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5 Principles to Move Those Sacred Cows

The Principles.

Organizational memory in our church had the potential of hindering our gospel effectiveness. The initial frustrated response to the problem was to double our ineffective efforts from 1,500 hours a year to 3,000 hours. But we did move beyond this issue. The changes were not without pain, though.

Here are the five steps we took to move beyond organizational memory.

1. We involved key leaders on both sides of the issue.

Several people had emotional ties to our ministry. It was good for those on each side of this issue to hear the other perspective.

2. We asked if we could accomplish our goals with more effective means.

Even some of the greatest detractors recognized that the means had become an end. We concluded that our true goal was not to maintain a program, but to share the gospel and our church with our neighbors.

3. We paired leaders from opposite sides for an hour to present possible alternatives.

This exercise was immensely valuable. It got all of us thinking about the true goal rather than the preservation of an ineffective program.

4. We left with an intentional decision to move forward with two pilot ministries.

We declared neither new ministry to be sacrosanct, but decided to test them for a predetermined period of six months. We also agreed to return as a group in six months to evaluate our progress or lack of progress.

5. We recognized as a group that we would still have critics for eliminating the old ministry.

Our goal was not to eliminate criticism, but to minimize it and to deal with the critics in a Christ-like manner.

On the one hand, I would evaluate our process as a success. We were able to deal effectively with the sacred cow that was hindering our progress. On the other hand, our replacement ministries were only slightly more effective than their predecessor ministry. At the end of six months, some were wondering if we made a mistake by doing away with the old ministry.

Leading a church to change is rarely a smooth road. It is often three steps forward and two steps backward. But the process we took became very helpful in my leadership in future churches and other organizations.

How do you deal with sacred cows in your church? What have been some of your victories? What have been some of your struggles?