‘Just do it’ – so goes the oft-appropriated strapline of Nike Inc, the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel. If you’re a church leader, there are lots of ‘its’ to ‘just do.’  Books, blogs, podcasts and workshops on church growth, evangelism and disciple-making will provide you with an overwhelming number of ‘its’ you should ‘just do’ in order for your church to fulfil the great commission.  And I know you’re feeling tired just thinking about them all.

Although it’s mentioned every week by most Anglicans, the one ‘it’ that doesn’t get a lot of airtime is that dreaded r-word: repentance. Merciful God … we have sinned against you … we have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves; we repent…  or do we?

We’re wary of talking about repentance, because it’s indissolubly linked with guilt – and the psychological zeitgeist suggests that guilt is intolerable and inducing it is unforgivable.  So we quickly breeze over this section of the Sunday service, and so doom ourselves to the hamster-wheel of more and more ‘its’ we should ‘just do’.

Competitive athletes engage in repentance all the time.  I’m a swimmer, and I make an ongoing effort to swim faster and further.  I could just try harder, thrashing the water with poorly-formed strokes, ineffective kicks and mistimed breaths.  But I would rather repent: identify flaws in my technique, think differently about my actions and seek to conform my movement to an efficient ideal.  Sure, a coach correcting me is uncomfortable, especially when it’s for the umpteenth time.  Changes to technique invoke new muscle-movements that initially leave me sore. 

Churches can get caught in a self-defeating cycle of thrashing about, trying harder by adding more ‘its’ to their ‘just do’ lists.  Taking some time to reflect on all of the ‘its’ we’re ‘just doing’ might be uncomfortable, but it might just lead to a season of fruitfulness.

Some of our ‘it’s’ can flow from the first failing identified in the liturgy: we’ve failed to love God with our whole heart.  I suspect this to be an underlying contributor to much or our mission malaise.  This failing shows up most clearly when church members prioritise their own interests and aspirations over the effective enaction of the mission of Jesus.  This sometimes takes the form of insisting on preferences in budget priorities, clergy time allocation, service times, music, liturgy, and pews vs seats.  Changing any of these in isolation is unlikely to spark a revival, but refusing to countenance change speaks volumes about whether one is committed to Jesus or just the comforting reassurances associated with church.

Sometimes the ‘its’ to drop from the ‘just do’ list may lie outside the domain of church.  When we argue that it’s not technically a ‘sin’ to prioritise kids, family, holidays, career and home renovations over time and money invested in the mission of Jesus, we’re likely nursing a heart divided.  The central issue becomes one of discipleship rather than church growth techniques.