Navigating change is no easy task for churches, yet it is an essential skill for leading any church well.
In the last three-plus decades that I have been leading our church, we have experienced our share of changes. We have relocated twice, gone through multiple construction adventures, added and subtracted staff, and had a group of Baptists vote themselves out of power to submit to the Elders.
While everyone was crafting clever mission statements, ours became “We will figure it out”.
All that change makes me an expert on exactly one church – Headwaters Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The church you are a part of is as unique as a snowflake and is no doubt filled with some snowflakes! Even in our differences, I guarantee you that our churches share at least three things in common that influence how change works.
We all have a past, future, and present.
Understanding and reacting to all three will greatly determine how well we navigate change.
Unless you are starting a church from nothing, the place and people you are living out your faith with have a past. I think it is critical that the past is understood and, even more importantly, respected.
Every church also has a future. Can you see it? It is probably not as clear as you might think, but it is important to anticipate what is to come.
Your ability to respect the past and anticipate the future will bring you to the tip of the spear, the present.
The present is where theory becomes reality. It is, therefore, where you will need courage.
Courage to act.
Courage to lead.
Courage to believe.
Courage to be critiqued.
The problem is that we have not properly respected the past or adequately anticipated the future before we act in the present.
When the problems that come with change arrive, we do not have the foundation of understanding to hold us in place. The patient pursuit of proper motives comes from the comprehension of what was and what could be that will guide our hearts and mouths in the present.
Then the change will be God’s, not mine, and it will be beautiful.
