"title":"Standing Firm","date":"17 May 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"What should our response be when we come under fire spiritually? The Bible is clear, we are simply to \u2018Stand Firm\u2019. For many of us the reaction is to retaliate. But the Bible teaches us that retaliation is not what God wants. Jesus who was so tempted did not retaliate,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1978,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/what-it-says-on-the-tin\/","url_meta":{"origin":4948,"position":5},"title":"What it says on the tin","date":"8 December 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The winner of the Yorkie Bar prize for naming the CVM '50 plus group' was Keith Harper from the Netherlands ... he wisely suggested that we keep it as it is - 50 Plus - \"it does exactly what it says on the tin\" Our thanks to Roger Leitch, Mike\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4948"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5535,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4948\/revisions\/5535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}