While I haven’t heard the words for a while the idea is still common. I heard it most days during the republican debate in Australia a decade ago. Those who wanted to retain the monarchy argued the system had served us well and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

This is not a blog about republicanism. It is about one of the arguments used – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. What lies behind this statement is a contentment with what we have because it has served us well, and any change, with no track record, could well make things worse.

Contentment

Contentment is a great Christian virtue. The circumstances of our lives are given by God, and we should, like the apostle Paul, seek to know the secret of contentment in all things (Phil 4:12).

But we must beware – behind the name of contentment may lurk an unwillingness to change and work hard. We can use the concept of contentment to protect ourselves from the pain we should be willing to take.

Explore past performance

Rather than the ‘ain’t broke’ mantra we would do well to look carefully at and examine past performance. I know we must always think theologically and biblically about how we organize ourselves but we must also ask the hard questions like: Have we been what we are called to be? Have we done what we are called to do? Has our group that God has gathered in partnership functioned well to proclaim His glory to our city and those around us? Honestly answering questions like these will help us to think about what we should do in the future.

The pain of change

Change is almost always painful. I guess that is why we are so reticent to make it. Sides are taken and each side criticizes the other. Early adopters of change mock those who can’t see the writing on the wall’. Slow to adopt dismiss the other side by claiming they are changing when there is no evidence change will improve things and they do not think things through carefully. I have been known to be on both sides of the debate (and sadly have mocked the other side), but what really matters is that our goal should be to honour Christ and benefits that flow from that to His people rather than enjoy the comfort of our structures or the thrill of being an early adopter.

An example

I have recently been thinking about church planting, as it is always painful for ministries already labouring on the ground (unless it is to a group that the current ministry thinks is unreachable by them). I can understand not wanting another group to come into my parish – it takes away momentum from our ministry plans. I can understand the hostility if my denomination were to be the group that do it. But responding with ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the wrong way to think. 85% of our suburbs don’t care about God, and over 95% of our suburbs are completely untouched by the gospel, how can we ever withdraw to that argument?

It is so easy to declare that our churches are full and we have great plans for the future, so we don’t do anything else that rocks the boat. I am excited about that, but so much more needs to be done, and we need to be willing to do it.