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By Alan Nelson | posted 2000
The structure
of a church can be as fragile as a house of cards, especially
when you’re trying to implement change. But if you understand
why churches are resistant to change, and why they’re
uniquely suited to make changes, you can be successful at
making your church a house of change.
You might
assume that because the church is in the life transformation
and conversion business, we’d also be adept at implementing
organizational changes. Unfortunately, quite the opposite
is true. With more than 85 percent of the 300,000-plus United
States congregations either on a plateau or in a decline,
it’s curious that more of us aren’t running toward
change like a lifesaver. If you study the psychology of change,
you find that people respond to innovations at differing rates.
Approximately 80 percent of people don’t look kindly
at change. Similarly, different types of organizations adapt
to changes at different rates. Among the slower types are
education, government, churches, and denominations. There
are reasons why faith communities tend to be on the slower
side of processing innovations. If you ignore these organizational
characteristics by assuming that the people are faithless,
carnal, or backward, you’ll do little to move your congregation
forward. Improvement-savvy leaders need to understand the
idiosyncrasies of faith communities to minimize their avoidance
of change and maximize their strengths toward new things.
why
churches change more slowly
There
are five primary reasons why local congregations tend to adopt
new ideas more slowly than other organizations.
1.
We’re guardians of traditions. A part of our self-identity
is to preserve the past, namely the ageless traditions of
Christianity. The challenge is in discerning between an eternal
principle and a familiar form. Distinguishing culture from
concepts, form from essence, and message from methods is very
difficult, especially when they’re interlaced in our
experience. The process becomes far more emotional than intellectual—or
even spiritual. Because we do exist in part to preserve our
heritage and to perpetuate the truths of Christ to forthcoming
generations, we inevitably confuse truth with culture and
thus strive to continue both, sometimes losing the former
in the process. Bucking outside influences that seek to compromise
our message is valid, but in the process we often reject ideas
that would make us more effective in communicating the message.
2.
Culture is big in church life. Throughout Scripture, the
church is referred to in familiar terms: brother, sister,
father, son, and so on. Our corporate goals are primarily
intangible. We don’t manufacture widgets or sell our
services. The quirky thing about church life is that we operate
corporately—at least to a certain degree to be good stewards—but
we emote like family. For example, if an employee isn’t
doing his job in the marketplace, a boss will more than likely
fire him. Typically you can’t do this in the church without
a lot of emotional bloodletting. “You let cousin Johnny
go. He may not be perfect, but we love him. He has a house,
kids, and a future to think about. Poor Johnny.” What’s
a nonissue in corporate life can become a huge, emotional
ordeal in church life. Change often impacts “family”
life. When emotions enter the picture, improvement ideas can
become very messy and potentially lethal when taken in large
doses.
3.
Churches have a fuzzy bottom line. Businesses have a pretty
clear cut bottom line: profit. “How did we do at the
end of last quarter or last fiscal year?” Churches measure
attendance and finances, but our bottom lines are much more
ambiguous. How do we know if people are growing spiritually?
Our goals are far less tangible, even though more important.
The longer a church has been in existence, the more its resources
go toward its own preservation rather than toward outreach
and evangelism. Our tendency is to design ministries that
meet our own needs as opposed to the needs of those who have
not yet entered the kingdom. Thus a perceived need to change
what we’re doing becomes potentially subjective, controversial,
and up for debate. Because we don’t have stockholders
who read detailed quarterly reports, we’re less clear
on how we’re doing in reaching organizational goals.
4.
Change-weary members seek an oasis. Dot-coms, e-commerce,
IPOs, mergers, takeovers, and technological breakthroughs
are the name of the game. Fast Company magazine’s early
slogan was, “When the need for speed exceeds the fear
of failure.” People who wrestle with the stress of change
and innovation Monday through Friday—and sometimes Saturday
and Sunday as well—long for sanctuaries of tranquility.
Unfortunately, many of the change issues at work are very
similar to organizational improvement issues within the church.
The last thing many of these stress-laden people want to do
is struggle with these issues on their “day off.”
When several things in life are in transition, stress feels
overwhelming. Profit-driven organizations know that, in order
to survive, they must improve. Churches, therefore, become
the designated safe zones where change-weary people can settle
in and avoid the stress of a changing world. Like a hot tub
at the end of a tough day, attendees anticipate the unchanging
nature of many churches.
5.
Few pastors consider themselves gifted leaders. According
to research by George Barna, only 5 percent of pastors surveyed
acknowledge a sense of leadership gifts. Most pastors are
gifted as teachers, counselors, and ministerial managers.
Traditional roles don’t require pastors to lead—that’s
a significantly different wiring. Leaders are change agents.
You don’t need a leader when you maintain existing systems,
keeping the status quo. You do need leaders when you desire
to bring about change. When pastors lack leader aptitudes,
they’ll become frustrated when expected to spark change.
They’ll either avoid innovations or they’ll bungle
transition processes. Gifts and aptitudes have little to do
with sincerity, spirituality, and commitment. The much acclaimed
leadership crisis we’re facing today is simply a result
of an insufficient number of leaders to handle the multitude
of organizations desiring change.If you stop at this point,
you may feel mildly depressed or may be considering a new
career. But the point of this article really is to fan the
flames of hope. If you’re weary from pushing improvement
ideas forward, be encouraged by knowing why this is a challenging
process. You’re not alone in your feelings and there
are certainly some common, rational reasons behind this difficulty.
Understanding what you’re up against should encourage
you not to play the self-doubting mind games that difficult,
messy processes produce. We also want to create hope by targeting
the pressure points where churches are actually more change
receptive than most marketplace organizations. Because they’re
somewhat unique to churches, these characteristics are often
passed over by conventional organizational gurus and literature,
and therefore remain underutilized.
Here
are five reasons why churches can be more improvement responsive.
why
churches implement change better than other organizations
1.
We possess the Holy Spirit. Well, let’s hope we do, anyway.
One national researcher told me that he believes one-third
of American churches are spiritually dead. We probably don’t
need a sermon or Bible study here, but suffice it to say,
God’s Spirit leads his people into new territories as
well as in ways that are unifying, not divisive. As leaders,
our primary goal is to make sure our people are focused on
the Spirit through prayer, community, Bible study, corporate
worship, and brokenness. Then we’re much less apt to
get caught up in the human drama of change. All sorts of selfish,
carnal reactions take place when we do things in the flesh
and not in the Spirit. As faith communities, we’re more
apt to live our lives in the Spirit than our corporate counterparts
(note I said “more apt”). The fluidity of the Spirit
keeps us flexible and oils the gears of change that create
friction when they rub together.
2.
We tend to have low overhead. Many organizations go out
of business because of insufficient capital necessary to make
the changes in order to keep up. When you have to shut down
factories, retool, and consume huge amounts of your assets
in implementing the improvements, you have to think hard about
making such changes. Churches, while having less finances
than many corporations, are primarily in the business of intangibles.
Our work force is primarily unpaid servants. These matters
make it potentially easier for us to make programmatic and
stylistic changes than other organizations. Because our assets
are primarily people—as opposed to facilities, machinery,
and products—we can be more flexible to respond to needed
improvements.
3.
Family sticks together. The view of employees today is
that they’re a type of paid customer. Organizations have
to work at keeping quality people, who are more apt to jump
from job to job if the paycheck increases. Perks, benefits,
and opportunities are now regular parts of employee considerations
in addition to salary. When you have talent—and the economy
is good—there’s often little keeping you in an organization
when something better comes along. The good side of church
life is that family and friends can keep us committed even
when change issues might tempt us to bail. Overall, people
are more apt to stick through a time of transition when they
have emotional ties. The investment of ourselves is valuable.
Our kids have friends. Our wedding pictures were taken in
the chapel. Our Bible study friends have walked through life
with us. Because of these benefits, people in churches are
more apt to wait out the stress of transitions than are corporate
employees and customers.
4.
Faith is in our genes. If you look at the Bible and Christian
history, you’ll find significant times of change requiring
faith. When you take a biblical approach to life, you can’t
avoid valleys, facing giants, trusting God when you feel like
giving up, and depending on him to help you through the good
and bad times. Faith is a part of our Christian heritage.
The Church has persevered throughout history, sometimes in
spite of ourselves. When we focus on this intangible force
that keeps us in tune with a faithful God, it improves the
odds that we can make it through yet one more time of transition.
Stories and testimonies abound where people trusted God during
the tough times, only to see his hand of provision. We can
do it again. God’s still with us. These faith statements
hold us together in our cause more than organizations that
are faithless.
5.
We have a higher calling. The preceding reason brings
us to the fifth benefit a church has in facing change over
it’s corporate counterparts. When we understand that
the Christian life isn’t about what I want—or what
you want—but what God wants, we can persevere through
many difficult moments. The process of self-surrender—obedience
to God—is in and of itself a step toward spiritual maturity.
In other words, our goal isn’t just to go through this
journey and survive. It’s to grow through it and thrive.
Every transition phase toward improvement and more effectiveness
is an opportunity to deepen our faith. Leaving behind our
Harans and Egypts in order to settle new Promised Lands is
a calling of God who’s saying, “Trust me.”
Obedience amid fears has never been easy. But the fact that
we recognize a higher calling and are willing to trust God
makes effective transition a greater possibility. Keeping
our focus on the bigger picture is why we’re in business.
Recently,
the CEO of a respected Christian organization told me that
the gap between the best and good leaders and the rest of
the field is increasing. The distance between those who are
making changes and those who aren’t is getting wider.
Eventually, the latter won’t make it. As church attendance
in America continues to decline, many trend watchers suggest
that scores of American churches are on the brink of extinction.
They predict that in the next few years, we’ll see local
congregations closing their doors because of an unwillingness
to make the necessary changes to survive, most of which have
little to do with theology, but deal primarily with philosophy
and style. When you think about it, the reason to change is
theological—an obedience to fulfill the Great Commission
mandates that we do what we can to communicate the life-changing
message of the gospel into a 21st century, postmodern culture.
By acknowledging and adapting to our liabilities and assets
regarding improvement in the local church, we stand a better
chance of expanding God’s kingdom in the future.
Alan
Nelson is a speaker, author, and senior pastor of Scottsdale
Family Church. To learn more about churches and change, check
out the book he co-authored with Gene Appel, How to Change
Your Church, (Word/WillowCreek).
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