Culture Clash: Preventing Church Split by Allison Hall

Culture How to Make Big Changes without Splitting Your Church

By Tobin Perry

ABOUT THIS EBOOK

ABOUT TOBIN PERRY

#1 ARE WE READY FOR CHANGE?

#2 INVITE THE CHANGE MAKER

#3 GATHER CHANGE AGENTS

#4 DEVELOP A PLAN

#5 INCARNATE THE CHANGE

#6 COMMUNICATE THE CHANGE WITH URGENCY

#7 EMPHASIZE THE GOSPEL

#8 CELEBRATE WINS TOGETHER

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THIS EBOOK You make changes all the time in ministry. Big changes, little changes, slow changes, fast changes. You’re always changing something—from the color of your sanctuary carpet to your worship style to your entire philosophy of ministry. Few parts of your ministry are more critical to the future health of your church than how you manage change. Do it well, and you’ll lead your church full-force into the future. Do it poorly, and your church may not survive. In this resource, you’ll get an eight-part process that will take you from discerning what needs to be changed to developing a plan to celebrating what God does. Use this process for whatever change you’re considering, big or small. It could be a life or death decision for your church.

ABOUT TOBIN PERRY Tobin Perry has served as a writer and editor for Saddleback Church, the North American Mission Board, and the International Mission Board, where he has frequently focused on church leadership issues. He has also served as the lead pastor of a church in Southern Indiana. He has written for numerous publications, including Christianity Today, HomeLife, ParentLife, Baptist Press, and On Mission magazine, and has ghostwritten for a number of Christian ministry leaders. He has served as managing editor for Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox and as the editor of the pastor’s version of On Mission magazine. He was also a contributing writer for Zondervan’s The Jesus Bible. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and Gateway Seminary (formerly Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary), Tobin lives with his wife and three children in Evansville, IN. For more information about Tobin, visit www.tobinperry. com. All of the first person pronouns in this book are his.

ARE WE READY FOR CHANGE?

Never before has the world changed as quickly as it is changing now. A decade ago, phone books, paper maps, and landline phones were still a valuable part of our lives. No more. Futurist Ray Kurzweil writes,”We won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).” That’s the world your church is attempting to reach. Maybe more than any other time in church history, a church leader has to be more than a preacher, a teacher, a counselor, or an organizational strategist. A ministry leader has to be a change manager. Your ability to manage change will have enormous consequences for the success of your ministry. You’ll make changes constantly in church work. You’ll change worship styles, preaching styles, giving platforms, worship times, strategies, and more in your ministry. This resource is designed to give you a systematized framework to make those changes, no matter what they are. But let’s face it. Not every church that needs change is ready for change. The only thing worse than not changing when it’s time to change is changing when it’s not time to change. How do you know if your church is ready? Here are six questions you must answer before embarking upon any kind of change:

1. What are we going to change? This may seem obvious, but it’s at this question where most change stalls. Before you take any other step in the process, you have to clearly settle on what change needs to happen. Be as precise as possible. In the book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, the authors note, “Research reveals that a clear, compelling, and challenging goal causes the blood to pump more rapidly, the brain to fire, and the muscles to engage. However, when goals are vague, no such effects take place.” If you can’t specify the change you need to make, your church isn’t ready. 2. Is God leading us to make this change? Once you’re considering a specific change, you must bring it before God. If God isn’t leading you to make the change, it doesn’t need to be made. It may make perfect business sense. All the strategists in the world may recommend it. But Jesus is still the head of the church. He alone sets her agenda. You don’t move forward—not even an inch—until you hear His voice. 3. Does the change align with your stated mission and vision? Changes never happen in a vacuum. Churches that haphazardly make changes even when they don’t align with their pre-established policies give their members whiplash. If your church’s mission statement suggests you want to reach young families, but you’re considering adding a special polka-themed worship service, you may have a problem. 4. Do you have some key leaders who can become change agents? You will never make any significant change in your congregation on your own. Never. Maybe you can change a light bulb on your own, but that’s about it. You need change partners, people who will help you lead the way in whatever new endeavor you’re attempting. Take stock of the key influencers of your church. Would they, if it were properly communicated to them, be on board with the change? Are there potential influencers in your church who could advocate for the proposed change? You may start out as a lone ranger as you pursue change, but you can’t stay there long. 5. How much time do we have to make this change? Some changes have time limits. You may need to change the time of your worship service in the next three months because of a scheduling conflict. Many changes don’t have a built-in deadline. But to make a change successful, you need to set at least a soft deadline in your own mind. Deadlines provide you with urgency as you make changes. It’s a delicate

balance. An arbitrary deadline that is too soon can self-destruct the entire process. Push it out too far and momentum will be hard to find. 6. Am I personally (and is the church corporately) willing to pay the cost of change? Change always, always, has a cost. Sometimes that cost is money. Sometime that cost is in people who don’t want to change with the church. Most of the time that cost is in leadership capital. Herschel York, a veteran pastor and seminary professor, notes that pastors earn “chips” by doing the fundamental things “a pastor ought to do”—such as preaching good sermons, visiting shut-ins, etc. York writes, “A successful pastoral leader has a keen, even uncanny, ability to know two things: how many chips a particular issue or change will cost him and how many chips he has left in the bag, if any. He knows how to invest his chips in issues that are worth it rather than frivolous and insignificant things, but he always evaluates what it will cost him and he knows when he has reached the limit for the time being and just needs to do the basics well for a while.” Don’t rush through change. Take the time to do it right. Take a look at each of these questions. Make sure you can answer them before diving in.

INVITE THE CHANGE MAKER

Churches share many commonalities with businesses. Both have budgets. Both hire and fire. Both want to retain the people who come through their doors. But there’s at least one really big difference. Good business leaders can independently initiate and execute significant change in the organizations they serve. It’s hard work. It takes time. It takes the right knowledge. It takes finely tuned skills. But it absolutely can be done. In churches, even the most effective Christian leaders can’t do the truly heavy lifting of real and lasting change. If you want to pursue change on your own, make widgets not disciples. Your church’s ability to make disciples is at its heart a spiritual exercise. If you want to do that better, you won’t get there by just building a better mousetrap. You may look at prayer as an optional part of this process, yet it’s the only thing that’s truly indispensable to the process. Invite the Change Maker into your change process right from the start. Veteran pastor and LifeWay Christian Resources president Thom Rainer writes in Who Moved My Pulpit?, “I have never seen successful and sustaining change take place in a church without prayer.” What kind of prayer do you need? You need personal prayer. Any person who is playing a part in any change effort needs to be praying for it independently. Obviously, that includes the church’s senior leader, but it shouldn’t stop there. You need other leaders to commit to praying for the process. Consider enlisting a team that prays specifically for needs that come up throughout the change process.

You need corporate prayer. God’s people praying together for God’s purposes has a powerful impact on the change process. Depending on the change being considered, pray regularly about it during weekend worship services. Schedule a special night of prayer to focus on making the change. Encourage small groups or Sunday School classes to pray together throughout the process. You need consistent prayer. Pray regularly—both personally and corporately. You need focused prayer. When you focus light, you get a laser beam that can cut steel. When you focus prayers, you get power that can cut through hearts. Before starting the process, make a list of specific prayer needs that relate to your specific change. In general, remember to pray for: ÎÎ

Wisdom. You and other leaders on your team won’t know all the answers you need to properly make a significant change in your congregation. You’ll need to enlist Someone who does.

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Strength. Even in the healthiest of churches, change will drain your energy and (possibly) zap your health. Everyone involved will need a supernatural infusion of strength.

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Courage. Change is all about tough choices. Ask God to supernaturally give you and other church leaders the necessary courage to make the hard calls.

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Leaders. Leaders always take the brunt of the stress in change situations. Obviously, the ones most involved will bear the most, but other change agents will as well. Make sure you have people praying for the leaders of your church during this time. You might want to set up a quota. You won’t start the transition until you have a predetermined number of people committed to praying for the effort.

GATHER CHANGE AGENTS

Making changes in your church, even small ones, isn’t a one-person operation. You need the help of others who can see how your church can be more effective in its ministry. Great changes require great teams. But keep this in mind. Every change in your church will require a different coalition. Why? Every change is different. You’ll need different people on board to make it happen. What kinds of people should you enlist to be a part of your team during this change process? Here are a few attributes to look for: 1. Hopefully discontented. We often run away from these people. We know they aren’t satisfied with the status quo at the church, and we instinctively resent that. But discontent is the fuel of change. Change doesn’t happen without, at some level, a belief that things can be better. Clearly, not all discontent is good. Paul told us, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content” (Phil. 4:11). At one level, a growing Christian has an unmistakable level of contentment. Writer Trillia Newbell says, “The Holy Spirit enables us to find that rest and contentment in God, but that doesn’t mean we won’t long to do more in this life.” You’re looking for the people in your church who long for something more in your church, the people who believe God can and will work more fully in your church in the years to come. You’re looking for the hopeful discontents rather than the malcontents. 2. Influencers. You want people working toward change who have influence over others in the congregation. Not everyone does. You have many in your congregation who faithfully serve your

congregation but demonstrate little impact over the actions of others in the congregation. You need leaders on your side. Of course you need the formal leaders of your church on board—or as many as possible. You need the deacon boards and the elder teams. You need the staff behind you. But you also need informal leaders on your team, too. They may not be in formal leadership roles, but their opinions sway the opinions of others. You need those to sway toward the future you’re envisioning. 3. Experts. You need people who are “subject matter experts” related to whatever you’re trying to change. These are the people who will provide invaluable technical wisdom as you make the shift. If you want to make a change to your children’s ministry, make sure you have some teachers and some parents involved. If you want to make physical changes to your building, look for some contractors to be a part of the team. Move your church toward mobile app adoption? Find a mobile developer. Subject matter experts will help on two fronts. First, they’ll understand the details of what you’re hoping to do. Second, they will provide gravitas as you seek to influence others. Their technical understanding will help you enlist more support and give people confidence in the change you’re making. 4. Early adopters. People deal with change differently. A traditional bell curve suggests that about 15 percent of your congregants are either “innovators” or “early adopters.” These people have less built-in opposition to change. It doesn’t mean they’ll agree with the change you’re seeking to make, but they won’t oppose you just because you’re trying to make a change.

DEVELOP A PLAN

When Theo Epstein took over as the team president of the Chicago Cubs after the 2011 season, he knew changes were needed. The team hadn’t won a World Series in more than a century. In fact, they hadn’t even played for a series title since 1945. Losing had become an expectation for baseball’s “loveable losers.” But Epstein came with a plan—a tough-to-swallow plan. Unload the team’s best players. Get young talent in return. Turn high draft picks into future stars. Lose now. Win later. The Cubs went through three consecutive losing seasons. They were bad. They were boring. But they were getting better. In 2015, they made the playoffs. In 2016, they won the team’s first world championship in a 108 years. Better yet, their young team seems poised to win a few more in the coming years—all because they had a plan. You need a plan, too. If you want to make changes in your church—no matter what it is—you need a plan. You need to give structure to your desire for change. How do you do that? 1. Envision the change. Don’t start with the problem. Start with the end result you hope to achieve. Think about why you’re making this change. What do you hope to achieve? First, do this process on your own. Ask every person who is a part of your change process to spend some time thinking about what the end result of this change will look like. Then come together and talk about it. Be open. Be honest. Be thorough. Be respectful. But don’t quit until you’ve envisioned the change together.

2. Describe the future clearly and concisely. After you’ve thought about the process, you need to distill it to its essence. Use all the words you need but only the words you need to create a vision statement. You (and the other change agents you’re working with) will need to repeat this statement over and over again as your church works through this change, so it needs to be memorable. 3. Define roles throughout the change. No single leader can provide all the different kinds of leadership needed within a change. Three particular roles are important to identify before heading into the process: ÎÎ

Visionary. Propelled by the the desire to see the church grow and move forward, this leader focuses on what needs to change. They typically have the gift of leadership and superior communications skills. Often it will be the lead pastor (or ministry leader if the change is more narrowly focused).

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Administrative. These leaders implement the change. Using their gifts of administration, they work off of the plan to make sure everything gets done. Depending on the scope of the change, this work may be done by multiple leaders.

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Shepherding. Change is never easy on the people going through it. A shepherding leader uses pastoral gifts to carefully guide people through the painful parts of the process. While the visionary and administrative leaders focus on the goals and details of change, the shepherding leader focuses on the people who will be impacted.

4. Create bite-sized steps that will take your church from where you are to where you want to be. Try to figure out everything that needs to be done to effectively make the move. Be exhaustive. Focus on small steps. List everything. Then put the steps in order. 5. Define your long-term win—and the small wins along the way. You’ve already written down a clear vision, but defining the long-term win is where you’ll get specific. How will you know if you succeed? Make it tangible. Make it measurable. If your vision is to update your music style, quantify how that will impact your attendance (in both numbers and demographics). But don’t stop with the long-term win. Define smaller wins along the way that will allow you to celebrate the momentum you’re making. The smaller wins may be quantifiable, but they may not be. They could simply be key steps in your plan.

INCARNATE THE CHANGE

When Calvin Coolidge took over the presidency after the death of Warren Harding in 1923, he had a vision to bring a balanced budget and thrift to the federal government. It wouldn’t be easy. Many thought it couldn’t be done. But the quiet New Englander didn’t just insist upon it for the growing federal bureaucracy, but he modeled the change, all the way down to his spending for White House kitchen costs. It’s possible no American president has paid a closer attention to the spending of his household staff than Silent Cal. In 1926, the White House housekeeper kept a detailed list of all purchases for each event, which totaled $11,667.10. The following year she cut her costs and spent $9,116.39. President Coolidge noticed her cost-cutting and wrote her a note: “To Miss Riley, very fine improvement.” Coolidge cut taxes and balanced the budget for five years in the White House. He changed the culture of the federal government not just because he could lead others to do their work more efficiently, but because Coolidge modeled the behavior he wanted to see in others. To lead your church through change, you better do likewise. Change must be specific before it can become dynamic. Your first task as a leader in times of change isn’t to help others make changes in your church. Your first task is to model change in your own life. Focus on modeling the why of a change. You and your fellow leaders won’t be able to model every change you’re trying to make, but you can model the reason for the change. If you are making changes in order to better reach unchurched people in your community, you should have relationships with people outside of your church. You need to actively invite those people to a life of faith and, more specifically, to your church. If you are trying to lead your church to a more effective mobile engagement, you better be using your mobile devices to engage with the congregation.

Modeling the why will provide you with stories to tell. Inspiring your church to make significant changes will mean communicating to both the head and the heart. To communicate to the heart, you’ll need stories (even if your job isn’t as the church’s main communicator). Change—every single part of it—is about communication. Even in one-on-one communication, your personal stories will be critical in your ability to influence the change. Modeling the why will show you’re willing to make sacrifices in support of the change. It’s hard to ask other people to make changes in something as deeply personal as their church family if the person asking isn’t willing to make similar sacrifices. Those you lead need to know you won’t ask them to do something you aren’t willing to do as well.

COMMUNICATE THE CHANGE WITH URGENCY

Change rarely happens without urgency. Unless you can communicate a sense of urgency about a forthcoming change, congregations have no reason to make a change. Imagine your church’s worship services no longer had enough room for new guests. You’re busting at the seams. Though you passionately want to reach new people, you break out in hives every time there’s an influx of new people on Sunday. You know that every new person who comes through your doors stretches your church’s parking, seating, and children’s ministry to the max. The problem is—your congregation may not realize this. They don’t see the people storming out when they can’t find a seat. They don’t get the angry emails from volunteers who feel overwhelmed by the number of crying babies in the nursery. But you do. As you try to encourage your current members to switch their attendance to a different time to make room for guests, all they see is the disruption of their schedule and the inconvenience. You have to help them see the urgency… …with numbers. It’s hard to argue cold, hard facts. ÎÎ

“I saw four cars drive off last week when they couldn’t find a place to park. We need to expand our parking lot.”

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“We lost five volunteers last month because our children’s facilities were maxed out during this time period. We need to update our facilities.”

…with consequences. Be clear and concrete about what will happen if the change isn’t made. ÎÎ

“If many of you don’t switch to the new service, we will not be able to serve new attendees. Many of them will not come to our church because of this.”

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“If we can’t transition to our worship style, we won’t be able to reach young families. Sooner rather than later, our church will die.”

How do you communicate the urgency of the change? ÎÎ

Communicate it clearly. Be able to articulate the change in a way that anyone can quickly understand it and see their part in it.

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Communicate it often. Once is never enough when communicating the urgency and the mechanics of change. Do it frequently. The bigger the change, the more often you need to communicate it, and the more diverse your methods should be (weekend messages, email, app notifications, casual conversations, leadership gatherings, etc.).

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Communicate it gently. Just because you’re communicating a message with urgency, doesn’t mean you get off the hook with Paul’s admonition to speak “the truth in love.” Change is tough, especially with an organization like the church, which is so intrinsically connected to the most important aspects of our lives. Speaking gently can make the change much smoother.

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Communicate it logically. Be sure you describe why the change is urgent. This means you have to go beyond “God told me so.” Many of your people will need to follow your logic in order to get on board. Of course, it still matters what God thinks about the change, but make the effort to discover why God wants you to make the change.

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Communicate it strategically. You need to use the communications vehicles that are the most effective for your context.

EMPHASIZE THE GOSPEL

When Mark Clifton took over the lead pastor role at Wornall Road Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO, the church had only 18 people in attendance. Worse yet, they were all senior citizens. The church hadn’t grown in years. Most experienced pastors would have passed on the opportunity. The church was dying. What could he do? Over the next few months and years, Clifton did a number of things designed to breathe new life into the old church. He detailed his process in his book, Reclaiming Glory: Creating a Gospel Legacy throughout North America. But maybe his most significant act in the turnaround process had nothing to do with leadership structure, reaching younger people, or even prayer. Instead it had to do with the 18 senior citizens that many new leaders would have dismissed as enemies of change. “I didn’t make them the change agent,” Clifton said. “I didn’t blame them for what went wrong. I didn’t blame them for all the failures of the past. I didn’t marginalize them. I just loved them immensely as the bride of Christ. I just really tried to get them to warm up to the gospel and love Jesus again.” He reminded those 18 people of what God had done in their lives through the gospel—and how He would once again transform lives through the gospel in that church. To describe the process of change in local church ministry without the gospel would be spiritual malpractice. The gospel is all about change— how what’s dead becomes alive. How do you lead change efforts with the gospel?

Clifton describes the process in Reclaiming Glory, “You warm [the congregants’] hearts to the gospel. Remind them of what the gospel is over and over again. Preach it. Teach it. Model it. Remember though, this isn’t primarily a head issue. Most of your older members have been reciting the gospel for decades. They know it. Your job is to help them rediscover it with their hearts. Remind them of how desperate their need is for Jesus. Ask them to share their stories of coming to Christ and to recount times in their lives when God was very real to them. Take every sermon and every conversation and look for ways to help them see that their true joy comes in what Jesus has done for them and not in what they can do for the church or what the church can do for them. Help them see that true joy will come as they experience the gospel and pass it on to future generations.” Clifton is particularly focused on turning around dead churches, but the principle applies to all changes necessary to the life and ministry of the church. Continue building the gospel into your congregation. Then help them see the change you’re making in terms of how it will impact the advance of the gospel in your community and around the world. Why does this matter? You need your congregation to understand the change you’re seeking to make isn’t about personal preference. It’s about how God wants to work through your church to impact your community. If the change is just about personal preferences of one group over another, your change will rightfully be seen as a political stunt where one group tries to gain power over another. That has no place in the church. Change isn’t a preference issue. It’s a gospel issue.

CELEBRATE WINS TOGETHER

You’ll make few transitions in your ministry as difficult as Nehemiah when he returned to rebuild the temple wall. He endured ridicule (4:1-6), a conspiracy (4:7-9), discouragement (4:10), intimidation (4:11-23), internal conflict (5:1-19), a deceptive attempt to harm him (6:1-4), slander (6:5-9), and even treachery (6:10-14) along the way. Yet Nehemiah remained strong. The Israelites finished rebuilding the wall. What did they do then? They celebrated. They partied. They had a regular, good old-fashioned hoe-down. As they dedicated the wall in chapter 12, they celebrated “with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres” (12:27). When you get to the end of a big transition in your church, you should do likewise. You must celebrate. This isn’t just a cute way to end the process either. It’s critical. In his book Steering Through Chaos: Mapping a Clear Direction for Your Church in the Midst of Transition and Change, Scott Wilson writes: “In an organization, a commitment to celebrate reinforces priorities and inspires people to trust God even more. Preaching and teaching about the vision points the way to the future, but celebration says, ‘That vision is becoming a reality!’ It generates tremendous momentum throughout the organization, and ultimately it fosters an even higher and clearer vision of the future because each moment of celebration intuitively tells people, ‘God has done it once, and he can do it again.’” In fact, celebration is so important to the change process that you don’t want to settle for just once. You’ll want to celebrate multiple wins along the way. When you go through your planning process and divide up the steps, denote natural opportunities to celebrate. Celebration spurs momentum. You need momentum to make change a reality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY To dig deeper into making changes in your church, check out these helpful resources: ÎÎ

Who Moved My Pulpit? by Thom Rainer

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Steering Through Chaos by Scott Wilson

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Reclaiming Glory by Mark Clifton

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Leading Change by John P. Kotter

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Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change by various authors

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