Call Me 'Mikesy'...

I love Banksy. (If you don't know who Banksy is, Google it.) His art just seems to resonate with me and I am not really sure why. It is not particularly beautiful, its colours do not jump out at you and sometimes the subject matters are borderline offensive. But I like it.

The picture above is a Banksy and believe it or not it is a very controversial piece of art. Why is it controversial? It is because Banksy painted over the work of another street/graffiti artist named Robbo. Robbo was THE graffiti artist in London back in the day and the art Banksy covered up was one of the last original Robbo pieces from the 1980's. The art pictured above started a graffiti war between Banksy and "Team Robbo" that is still raging today on the streets of London.

Here is the Robbo art Banksy painted over.

At the heart of the war is "Should the 'new' artist Banksy cover over the art of the 'old' artist Robbo?" and both sides have their proponents. It is up to you to decide which appeals to you more, the new Banksy or the old Robbo.

There is a war raging in society between the new and the old and whether or not the new should "paint over" the old. Should new music paint over old music so that the old is gone forever? Should new architecture paint over the old so that communities loose their distinctiveness? And we could go on and on.

In the church a similar war rages when a congregation enters a revitalization process. Should the new way of doing church paint over the old way so that the old way is no longer visible? That is a tough question and you would be able to find people on both sides of the argument to fight for what they believe to be right.

For me the answer comes down to one word - MISSION. Is the church accomplishing the mission they have been called to by God? If the old church is involved in missional work within their community, then why change it? But if the old church is more concerned with the traditional work in the church rather than the missional work in the community, then it is time to get out the paint brushes! That being said, don't start changing the old with something new if the new will not help the church be involved in mission. Not all new things are missional.

Let me give you a very practical example that most churches have discussed at one time or another - music. The worship wars of traditional vs. contemporary music have been going on for 20 plus years. Some church leaders have argued that they need to change the music in the church to something the younger generation can relate to while others have held firm to the notion that the classic hymns of the church are the only proper expressions of music acceptable in the church. What they are arguing about is musical preference rather than missional objectives. It is possible to have traditional music within a missional church just as it is possible to have contemporary music in a non-missional church. If your church is involved in mission, you will discover the style of music that resonates with the people you are reaching. You have to be willing to change if it is not the style you are currently using.

Change is hard but all great things in the world have come about because change occurred. The difficulty is deciding what to change and what not to; what do we paint over and what do we keep? That is a decision that has to be made by each congregation but I would warn all of them to make sure if you are painting over the old, make sure that the new is concerned about mission. Don't paint over the old to just freshen it up a bit so it looks the same with a new coat of paint.

Blessings!