Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 8
The speaker warns that changing methods is inevitable but removing traditions without replacing them “with something better” will cost “generations,” and he calls reaction “the major contributor to church drift”; where is your church most tempted to “react” to a former generation rather than build on what was valuable, and what would “rowing” instead of “drifting” look like in that exact area?
Another way to ask: Where is your church tempted to react against the older generation instead of keeping what was good? In that same area, what would it look like to move forward on purpose instead of slowly drifting?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The speaker teaches that reaction—changing just to distance from past inconsistencies—drives drift, while “rowing” means intentionally owning methods without abandoning principles and carefully replacing any removed tradition with something stronger and more biblical.
- He quotes his great-grandfather: “Methods are many. Principles are few. Methods always change, but principles never do,” and says each generation must “own its methods” without changing principle.
- He warns: if a tradition is “ripped out…don’t do it without replacing it with something better…you’re going to pay a price for generations.”
- He says change is certain: “return in 10 years, you’ll see change because change happens,” so the question becomes what kind of change.
- He asserts: “Every generation will be tempted to react to the inconsistencies of the former generation,” and says success is measured by not reacting but “build[ing] on what the former had that was valuable.”
- He calls reaction “the major contributor to church drift,” and contrasts “drifting or…rowing,” noting “we’re not just staying at one place.”