Changes in ministry are a given; in a church, they occur with or without planning. However, planned changes can often have unintended negative consequences if implemented haphazardly. A person’s emotions can cause reactions that change the mission or work of ministry.
Therefore, when change is needed in your church, effective planning will facilitate healthier and more effective change. As a leader, you’ll need to conduct thorough research before implementing any change.
In this post, you will discover some key questions to ask before making major changes. Any change will be painful for some members of your church, and it is crucial not to make changes simply for the sake of change. At the same time, if change is necessary, you can’t avoid it indefinitely. Change must be part of the overall mission and vision of your church. Answering these questions will help you to discover the best possible ways to engage in change.
Question 1: Have I prayed about this change?
As pastor of the church, God has placed you as His undershepherd. God has a greater desire for His church than any member or staff person. When approaching change, you must first develop a prayer strategy. As God gives direction, He will also direct you to additional people who are needed to join in the process of change through prayer.
Question 2: Who will be responsible for making this decision about change?
As you examine the leadership structure of your church, is there a committee or team responsible for addressing this area where change is needed? It will be to your advantage to work with the team responsible for this area. Change must never happen in a vacuum; don’t attempt to pilot change alone.
As a pastor, develop a collaborative team to share the ownership of the change. Those who are early adopters of change will be cheerleaders for the change, as well as encouragers for others to join in. So, it bears repeating: change must never happen in a vacuum.
Question 3: What will this change cost (ministry, time, resources, and/or people)?
One of the best ways to determine the cost of a significant decision is to evaluate the price of the change that it entails. The cost of a decision can be the added value it brings to the ministry. The change can provide more or better ministry opportunities; it can also add more time to enhance ministry. Making a change can provide additional resources for the ministry and engage more people directly in the ministry. It takes wise planning to determine the cost of change.
Change can also be a negative if not appropriately evaluated. The change could impact another valuable ministry without evaluation. Change can be so significant that it affects resources or volunteers.
Question 4: How does this change affect our mission/vision?
As you pray and evaluate for change, you must also consider the change through the lens of the church’s mission and vision. A Mission statement will focus the church on what it does every day to achieve its vision. A Vision statement keeps the church focused on what the church hopes to be tomorrow.
As the pastor, are you keeping the current mission and vision of the church alive during this change? It is essential for a leader not to blaze a new trail of change that affects the overall mission and vision of the church. If the change significantly alters your mission or vision, you may need to reconsider the necessity of the change until further study has been completed.
Question 5: What is the speed of change for our congregation?
In every church, change has a speed limit, and it is not the same pace for every church. One of the best ways to determine the church’s capacity for change may be by reading a few years’ worth of the church’s business meeting or deacons’ meeting minutes. As you read through these documents, you can identify the path and pace of this significant item the church has embraced.
Another way to assess the speed of change may be to identify the “person of peace” within the church. Every church has a person who is well-respected by the congregation and is walking with the Lord. As you identify this person(s), it is crucial to have a private conversation with them about the church’s history regarding their readiness and response to change.
Question 6: How will we know the change is beneficial?
Like any adventure, we must know how to determine when and how we get to our destination. When making changes, we need to visualize what this change might look like for our church. By keeping detailed notes about what God has revealed to you regarding this change and inquiring of other leaders about what the change will lead us to, we determine that what we have is extremely valuable to our church and, more importantly, to the Kingdom of God. As we paint our future picture of the church with this change, it will be easier to reflect on how beneficial it can be.
Leading Beneficial Change
These six questions can serve as a great guide to determine the right change and the direction needed to help the church embrace it. Remember that every new pastor has a certain amount of ‘Leadership Bucks’ to spend in a church. However, one caution is that some pastors spend all their ‘bucks’ too soon and do not see vital ministry.
If we have done our work to engage and facilitate the process of change, a pastor can impact the church for beneficial change. Use these six questions to help you do so!
Photo by Nothing Ahead: From Pexels
