“Making Changes in the Established Church” (Part Five)

We’re talking about making changes and leading the church to new ways, especially in the established church that has been there for a while. Yesterday we looked at some of the common mistakes that leaders make in the process of initiating change. Today we see several more:

3. Not loving the people noticeably.

Part of this is perception but much of it is very real too.  People will follow the leadership of someone who really loves them and they know it, while they may feel suspect about someone who just tells them to do something and doesn’t walk with them through that change or show love in presenting it.

This may relate to the very practical areas of being accessible, in the halls, communicating with words of love and grace.  It might relate to the mood of the worship service on Sundays!

Clearly one of our responsibilities is to go out of our way to say and show our love for the people of the church.

Love does cover a multitude of sins and certainly gives a gracious reaction to a multitude of changes.

4. Switching sermon or worship style rather abruptly.

Sometimes this is the most common mistake.  A pastor sees a new style and makes it his own, sometimes being a detriment to the regular attenders.  A friend switched from true expository preaching to very topical and light preaching, convince that people do not need to hear contents that originate in the Bible or are exposing Bible truths.  The people who were so used to the previous way of doing this reacted by either leaving the church or simply complaining.

So many of our people chose the church or even helped to begin it years before because of the sermon style or the worship style, and they feel left behind when they are not included in the new style.

5. Making changes.

I’m being facetious.  All changes are hard for a local church, but it seems so much better to try to make the church more relevant to today’s world and to visitors who come.

The answer sometimes is to call it by another name, not “change,” and to give adequate preparation and communication.

6. Not explaining the mission and purpose of the church enough; not renewing the vision.

Lyle Schaller calls the pastor to renew that vision every six weeks, at least to mention why the church has the slant that it does and the mood that it does.

It’s healthy for the senior up front to celebrate good things that happen and to tie them to the mission statement of the church and to the purposeful beginning of the church also.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our examination the change process in the local church.