One of the most common questions I hear from church leaders is, “How long will it take my church to change?”
It’s such a great question because change sometimes feels, well, impossible.
You hear a constant stream of complaints.
You’ve run into too many people who like things the way they are now (or the way they were a long time ago).
You’ve got too many friends who got hurt badly trying to lead change.
The committees keep meeting and they keep stalling.
You’re starting to feel like Moses in the desert with no Promised Land in sight.
I get that, I’ve been there.
But don’t get discouraged. Change—even radical change—is possible.
A change from dying slowly to growing rapidly.
I’ve led change in a local church for 18 years with many of the same core group of people I started with when I was a seminary grad.
Eighteen years ago, I began ministry with three small mainline churches whose total average attendance was less than 50. The churches were about as traditional as churches get: century-old buildings, organs, choirs, committees, few kids and zero growth.
Within five years, we had sold all three buildings and merged the three churches into a new church with a new name and a new mission. In the process, we changed the structure of leadership, engineered a radical overhaul of the style of worship, moved to an elementary school and launched a building campaign. In the process, we grew to over 10 times our original size.
Then, almost six years ago, a core of us left the denomination we were a part of. We left a nearly paid for building to start again in neighboring communities as Connexus, launching two locations at once. We moved from a permanent building to rented facilities and planted as a North Point Strategic Partner.
Now, we’re able to reach more people than ever before, and 60 percent of the people who walk in our door come from an unchurched background. This has helped us realize our vision to be a church that unchurched people love to attend.
I realize, that’s a lot of change. Have we lost people? Of course.
But we have reached many more. And many didn’t leave. Some have been with us through the entire 18-year journey.
I share those things not to boast—God receives the credit—but to let you know that change is possible.
Radical change is possible.
