5. People are still complaining about the last thing you changed.
You know you’re leading people who don’t want to change when they’re still complaining about the last thing you changed.
And that was five years ago.
I don’t know what else to say about this except … that was FIVE YEARS ago.
Really? Stop already.
6. “We’ve never done it that way before” has become a theme song.
It’s easy to get smug and think “only super traditional churches fall into traps like this.”
But not really.
Successful, growing churches struggle with this tension too.
Why? Because effective churches, once experienced, is something most leaders don’t want to jeopardize.
As leaders, you become so afraid of breaking what’s working that you resist change.
Even success creates barriers to innovation. The greatest enemy of your future success is your current success.
7. Your leaders don’t bring unchurched friends with them.
A sure sign that people have given up on change is that no one in leadership is actually investing in people who don’t currently attend church.
When you’re not praying for, investing in or hanging out with unchurched people, your leadership conversations become about personal preferences, not biblical principles.
And when your church becomes all about your personal preferences, you lose the mission.
What to Do?
If this is you, what do you do ? Three things.
First, as a leader, call the situation for what it is.
Maybe start by personally owning your resistance to change. We all resist it, and your resistance might be born out of fear. Or maybe, out of frustration, you’ve just decided your church will never change. In which case, if you believe that as a leader, it won’t. So confess that, and own it.
Second, repeat the process for your leaders. Share your fear of change and your attitude with your leaders and apologize. Then ask your leaders to talk about their fear of change.
Have an honest conversation. Perhaps it will lead to a place where your leaders look in the mirror and say, “Houston, we have a problem. And it’s us.” That would be a breakthrough moment.
And finally, just realize that—contrary to the title of this post—change IS possible because not everyone is actually opposed to change. We just feel like change is impossible and everyone is opposed.
As I wrote about in my book Leading Change Without Losing It, rarely are more than 10 percent of people opposed to effective change at any given moment. It’s just that the opponents are loud, and we often confuse loud with large.
If you doubt that everyone is deeply opposed to change, write down the names of the vocal opponents on a sheet of paper. Chances are you will have trouble identifying more than 10-20 percent of your congregation by name. Don’t let the 10 percent of people who are opposed to change determine the future of the 90 percent who aren’t. Maybe that will give you the courage you need to lead the change you need to make.
It’s never as hopeless as you think. And even your dyed-in-the-wool traditional church can change. As I outlined here, I led three very traditional churches through the process.
This article on effective churches originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
