In 2019, General David Berger (Commandant of the Marine Corps) made a number of startling changes: he retired the Marine Corps tanks, did away with a number of MOSes (job specialties), and decommissioned a number of regiments. He also refocused the Marine Corps towards a mission of fighting from the sea, a change from the policies in place since September 11, 2001. There is a new focus on technology, training, and wargaming, and a renewed emphasis on operating in any and all terrains. [1]

It was a decisive change in strategy, planning, manning, and emphasis. And it has come with a lot of angst. Units with decades of tradition and history have been retired. Entire groups of Marines have had to change their focus and training, and many have been retired or released. Many have felt sad, frustrated, even angry. Any change comes with loss. That loss must be seen, heard, and understood. Yet the Commandant is undeterred in taking these steps towards making a forward-leaning force, capable of adapting to the ever-changing challenges in the 21st-century competition of global great powers.

You must decide if you are more invested in the mission or the methods. If the mission is to win wars across all battlefields, then new methods must be invested to defend from attack and counter threats quickly and decisively.

How might the church follow suit?

The mission has stayed the same since the first century: to share the good news and participate in God’s expanding kingdom. The New Testament talks about it in a number of ways:

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. (1 Chron. 16:24)

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10, emphasis added)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (1 Tim. 2:3-6a)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 2:8)

Over and over again, we are reminded that the mission of God is to bring people back into relationship with Godself. But the methods by which that takes place have varied over time.

• The early church started off by working in the temple courts. A few broke out of this Jerusalem-centric model to take the gospel to the surrounding towns and villages, and a few brave souls took the message to the Samaritans. But it took a vision from heaven and the tenacious faith of a Roman centurion to make the early church break into the gentile world, and then the continued tenacity of Saul/Paul (and a host of others) to spread the church throughout the empire.

• Celtic Christians moved into an area and taught skills – from farming techniques to animal husbandry to reading – all so people might be attracted to the gospel.

• The printing press became a gamechanger as Christians embraced this new technology to print Bibles, religious tracts, and placards so people might embrace faith.

• Missionaries like Matteo Ricci move into new areas, learning the local language and customs and seeking to explain the message of Jesus in terminology and cultural bridges that this culture can understand.

• Christians have embraced new hymns, musical forms, singing styles, and instrumentation as they sought to help new peoples and generations worship in new ways.

Throughout the history of the church, people have embraced changing methods to accomplish the mission.

But change takes risk. All change is a loss, and as humans we are conditioned to mitigate loss at all costs. We appreciate predictable, we like the status quo, we tend toward the known. Risk-taking runs counter to entropy, so we tend towards complacency. Why change? We like things the way they are! You’ll hear it in a number of ways.

• It was good enough for the generations before us.

• It worked back then; we just need to get back to the way things were.

• If we change the ______, then some of our older/wealthier/more influential members might take themselves (and their contributions) elsewhere.

• But it’s biblical!

• Better to be safe in our practices than sorry on the day of judgment.

Okay, so some of those aren’t said out loud, but the sentiment is the same. We have spiritualized or prioritized the methods over the mission to the point that we think they are one and the same. So how can we break out of this spiritualized complacency?

Innovation is key. Innovation means prioritizing the mission to the point that even tried-and-true methods are reevaluated in terms of efficacy and efficiency. Are we willing to innovate, embracing new approaches that seek not to preserve our institution but to reach new generations with the gospel?

As Tod Bolsinger writes, “Genuine leadership must be focused on a vision that is beyond the profit, success, or even survival of the institution. It must be focused on the needs of real people in the real world.” [2] It will take leaders who are willing to tackle missional complacency head-on, challenging the status quo while embracing the best of who we are and what we’ve done while also pointing the way to new possibilities in helping new populations embrace the gospel.

It will take leaders who can see the challenges ahead and help lead with confidence while prompting change – even when it brings challenge and loss – in order to help us become a forward-leaning force, capable of adapting to the ever-changing challenges of 21st-century spiritual needs and the never-changing mission of God.

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[1] Commandant’s Planning Guidance, 2019. Available at https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/142/Docs/%2038th%20Commandant%27s%20Planning%20Guidance_2019.pdf?ver=2019-07-16-200152-700

[2] Tempered Resilience, 15.