Repentance is a big hairy word that few particularly like. It carries a lot of baggage with it. It’s a word that’s been used as a battering ram on folks’ hearts, when really it was intended as an invitation. To repent, simply put, is to change, literally, to turn around. It’s to admit you’ve been headed in the wrong direction, and to turn around to head in the right direction, God’s direction, following God’s directions.
Repentance isn’t about what we can do. It’s about what we can’t do, not alone.
Take a list of New Year’s resolutions, for instance, and remove the silly stuff and promises we’ll break before we even get the kids back to school. Take those away until the list includes what really matters: the practice of our faith, our health, our relationships. The things on any list, the things we might really need to change, are things we can’t change, not alone.
I have a little experience with dying churches. I’ve served a couple of dying churches in my years in ministry before coming to Colorado. Through my denominational work, I’ve been in relationship with about a half dozen more.