“I met with one of my elders who missed the last session meeting. I told him of the proposed changes, and he was very quiet. What do you suppose that means?” Silence could mean passive agreement, or vehement disagreement, to be vociferated eventually. It turned out to be the latter — ouch!
Many of us have a story like this. Leading a congregation through change can feel like the metaphor noted by one Chinese change expert: “We are crossing the river by feeling for the stones.” It’s slippery and fraught with danger, but the way forward is only through experimentation and risk. We long for easy answers, knowing they don’t exist. Yet there are three “stones” we can stand upon, which assume that leading change has a theological, organizational, and spiritual component. Change leaders think in each category.
Missional church is a theological concept, so leaders need to rethink church from a Biblical/theological perspective. Many approaches have arisen in an attempt to deal with the crisis that the church in the U.S. is waning. The Church Growth and Health movements would be two examples. These movements, as well as the missional church movement, are all trying to get at the question — What outcome are we aiming for? Is it numerically growing churches? Is it healthy churches?
Growth and health are positive images but don’t get at the heart of the matter. God didn’t create the church to be healthy, although health is a key aspect of living out God’s call for the church. God created the church to live as a demonstration of God’s kingdom in the world. Our internal discipleship and worship exist not as an end itself, but to equip us to participate externally in what God is doing in the world. The “world” is no longer across a body of salt water, but is the secular society immediately outside our doors. Thus, theological rethinking brings us to a focus on the church’s identity, answering the question—for what purpose did God create the church?1
Organizationally, a lot of research informs those wanting to lead change.2 One adage is to not answer questions people aren’t asking.3 So get them to ask the right questions. People in the pews are asking about the three B’s — how to get more Bodies/Bucks, and what to do with the Buildings. These are not productive starting points for leading change. Thus, the challenge is to get people instead to ask the questions: How has our world changed? AND How is the church called and gifted to participate in God’s redemption of this changing world?
Key to the process is identifying the difference between adaptive work and technical solutions.4 A focus on the three B’s keeps people stuck looking for a technical fix, i.e., apply known answers or find experts to fix it. Many new pastors have been hired as a technical fix — “Let’s hire a young pastor with a family and they will bring in families!” Adaptive challenge is the type of work in which easily accessed expertise does not exist, thus the congregation needs to learn new skills and behaviors. For example, a technical fix would be to create a “Welcome” brochure. Learning to provide hospitality to new people is an adaptive challenge. The issues facing our congregations are increasingly of an adaptive nature. In another example, a mainly Anglo church experiences an influx of immigrants from Mexico and Somali. It would require adaptive work on the part of the congregation to learn how to do ministry across these cultural differences.
Spiritually, change needs to engage people’s hearts. The path of change is hard. One current idea is to ask people to marinate in one or two call passages of Scripture over an extended length of time.5 I call it “marinate” because the goal is to stay with a few passages and let them permeate our thinking, like teriyaki flavors chicken. I have seen this have a profound impact in very stuck congregations. People are both inspired to think in new ways, and are encouraged personally in their own faith journey.
None of us knows the future. But we do know that, like Abraham, we are called to venture into the unknown and participate as a conduit of God’s blessing to all peoples of the earth. Like our spiritual ancestors, we cross the river by faith, feeling for each new stone God provides.
Bibliography
Heifetz, Ronald A., and Marty Linsky. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston: Harvard Business School 2002.
Kotter, John. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.
Rouse, Rick, and Craig Van Gelder. A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation: Embarking on a Journey of Transformation. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2008.
Roxburgh, Alan, and Fred Romanuk. The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass 2006.
Van Gelder, Craig. The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000.
STEPHANIE LUTZ ALLEN is honorably retired, living in Sunnyvale, Calif.
1Craig Van Gelder, The Essence of the Church: A Community Created by the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000).
2Recommendations: Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading (Boston: Harvard Business School 2002); Rick Rouse and Craig Van Gelder, A Field Guide for the Missional Congregation: Embarking on a Journey of Transformation (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2008). John Kotter, Leading Change (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996). Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass 2006).
3I’m indebted to a Gil Rendle for this concept.
4Heifetz and Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading.
5I recommend these five: Gen. 12:1-9; Luke 10:1-16; Acts 1:1-11; II Cor. 5:11-6:2 and Phil. 2:1-11
