Wallpaper
Wallpaper
The first house that my wife and I purchased was a small 3-bedroom, 2-bath starter home. In fact, it was the first house we had ever even looked at, but it was in bad shape. So bad, in fact, I think we walked in and basically walked out: the carpets were terrible, every wall, inside and out, needed painting, the fixtures and cabinets were old and falling apart, and it was dark, old, and in need of a serious makeover. We continued to look at other houses for weeks, house after house, but on a student pastor salary with a child on the way, we were anxious to find the right house at the right price. Eventually, we went back and looked at that first house, but this time it was different. Mind you, it still needed major TLC, but this time we saw its potential. With some new floors, new paint, and improved aesthetics, this home could be the one. Because of the price point, we could afford to purchase it and make improvements, and that we did. We flipped that house and, in just over a year, made a great profit.
The kitchen had some hideous wallpaper. The kind of wallpaper that was busy, made you dizzy, in fact, that you might find in your grandmother’s kitchen in the early 80s. It was definitely one of the first things on our list we wanted to change. But it kept getting pushed down our priority list. We needed to replace some carpet, then some electrical, a door, tile, and the list just kept coming. Over time, the wallpaper didn’t bother us like it once had. Was it still awful? Absolutely. But we had become used to it. We kept giving time and money to other projects, and months went by until one day we had family over to come see our improvements. Within moments of entering our home, someone said, “When are you going to change this wallpaper? It’s terrible!” No comment about all the other improvements we had made, just a criticism about the wallpaper!
It’s easy to get used to wallpaper. What once made your skin crawl, over time, loses its offensiveness. Days, then weeks, then months desensitizes your disgust until eventually, you don’t notice it at all. There is a lot of wallpaper in our churches. Not the terribly designed wall covering, but the ugly thing that needs to be repaired, renewed, or even replaced. It could be something physical like an old, worn “Welcome!” sign (nothing says we’re really excited to see guests like a faded and broken-down sign), or maybe your wallpaper is a committee with the wrong agenda or an attitude of entitlement with a few deacons, or even a dysfunction on a team. Over time, what once made you cringe has just become part of your norm. Instead of taking action, you’ve allowed that terrible thing to continue, to stay, to remain. It’s become wallpaper. You notice it occasionally, but usually only when someone else points it out.
“Over time, what once made you cringe has just become part of your norm.”
What wallpaper exists in your church? What have you allowed to remain, knowing it needs to be considered, prayed over, and actually dealt with? What has kept you from figuratively pulling that paper off the wall? Is it fear? Is it laziness? Is it the anxiety of not knowing how or how to replace it?
Take time to identify your wallpaper. Name the one or several reasons you’ve not addressed it. Commit the issue and your lack of response to prayer. Seek the Lord as if you’re seeing the wallpaper for the first time. My belief is that something in you, more likely the Holy Spirit, has caused you, the shepherd over your people, to recognize something unhealthy or unworthy that is impacting your people or your ability to reach more people. Listen to your gut by establishing yourself in prayer. Ask the Lord to reveal to you the steps you’ll need to start removing the wallpaper because my guess is, every time He visits your church, He notices the wallpaper too.
If you need a conversation about your wallpaper and some practical steps on how to identify the what, the why, and the how around creating change with longstanding issues, reach out at jason@xppartners.org.