Acts 5:17-41 – Staying the course in the face of opposition

In this blog series, I’m going to take a look at the book of Acts from a strategic point of view. What was going on in the days of the early church and what can we learn from it today in the 21^st Century?

As soon as the believers start to get some success, the high priest and his associates were quick to knock them down a peg or two, and the apostles are soon arrested and imprisoned. After an incredible miracle where an angel releases them from prison, they are sent on their way, with the angel telling them to get back out to the temple courts and keep telling people about this new life they have in Jesus.

Whenever we make change in our churches, or start a new initiative to reach people, you want to know it’s being successful, and there is usually one sure-fire way to know you’re being successful: you receive opposition.

Opposition can be justified. Sometimes opposition comes because you’ve stepped out of line and you fall into error. But most of the time, when you make a change or you start a new outreach project, you will make some people mad. But the important thing to know is that if your plan is in the will of God, He wants you to get back to your post and carry on. We need to stay the course even during the toughest opposition. Here’s some tips for staying the course when opposition comes

1.  Be rooted in why you’re doing it

Everything comes back to ‘why’. If you are crystal clear on your mission (the ‘why’), and you know that you’ve made a decision in line with it, then you know that the decision was a good one. By being sure of your why, you can overcome opposition.

In verse 29, Peter puts it very well. “We must obey God rather than human beings!” Peter was absolutely certain on why he was doing what he was doing, even in the face of strong opposition. That’s why he didn’t waver in his response. Knowing your why gives you an assurance and a confidence.

2.  Remember that cultural change takes up to 5 years

If you’re making changes within the life of the church, you’re going to get pushback. If you don’t, it’s probably that you haven’t made a big enough change. But changing anything takes time, and looking to create cultural change can take up to 5 years.

Why 5 years? Well if the change is big, then it will take a year for your church just to understand what it is. The next 2 to 4 years are all about turning new practice into ingrained habit. You want changes to get to the point that they become the new normal, second nature.

I’m a big football fan, and in football probably the number one manager is Pep Guardiola. The Spanish manager drills his players day-in-day-out on certain set movements, to be in certain places at certain times. They repeat it over and over until it becomes second nature. They are called “automatisms” – practices that are so well known they become automatic. Cultural change in church is like that, you need to keep at it, keep going, keep teaching, keep re-inforcing, keep celebrating, keep repeating, until it becomes an automatism.

3.  Know the difference between a brick and a scaffold

I recently spoke with Jessica Bealer for the thinking.church Podcast, she spoke about a time when she was working as the Kids Director at Elevation Church, and she lost a key volunteer. She was upset about it and spoke to her pastor, Steven Furtick. Steven said that some people are scaffolding, they are helpful for building your ministry but they won’t be around for the long run. When you face opposition, you may lose some people, but don’t be sad. They are scaffolding, not bricks.

That’s not to downgrade the role of scaffolding. You can’t build a house without scaffolding. It’s just that scaffolding doesn’t stay around for the long run. Bricks do. Thank Jesus for the scaffolding people in your church. They are valuable, but they won’t be around for long, and that’s fine. The key is to look for the bricks whilst the scaffolding is in place. That’s the real job of scaffolding, they raise you up so you can place more bricks in the wall.

In times of opposition, look to your bricks, the ones who are with you for the long run.

Making change, or starting something new is scary. Opposition can come nowadays from all sorts of places, from within your church, from the public, and even Social Media, but as church leaders, we are called to stay the course that God has put us on. If it’s on God’s agenda, then He’ll open prison doors, He’ll convince the rulers to let you go, He’ll get you back up on your feet and back to the post he designed for you.