Of Ice Men and the Changing Church

Sam Hamstra | Sep 24, 2008

Ice ManOver the last 100 years, nearly every industry has experienced significant change. Take the ice business as an example. My grandfather was an ice man. It was a good job for a dependable man who loved hard work. In the early years of his business, he delivered blocks of ice (like the man in the picture). Early in the morning, he went to the ice house, loaded his truck with 300 pound blocks of ice, and began his rounds. In the alley behind the house of each customer, he took his ice pick and cut off a 25 to 100 pound piece of ice. He grabbed the ice with his tongs, lay it on his shoulder, walked into the kitchen of the customer, and carefully placed it in the ice box. His ice cooled many boxes filled with perishable items like milk, eggs, cheese, and butter.
 
With the advent of the refrigerator, my grandfather’s business changed. People replaced their ice boxes with electric refrigerators. That change may have put my grandfather out of business were it not accompanied by another invention – a machine that cut 300 pound blocks of ice into small square cubes that fit perfectly into the bottom of drinking glasses. So, instead of delivering blocks of ice to homes, my grandfather started delivering 30 pound bags of ice cubes to drinking establishments, like taverns, restaurants, and banquet halls.
 
Business was good for a while, but then another invention hit the market: the ice machine. In time, nearly every drinking establishment purchased an ice cube making machine. That meant they no longer needed my grandfather to deliver bags of ice cubes.  So, my grandfather decided to retire rather than reinvent his business one more time.
 
The ice machine, however, didn’t put ice houses out of business. People still needed cubed ice, usually for their picnics and parties. So, the ice business adapted rather than go out of business. Ice houses still made blocks of ice and cut those blocks into cubes, but they began bagging the cubes in 10 pound bags and delivering them to coolers that they leased to grocery stores and gas stations. And that has been the status of the ice business for about 30 years. 
 
What does that have to do with the church? There is a growing consensus among American Evangelicals that the context for ministry has changed so dramatically in the 21st century that if we, the local church, don’t retool the way we do ministry, many congregations will find themselves “out of business.” That is not to say that the Church of Christ will die, for Christ is Head of His Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It is to suggest, however, that if local congregations don’t adapt to their new surroundings, they will become irrelevant. They will like an ice man trying to deliver blocks of ice to people with refrigerators.
 
So, as we partner with God to plant a new congregation in the southwest suburbs, we best not implement a practice or procedure from the past without careful scrutiny. It may be helpful to begin by assuming that the way we did ministry in the past will not be effective today. Having made that assumption, we can place ourselves before the Lord, wait on Him, pray without ceasing, and depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit, all in an effort to discern His will for His Church in the 21st century. He may lead us to continue a tradition or two from the past, or He may, to borrow an analogy from the teachings of Jesus, create new wine skins for the ministry of the Gospel in this day.   

Comments

mglepad@comcast.net said:

i too was a block man fond memories and paul lang of lang ice was at the game Friday see you in 40 minutes

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