Convincing the unconvincible

Frequently when working with church boards or wider ministry leadership groups there will be one gentleman sitting in the back of the room with his arms crossed, a hostile glare and no matter how much laughter there is in the room, never cracking a smile. He is saying loudly and non verbally, "You cannot convince me to change my mind." He is usually correct and I don't try.

What he illustrates is that there are people in every church or organization who will never be convinced to go where you desire to go. And, since leadership requires us to initiate change to respond to the environment and opportunities around us, you will always have people who don't want to respond if it means change. In fact, there is no conversation with them: their mind has been made up and that is that!

We have various names for people like this. On the change scale, they are called laggards. The scale moves from innovators who initiate change to early adapters who respond to change quickly to middle adapters who take some time to process the change to late adapters who take even longer and finally laggards who are change adverse. Another name for laggards is "squeaky wheels" because not only are they change adverse but they can be loud and obnoxious about it (ever met one in a congregational meeting?).

This is not a judge of character, a mistake we often make. People are wired to respond to change differently and that in itself is neither right or wrong although attitudes like the one noted above are not always very gracious or helpful.

What do you do with the unconvincible? Love them but don't try to convince them.  Rather you appeal to the people who will respond to change if given a valid reason and a value that is higher then their resistance to change. The unconvincible are unconvincible. It is the convincible who are your audience. Appeal to them and they will go with you if you make a reasonable case for the proposed change. 

In any change process, remember that the loud voices do not necessarily reflect the majority of the group. Often they represent a small minority of laggards but their voices can be intimidating. Don't be intimidated. Run a good process of dialogue and communication and if you will likely gain the majority of folks. In the process don't marginalize the laggards but recognize that their resistance to change usually comes from how they are wired, not bad character. In fact, if you love them, they will often be your most loyal supporters even when resistant to change. Listen to them, love them and stay connected to them relationally and they will usually love you back.

When ministries need to change

Many ministries have not kept up with the changes in today's world. This includes many churches but it is especially true in the mission world where I work. In many organizations radical change is needed.

A common response when faced with the need to change is to start tweaking the current paradigm. Tweaking is "fear based change." We are so afraid to rock the boat significantly that we hope we can tweak our way out of our predicament. It never works. Change requires new paradigms in how we think and new ways of delivering on our mission. Furthermore, talking change but making tweaks tells the whole staff that leadership is not truly committed to change so they can keep their heads down and continue to do what they have always done.

A similar response is that of incremental change. Going in the right direction but slowly. At the pace of change in our world today, those who move slowly will find themselves in the same place they currently are as change in our environment outpaces our ability to respond.

Another observation. Ministries are often unwilling to bring in an outside facilitator to help in the change process or to bring in new leadership from the outside. The sub culture they have created is not friendly to those coming from the outside with new ideas and new ways of thinking. This is an absolute killer of any real change because it leaves one locked into the very culture that must change if the organization is going to change. I am watching several ministry organizations right now wrestling with needed changes but until they bring in someone from outside their insular culture there is no chance that it will happen.

Often the leaders who brought an organization to where it is today cannot take it to where it needs to go tomorrow. But until boards and current leaders face that reality they will not move forward. Sometimes courageous choices need to be made and leadership or board changes need to take place if we want to re-invision the organization for its next run. Remember that while we always honor people, our stewardship of the ministry requires us to do the right thing for the ministry even if it means changes in staff. That is the real world. Do it graciously but don't be afraid to do it.

The issue of leadership courage is huge in change. Leading change is a tough business. People resist, some get nasty, change is messy, personnel changes must take place which can be hard, arrows come! It is the nature of change. Organizations that desire to change but who don't have a leader who can effectively lead the change will lose. In addition that leader must be able to articulate the new realities and vision so that people have clarity on where they are going even if they don't like the white waters of change.

If you know your organization needs significant change ask yourself these questions. Do we have clarity on what the future should look like? Do we have a leader who can take us there? Do we need to bring key staff in from the outside? Do we have the courage to let people go who no longer fit? Do we have the resolve to see this through? Are we willing to make radical paradigm shifts to get us to where we need to be?

Does your church board need help? Most do!

Could your board use some help in the common areas where church boards struggle? Make a small investment in moving toward greater board health and effectiveness!

-Coming to clarity about vision and direction?
-Getting the right people on the board and the wrong people off the board?
-Understanding what the role of church boards is and is not? 
-Building strong unified boards?
-Grow the spiritual commitments of the the board and congregation?
-Being more intentional in leading the church?
-Getting rid of the complicated board structures that strangle ministry in many churches?
-Developing board meetings that are focused and effective?
-Developing a set of guidelines that guard board behaviors?
-Learning how to bring needed change and negotiate that change with the congregation?
-Understand the DNA of your church including the spoken and unspoken values?
-Intentionally developing a more healthy church ethos?

These are the kinds of questions this book will help your board deal with. Eighty percent of churches in the United States are either plateaued or in decline and much of that has to do with how the church leadership leads. If you are weary of the norm and want a better way for your board, this book will help you get there.

Critical Decisions

Many would be leaders relish the fact that they make fast decisions. They believe that quick and decisive decision making is the mark of a leader. It might be for a general in war time but apart from those situations that require immediate action, the best decisions are not made fast. In fact, the more significant the decision, the slower it should be made. Here are some components of good decision making.

When making critical decisions, good leaders think grey for a period of time. Grey thinking is thinking through options, listening to opinions and evaluating consequences without forming a conclusion until one needs to. It is the discipline of not forming a conclusion until one must in order to provide the time to gather information, listen to council and understand the implications. When thinking grey, leaders are not lobbying for a position with others, rather they are listening and evaluating.


Good leaders don't make critical decisions alone. The bring the best minds to the table to talk through options and come to a common conclusion. This may mean several or even many rounds of discussion until there is consensus that it is time to move forward and there is agreement on the direction. This runs counter to the "Captain and Commander" version of leadership where like the captain in the film, the leader makes unilateral decisions. The fact is that great leaders keep themselves and their organizations out of trouble by collaboration on critical decisions.

One of the key reasons for collaboration in is that there is likely to be push back from someone who does not agree with the direction. A leader does not want to be hanging out alone when that happens. He/she wants to have a guiding coalition of those who have been involved, agree with the direction and will help communicate and defend it. 


Good leaders seek to understand the positive and negative consequences of critical decisions. They think through who will be affected, who is likely to push back and why, what questions will be asked, and especially what the unintended consequences will be. This is why thinking grey and collaboration are so important. Greater clarity comes over time as these issues are considered.


Good leaders make critical decisions a matter of prayer. God has information we don't have and He may choose to speak into our thinking - generally He does if asked. 


Good leaders seek to come to the greatest clarity possible on why a certain decision has been made and how it will be communicated so that there is the best understanding and the greatest buy in - even if the decision has negative consequences for some which often they do. Lack of clarity creates confusion and confusion around a critical decision is deadly. Clarity comes best in collaboration as various people look at both the decision and the proposed communication through their particular lens. Quick decisions are far more likely to create questions and confusion than taking the time to do due diligence.

Because decisions impact people, good leaders think through the process of communicating that decision. This often means talking to those impacted before communicating to the organization as a whole. Process can be as important as the decision itself because a poorly thought through process is likely to create either confusion or push back from those who don't like the decision and divert the conversation to the process rather than the decision itself. 


A key part of thinking through communication is to anticipate questions and reactions and seek to address them up front to the extent that this is possible. Included are not just the intellectual questions people may have but the emotions that the decision may elicit. Critical decisions are as much about managing emotions as they are about information. 


Finally, good leaders create venues for dialogue and discussion in the aftermath of critical decisions. The best written explanations cannot substitute for face to face discussion with those who desire it. Remember that what you have been processing for some time may come as a surprise and shock to those who hear it for the first time. They need the same processing as you did only they must process after the fact.


Critical decisions impact people and good leaders care deeply about the people they lead. Thus they pay the time and attention to major decisions that will impact the organization and its staff.

What has your ministry learned in the past five to ten years?

I had a great conversation with a ministry this week. They are ten years old and the goal of the conversation was to figure out how they could accomplish in the next two years more than they had in the past ten years. 

Now that may sound like an audacious goal, but not necessarily - because, when one stops and thinks about it, lessons have been learned positive and negative that could change the nature of how the ministry approached its next run and from those lessons extrapolate ministry strategy that is far more successful.

The answers to "what have we learned in the first ten years" filled a huge whiteboard several times over. The dialogue around those lessons started to clarify in these leaders minds, how they needed to shape their strategy for the future.

Once we had done this we moved to a second question. What "game changers" could we think of that would dramatically increase the ministry's impact in the next two years. We put one other thing on the table: as we considered the next two years we wanted to totally ignore how we were currently configured and ask how we would organize the ministry today if we were starting all over - knowing what we know today.

Our goal was to erase from our minds our preconceived conceptions of how things should be done (because we have always done them that way) and ask how we would organize today if we were starting from scratch based on lessons learned. Again, we came up with some significant game changers along with robust dialogue around those potential changes. 

Based on those "game changers" this ministry is moving forward and taking some calculated risks about how they see a quantum leap in their ministry effectiveness - based on the positive and negative lessons learned in their past. 

If you have never tried this exercise I would strongly encourage you to do so. Your team actually has an amazing amount of information as to what has worked well and what has not worked well but until one puts that in black and white and asks one can leverage that valuable information for the future, we continue to do what we always did - out of sheer habit.

Organizational Renewal or Decline

All organizations including businesses, ministries, missions and congregations have a predictable life cycle of missional growth, a plateau and then a slow slide into decline - unless there is direct and intentional intervention by leaders to renew the organization from within on a regular basis. All of us can name churches, for instance, that were once vibrant and missional but are not struggling to simply exist. In the business arena, General Motors is a great example of this life cycle and without the necessary renewal it ended up in bankruptcy. Denominations face the same laws of organizational life cycles as a recent report, for instance, of the Southern Baptist Convention indicates that they are facing the challenge of an aging organization now losing people and seeing fewer conversions.

If you are reading this and your organization does not face the challenge of plateau or decline, don't get too smug. No organization is exempt from this phenomenon unless there is direct intervention to prevent it. 

There are several factors that contribute to plateau or decline in organizations. First, organizations that start out missional can over time slip into institutional where the institution becomes more important than the mission. Here are churches who never change their bylaws or governance structures (which become sacred) even when they are strangling the congregation from responding to the needs of a new day.


Second, they forget the rule that "what got you to here will not get you to there" and become change resistant. Resistance to change will guarantee decline because what worked in one day will not work in another. This is the trap many missions find themselves in, doing ministry like they did in the fifties when the whole ministry context has changed around them. As a rule, the longer an organization has gone without major change the greater their risk of sliding into irrelevancy. Risk adverse ministries will go into decline.


Third, there is a tendency to worship the past and wish that the future could look like the past. I can think of congregations that were considered cutting edge flagship congregations twenty years ago who are in serious decline today but leaders still remember the good old days and just assume that they can make them come back. It won't happen without major change.


Finally, decline comes when the missional commitments of the ministry get lost in preserving the institution. Survival mode is rarely missional. The focus is on survival rather than moving forward and taking territory for Jesus. 


The only way to arrest this tendency toward decline is to continually renew the organization from within. This takes courageous leaders who care more about the effectiveness of their ministry than their own jobs because the only way to create ongoing renewal is to push the organization to take risks and get out of their comfort zone. Many will not like the discomfort of renewal. Here are some keys to such renewal.


First, there must be absolute clarity on the mission of the organization and what spells success. Declining ministries have inevitably lost their sense of clarity and unless a new and compelling clarity can be articulated renewal will not take place (see chapters two, three and four of Leading From The Sandbox). Can everyone in your organization clearly articulate a common compelling mission and vision? If not you are at risk!


Second, you can gauge your ability to renew by how change friendly your organization is because without regular and major change to meet the needs and opportunities of a new day decline is inevitable. Can you identify three to five significant changes that have taken place in your ministry in the past three years? If not, you are at risk!


Third, is there an openness and a strategy for getting new ideas on the table? This will usually happen when new people come on board and see what you don't see, or with younger staff members who are not stuck in the old ways of thinking. If you do not have an intentional strategy to bring new ideas and new people to the table, you are at risk! Long term employees will often work to guard the status quo which is comfortable for them rather than be initiators of new ideas which will stretch them.


Fourth, do you have the courage to move along leaders who are stuck in the past and who will not go with you into the future? Those who have quit growing and who guard the status quo are anchors to your ministry, holding it back. The mission is more important than job security. If you do not regularly evaluate leaders for their ability to lead the organization forward you are at risk! If you are the senior leader and realize that you have taken the ministry as far as you can, the best thing you can do is to step aside and let someone else lead into the future. Far from being a failure, you are opening the door to organizational renewal.


Fifth, are you annually driving a set of ministry initiatives that all can rally around, will help you achieve your mission better and keep improving the ministry results you are after? We call these the "game changers" that change the nature of the results in a significant way. If you cannot identify those annual game changers you are at risk!


The longer a ministry has been in existence, the more difficult it is to keep renewing it from within so that you don't move into the plateau and decline phase of life. In other words, leadership becomes more complex, not easier and the need for risk, new ideas, critical thinking and creating waves greater as the ministry matures. Take a moment and think about where your ministry is against some of these principles.

church renovation

On a regular basis some of the most read blogs on this site have to do with dysfunctional boards and unhealthy churches. I am sure that this comes out of the deep frustration of leaders who want to see greater health and congregants who are tired of the lack of leadership, health, intentionality and missionality of their church. 

There is a deep yearning among people I meet to see the church live up to its Biblical expectations where life change takes place, people find Jesus, there is safe and supportive community and the power of the gospel of Christ is found in a grace and love filled environment. But such churches don't just happen: they are led by leaders who have charted an intentional course toward congregational health and missionality.

So what does it take to see an unhealthy church become healthy and vibrant? 

First it takes leaders who have the courage to face the reality in humility that there is a problem. This is not easy. It takes a large dose of humility to admit (if you are a leader) that a problem exists in your church and that change is deeply needed. But until leaders are willing to name the elephant in the room (dishealth) and articulate what needs to change, renovation cannot come.

Spiritual pride is the foremost issue that keeps leaders of unhealthy churches (the vast majority in the United States) from moving toward health. We simply don't want to admit that we have a problem even in the face of intractable evidence. There is no chance for greater health in a sick church until leaders set aside their own pride and humbly admit that there is a problem, that they are part of the problem and that they need God's help in solving the problem. I cannot say this strongly enough: Until leaders humbly admit their need, there will not be change.

In cases where there is deep dysfunction on the board and the board has faced reality and wants to get its act together I strongly suggest that they ask for outside help: a coach to walk them through a process toward health. An outside voice can speak truth, sometimes painful that insiders often cannot. Further, an outside voice can hold board members accountable for their own health as a board.

Second, leaders change first. Generally, unhealthy churches are simply a reflection of unhealthy leadership - staff or boards. So, divided boards generally yield a divided congregation. Lack of spiritual passion among leaders yields a congregation with a lack of passion. Lack of intentionality in leading yields a lack of intentionality of the congregation as a whole. Congregations do follow the example of their leaders so until leaders choose to change and to get their act together spiritually, relationally and in their intentionality, the congregation won't. When they do, the congregation takes notice. 

Third, realize that this is a spiritual issue. The church is the bride of Christ. Unhealthy churches, churches in decline or that are plateaued, churches with conflict and a spirit of criticism or simply malaise are not just unhealthy, they lack spiritual vitality. There needs to be both recognition of this and a deep sense of repentance on the part of leaders. God immediately pays attention to the humble repentance of His people and His leaders. He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.


Fourth, talk publicly, openly and candidly to your congregation about the spiritual issues in the church, the need for change and the commitments that the board has made spiritually, relationally and missionally. Naming the issues and calling a congregation to a higher level of spiritual citizenship is a powerful move. Some will naturally resist because they are used to the status quo but if leaders are together and committed, the vast majority of folks will agree and follow their lead. 


Fifth, call the congregation to prayer, repentance and humble obedience. It is amazing what happens when we simply humble ourselves before God and ask Him to show up in power as we commit to healthy relationships and focus on becoming a healthy body of believers.


Sixth, chart a clear course of intentional ministry. Health and missional effectiveness does not happen by accident but as leaders intentionally help the church do what God intended it to do: introduce people to Christ and help them experience the full transformation that Jesus wants to bring - impacting then their community and the world. 

Seven, realize that people are used to living in an unhealthy church environment and some will resist moving toward health because it means they need to change their behavior. When sick churches become healthy, some folks actually leave because they don't want to live in a healthy environment. For leaders charting a course of change, chapter twelve of my book, High Impact Church Boards, Negotiating the Whitewater of Change can be helpful. In fact, the book is all about healthy, intentional and empowered church leaders.

Want renovation in your church? It starts with leaders and it starts with humility. It starts with hearts that are willing to humble themselves before God.

Bringing change to your organization

The need for change and greater missional effectiveness is huge both for congregations and ministry organizations. Too many ministries are living in the dusty pages of the past with the illusion that all is well when they are actually one generation from extinction or irrelevance. The greatest gift in these situations is a leader who will take the risk to seriously rock the boat and bring about fundamental change to both the thinking and practices of the ministry. Let's talk about the steps that are necessary for that to happen.

Create a crisis.
Unless people see a compelling need for change they generally will not go there. A change agent's job is first to shake the confidence of the organization by creating a crisis and making the case that unless something changes, there is no compelling future for the ministry. This is often done by being honest about the lack of results, the health of the ministry and the trend lines. Bringing truth to the surface has a way of creating great discomfort if that truth reveals significant fault lines. Because a hallmark of unhealthy ministries is that they live with the illusion that all is well, that illusion must first be publicly punctured with truth.

Bring a new clarity
As the crisis is being created, change agents also start to articulate a new clarity that creates an alternative to the status quo. What is must be balanced by what can and should be so that the truth of today's reality is offset by a hopeful alternative for tomorrow. There is no better way to do this than face to face, in conversation and group dialogue. One is not seeking to change the minds of the change resistant but to win the support of early adopters and reasonable people. You will not convince everyone, nor does one need to. You do have to convince enough people, however, to gain a coalition of the willing to move in a new direction.

Replace leaders
Inevitably deep change will require a new set of leaders. The leaders you have got you to where you are and it is unlikely that most of them will get you to where you need to go. In fact, most ministries that need change do not even value a true leadership culture where leaders lead. Often they value a management culture where nice people manage the status quo. So the challenge is really twofold, replace current leaders with true leaders who are fully aligned with you and create a leadership culture where leadership is valued and encouraged. But remember. Those who got you to here will almost never get you to there if you are bringing significant change.

Build healthy teams
All healthy ministry organizations are made up of healthy teams. So the next step is to intentionally build teams of people who will work synthetically with one another under good leadership with accountability for results. The lack of such teams is one of the contributing factors to an unhealthy organization. This is not an easy transition because in unhealthy ministries, people are not used to actually working with each other and what passes as a team is usually not a team at all. A great deal of attention is needed to coach and mentor team leaders who have not had such coaching or training in the past.

Focus everyone on the missional agenda
A lack of missional focus is one of the reasons that ministries flounder. Lack of clarity about what they are about, lack of good leadership to keep people focused, lack of teams to harness different gifts are all part of the equation. Change agents constantly keep staff focused on what really matters with an honest evaluation of results. Again, this is not an easy transition for people who have valued faithfulness above actual ministry fruit. 

Stay the course
Organizational change only comes when there is a dogged conviction that things must change and a leader who will do whatever it takes to see that change happens. Look for some wins along the way and celebrate but know that real change takes years, not months and the larger the organization, the longer it will take. It is not unusual for the change process to take five to ten years and it is not complete until a new DNA is so secure that the leader can leave and the change remains.

It can be a lonely job to be a change agent and it takes great wisdom to rock the boat without sinking the ship. Those who do so, however, are great gifts to the organization they serve. 

When Congregationalism goes amuk

There is a great deal of confusion around the concept of congregationalism. Many mistakenly believe that congregationalism means that all folks in a church have a voice in all matters and that the congregation gets to weigh in on all decisions. In addition, to keep everyone in the loop and to ensure that nobody has too much power many churches continue to operate with numerous elected boards and committees. At its core, like American politics the system is build on mistrust of leaders so it is designed to make decision making complicated.

Congregationalism as defined above says more about bringing our national polity practices into the church than anything the New Testament says about church leadership! In scripture there is only one group of senior leaders variously called elders or overseers who are responsible for the spiritual temperature of the church, ensuring that the congregation is taught, protected, developed - empowered and released in ministry and led well. When new needs came up they simply appointed ministry teams like the deacons. All of this was designed in an atmosphere of trust where leaders were actually loved and appreciated by the congregation. And they were to lead well as under shepherds.

But what to make of the congregational thing? Congregationalism originally conceived did not mean a democracy or that every individual has an equal part in decision making. The priesthood of all believers is not the leadership of all believers. If that were true Paul would not encourage those with the gift of leadership to lead well.

Congregationalism meant something very simple. There could be no authority outside the local church such as the state church that could tell them what to do. Second it meant that congregations had a way to change the direction of their church if their leaders took it in a direction inconsistent with Scripture. Thus we say in the EFCA that if a congregation calls its senior pastor, votes on an annual budget, votes on any changes to the bi laws or constitution and must approve the sale and purchase of property it is congregational. Boards may choose to bring other issues to the congregation but this is what it means to be congregational.

Too often, the way we practice congregationalism hurts the church rather than helps bit. Multiple boards and committees are like toll booths that hold ministry up. The number of people on those boards and committees keeps those very people tied up in meetings rather than using their gifts in ministry. Leaders become discouraged because it is so hard to get things done and there is a huge loss on Return on Mission if indeed there is a mission being actively pursued.

If your ministry suffers from some of these elements it may be the very thing that is keeping you from moving forward missionally. And you do not have to live this way. My books High Impact Church Boards and Leading From the Sandbox (NavPress) can help you think differently about how you lead and about the missional elements to that leadership. Don't let your system constrain your mission. Design your system to serve your mission.

Restlessness

Twice in the past week I have had conversations with ministry leaders, one in their forties and one in their fifties who expressed a deep restlessness and significant boredom. Both are in good and secure ministries but knowing that their time is probably up for what they are currently doing.

Restlessness should not be ignored. It is a sign that some kind of transition is needed and it is often planted in our hearts by God so that we don't simply stay in our comfort zone but rather on the cutting edge of where He wants us to be. Those who ignore the restlessness often end up settling for the easy route in their latter years but not the route that would have yielded the most ministry impact.

Restlessnes does not necessarily mean it is time to leave (although it could) but it does meant that unless there is significant reformulation of what one is doing, the satisfaction and joy of work will be noticibly lesser than it should and could be. It is often a sign that we are not operating at our fullest capacity and that God wired us for more than we are currently doing.

Restlessness is a time to pray and explore new options for our ministries. It is also a time to find avenues of growth (boredome often means extra time on our hands) where we can grow and develop where we are as we wait for our next assignment. It is really a gift from God to get our attention that He has something more and better for us at this time of our lives and in the meantime, personal growth can prepare us for what comes next.

If you are restless, don't ignore it. Maybe it is just a stage of life. More likely, it is a divine nudge to either reformulate what you are doing or to consider a move where you can better play to all the strengths God gave you.

Organizational Gaps: Vision vs. Reality

Those who lead entrepreneurial ministries, or ministries going through change always face a challenge. It is the gap between the organizations vision for who they want to be and where they want to go and the reality of where they actually are.

A healthy organization's vision for itself is never full realized because as it becomes better at what it does the goal line continues to move. Thus the gap between vision and reality is always a reality for healthy organizations.

There are seven common responses to organizational change and to the gap between vision and reality. Understanding how people respond and why they respond the way they do can help leaders negotiate the whitewater of change and deal with the responses that follow from change and the space between current reality and desired future.

The continuum of responses runs from resistors to change to active evangelists of change.

Resisters. Resisters can come in two forms, active and passive. These are the people who don't like change, or are so vested in the past that they cannot envision the future - or don't want to. Active resisters are vocal about their opposition to the future being articulated. There are also passive resisters who pay lip service to the new future but do not bring their actions into alignment with it. They quietly rather than actively resist.

Cynics. Cynics choose to believe that there are ulterior motives behind the change being proposed. Typically, they are deeply cynical toward leadership and therefore transfer their cynicism toward the ideas that leaders propose. They will often see change as the flavor of the month and figure that given time the proposed changes will go away and the organization will go back to what it was. Cynics will often call attention to the gap between where a leader is calling the organization and where it is - using that gap as proof that the vision is either unattainable or foolish.

Loyal followers. These are individuals who like organizational clarity and who appreciate its articulation - whatever it is. They appreciate clear leadership and simply want to know what the direction is and they will follow that direction. While they will not necessarily promote change, they will gladly move in the direction that leaders propose, trusting those leaders in their direction.

Idealists. These are individuals who readily grab on to the vision of the future, embrace it, love it and expect that the organization will be there today. The up side is that they embrace the vision quickly. The down side is that they can easily become disillusioned and critical when change does not happen at the pace or in the way they desire. It is very difficult for idealists to be patient or accept gaps between vision and reality.

Realists. Realists understand both where the organization is trying to go and where it currently is. They understand the challenges of change, will not stand in the way of change and usually are not overly bothered by the gap.

Change agents. These individuals not only embrace the future, understand the past and present but they actively work all the time to close the gap between vision and reality. They take responsibility in their areas of influence and leadership to personally work on closing the gap. They are voices in the organization for the preferred future and work well with leaders who are the evangelists of change. In many ways, change agents are the guiding coalition for leaders seeking to bring change.

Evangelists for change. These are the leaders who are actively engaged in helping the organization move from reality to their preferred vision, and calling others to join them in the effort. They explain change, are architects of the new, and do all that they can to help move the organization from where it is to where it needs to go. They are deeply realistic about what is, deeply passionate about what must be and have the resolve to see the process through.

Two questions present themselves. First, where are you on this continuum in a change process and where are those around you? Understanding your position and that of others helps one understand the various responses to change and attitudes and actions related to change.

Taking the Risk to End Well

This week, a 20 year colleague of mine, a fellow Senior Vice President of the EFCA took a huge risk. He resigned from a safe paycheck and solid ministry to move to a tiny ministry that requires him to raise his support and take a major income cut.

At 56! After 22 years at the EFCA!

Steve did what most of us are not willing to do at his age - leave the comfortable and the secure for the scary and unknown.

In explaining his decision, Steve put his finger on several issues that all of us who are secure in our positions ought to consider.

First, he did not want to do what he had seen so many people do - coast into retirement and not stay on top of their game. It is easy for us to become comfortable and start to coast in our ministries or employment. Whenever we get too comfortable we lose our edge and we either need to redesign our job so we stay 100% engaged or consider something else.

Steve had reinvented his job many times in 22 years but now felt that he needed to step out into something new that would more fully engage his heart.

Second, Steve had consistently worked himself out of jobs and found himself in a place where while extremely competent, he was not in the center of his sweet spot. He understands that it is only when we are in the center of how God made us that we will be most effective.

Third, his heart was restless. And had been for several years. When our hearts grow restless we need to pay attention because it is often God trying to get our attention! If we experience the restlessness and do nothing about it, we run a risk that our restlessness will become complacency leading to a loss of ministry passion and a coasting to the end.

For all of us in our 50's there is a great temptation to become comfortable and settled after the hard work that has brought us to where we are. This is a danger zone. To finish well we must press on with the same passion and missional commitment that got us to where we are.

It is sad to see people start with passion and end with complacency. But our comfort often keeps us from "getting out of the boat" and taking the risk. We know that our comfortable salaries and benefits will be at risk. We are less willing to move from the comfortable to the scary.

I honor Steve for taking the risk. I ask myself if I would be willing to take the risk. Would you be willing to take that risk? Would God be asking any of us to take that risk

Peter was when he got out of the boat to walk on water to Christ. Steve is as he gets out of his boat to follow Christ to a new, uncharted and scary place. May we be as sensitive to God's call and our engagement!

Steps to church renovation when unhealthy DNA needs to be confronted

Churches can experience spiritual renovation if its leaders are committed to helping the congregation become healthy.

Remember that crisis can be a friend.

Spiritual renovation for congregations, like individuals, often starts in crisis. Pain is a friend for those who will listen - a wake-up call that not all is well. Rather than run, wise leaders use a crisis to ask important questions about healthy, about the past and about the future. Crisis reveals spiritual fault lines in a congregation that needs to be addressed.

Start to lead more intentionally

Spiritual renovation of a congregation requires courageous leaders who are not afraid to face brutal facts, who are willing to admit sin and make commitments to change, and who will lead their congregation in a healthy spiritual direction.

Face reality

Wise leaders face reality rather than run from it, no matter how painful or unpleasant. Facing reality is a necessary prerequisite to healing and wholeness. Leaders in troubled congregations must first clearly understand the issues that have contributed to where they find themselves.

Confess sinful practices

Where there are significant areas of sin (often the root of unhealthy genetics), those sins need to be confessed and renounced by church leaders. The naming of the sin along with its confession is a powerful step for church leaders.

Covenant to new practices

Unhealthy and sinful practices need to be replaced by healthy and godly practices. If a new genetic code is going to be planted in a congregation, it needs to be specified and articulated, and leaders need to commit to it first. A written document can become a reminder of your commitment to renovation - one that articulates both what has been confessed and what new practices have been embraced.

Recruit a guiding coalition

Significant change across a congregation takes more than the influence of the leadership board. Bring into your process other leaders in the church who can embrace and model with you the changes that need to be made.

Model, teach and establish new practices

At this point you will need to be proactive in teaching, modeling and establishing new, godly practices at every level of ministry. Talk frankly with the congregation from the pulpit, in small and large group settings, in membership classes and wherever you can, to remind them of 'who you are' as a congregation and commitments you have made to be the authentic body of Jesus Christ. At all costs, keep the issues in front of the leadership community so that you model that to which you have called the congregation.

Establish a prayer coalition

Things happen when people pray. The Holy Spirit starts to remind us of positive behaviors and convict us of sinful behaviors. Engage a prayer team to specifically pray that God would bring change to the congregation.

Don't be surprised if things get worse before they get better

That may surprise you, but it is often the case. Exposing sinful practices and calling people to new and healthier practices is not going to make everyone happy. Often you will face deep resistance from a segment of the congregation even though you are calling the congregation to healthier and more godly practices.

Realize that it's OK when people leave during renovation - expect it

If you have walked through significant crisis and change in a church-leadership setting, you know how discouraging it is to come to meeting after meeting and hear the latest list of those who have left the church. Spiritual renovation in a church will often leave some people cold - people who have no desire or intention to renovate their attitudes or change their behavior. We cannot force others to change.


When leaders start to lead well, they help the congregation clarify who they are as a church and what their future is. Clarification causes some to say, I don't want to be on this bus anymore. It's going in a direction I don't want to go.' Often, those who leave your church disgruntled find another church where they can fit and minister productively.

Hang in, trust God, keep praying and lead wisely

Spiritual renovation of congregations is not easy and is rarely fast. However, God wants to bring renewal. If leaders are patient, stay the course, do what is right and keep praying, chances are good that renovation will come.