Leading Change in the Church - Lesson 10

So, we want to start with a good SWOT analysis, and that may take some significant time, but one of the questions that we wrestle with is how do we know if this change that we're looking at is really appropriate? That has to be one of the questions as a shepherd of the flock; how do we know if this change is really of the Lord? Well, there's a couple of questions that I struggle with and that I've learned to ask myself in this process. 

The first question is, is this change an idol? Has it become an idol to me or to a small group of people? Or to flip the question around, is resistance to this change an idol? The truth is, whichever way I lean on that question, for or against, I have learned that my heart is what I would call an idol factory. It's a reality, and once we as leaders come to grips with the fact that my heart is a cavern for these desires that tend to escalate into a demand, and as a leader, I have to constantly guard that. It goes from something that I want to have to something that I have to have, and when I have a position of authority, and particularly have those words that everybody bows to, “the Lord has said, the Lord has told me,” boy, that becomes something that's irresistible. As pastoral leaders, we can crave anything from an orphanage in the Philippines to a hip rocks worship service, and while not inherently wrong in and of themselves, they may not be God's plan for the church at this time, in this season, and so that whole issue of guarding my heart, is this change an idol or is resistance to this change an Idol, needs to be constantly asked.

You know, in first Samuel chapter 8, Israel asks for a king. Idols become idols when we want them so much that we're willing to move heaven and earth to make them happen, and sometimes against God's purposes, to pursue them. So how do we discern God's purpose? And this segues into the second question: Is my heart running the show? Now, there's a need for a careful examination, and what we mean by that, godly counsel, input, is very critical at this stage. I have found that when I want to determine underlying heart issues, I need to surround myself with people who will tell me the truth, and that is a discipline that is sometimes difficult for religious leaders because oftentimes people put religious leaders on a pedestal; we tend to see them as our alter ego, and why in the world would I possibly have anything to say to a spiritual leader because they're in tune with God way more than I am, you know, kind of thing. That's why the initiative from that leader is so important to get that kind of input, to ask the question, is my heart running the show? 

We've often been taught to seek God and then stand before the people and announce his message. That's kind of an Old Testament motif. You know, Moses goes to the mountain, gets the tablets, comes down, says, here they are, folks. That's kind of the way it worked in the Old Testament. Conversely, Pentecost taught us that after Pentecost, particularly, there's much more emphasis on the priesthood of believers; there's much more emphasis at that point on the collective body of Christ and the collective wisdom, and that's why I'm using that concept of collective intelligence, and particularly as we look at the church. So, keep this in mind: is my heart running the show? 

One of the questions that you can ask, if that's really the question, is how would I respond to barriers related to this change? In other words, if somebody throws a wrench in the machine, you know, I've got this idea we need to change this, and somebody comes along with a real barrier, what is my response to that? Another question, what has been produced as a result of the SWOT analysis? Has that truth ever been stretched even for a moment in arguing for or against the change that the leadership is advocating? If it has, then it gets back to the question, you know, there may be something going on that's not actually as clean as it should be; a simple question, am I willing to sin to go forward with this change? Am I willing to be deceptive in any way to make this change happen? 

The third is have we really counted the cost? Luke 14, of course, the context is discipleship, but the principle is obvious. A wise man/woman counts the cost before entering the battle or beginning to build a building. Military history teaches us that some hills are just not worth fighting for. I've had folks from Vietnam tell me that in no uncertain terms. The history of the church growth moment would suggest to us that many churches were leveled to their foundations in terms of the people and rebuilt to become significantly less effective than they were when they started. We've seen that over and over and over again, because ultimately, the question is, are we doing what we're doing for the purpose of glorifying God? Of course, 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 31, leads us to ask that question. 

I want to give you four quick things, and I don't have a PowerPoint to say these, but a change that glorifies God, in my opinion, has four general characteristics, and they need to be considered together rather than separately. But I'll just share these with you. Number one, it strengthens the church's witness. It strengthens the church's witness. Secondly, it draws greater attention to the gospel, and more specifically to the cross. Now that's a loaded statement, it draws greater attention to the gospel and more particularly to the cross. Thirdly, generally, it's attractive to unbelieving onlookers. It's attractive to unbelieving onlookers. Doesn't mean that it's, you know, delicious, but it's attractive, it’s respected. Fourthly, it leads to greater unity. Relationships end up strong, and stronger than even at the outset. 

Now, again, those cannot be taken separately, but taken together, they create a scenario for beginning to analyze whether this is really something that is glorifying to God. What do you think about that list? Reflections.

STUDENT: Number four strikes me as being different from the other three, and I see how they can go together, but as I'm looking at a change in those who are resistant to change, we can say, yeah, but if we do this, we're going to be strengthening our church's witness. We're drawing more attention to what we're all about. It's going to be attractive to nonbelievers, but then it also ultimately leads to greater unity. But there is that unfreezing that takes place that is uncomfortable to people and to help them to get over that. It just seems that this complements, but is opposed to –

Feels like a tension, doesn’t it? 

STUDENT: It does, it feels like a tension to two and three.

STUDENT: Or a challenge. You can say we're going to focus on this, and if unbelievers are not moved by it, then that's between them and God, or we go the other way and say we want it to be so attractive, we'll find more subtle ways to share the message, for us to experience the message. That's a very difficult tension for today's church. 

So, what you're feeling is that these four statements are in tension with one another in many respects. 

STUDENT: I’ve noticed that when someone wants to know, is the Holy Spirit working? What is the role of the Holy Spirit? Some of these things are seemingly tabulated as the role of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit speaks to us and leads us to Christ, the Holy Spirit strengthens our witness, so those are signs that it's from the Holy Spirit, and you know, some of these things, they seem to parallel. 

So, some of the work that we can't control is what you're saying is the work of the Holy Spirit is inherent within these, and we cannot always control all of it. Is that what you're saying? 

STUDENT: I'm just commenting that it seems to me that the work of Holy Spirit parallels this kind of change. 

Okay.

STUDENT: A little bit on two and three again, the idea that the gospel is offensive, the cross is offensive, so just that the idea that being attractive doesn't necessarily mean it's attractive to everybody, and it certainly doesn't mean it's voted for by the majority, how that sips out; again, that’s the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, this is an adult conversation, isn't it? This isn't a two-dimensional look at change; it's a three-dimensional or maybe four-dimensional look at change. This is why it's difficult, but it requires us to maintain this kind of tension, because in my opinion, these are kingdom priorities. These are biblical priorities that are addressed here in this list of four. What do you think, Brent? 

STUDENT: I think that what many churches are trying to do is, in their hearts, attractive to the unbelieving onlookers. I think it's when we try to make it more specific, whether it's our teaching topics or our music or our ministry or our programming, the more specifics I'm interested in, that's when it becomes more difficult, where it becomes more programmatic, and then I feel like we do need to call it Sunday School or do we call it small groups? The motivation is healthy: How do we attract people to that? There's a positive there. Our challenge is when we get caught up in the church trying to hammer some things out, we lose sight of it, as you were saying in your example earlier, and then down the road we say yes, God, I trust you to bless this. 

STUDENT: Yeah. I think if we don't trust that, you know, Jesus is attractive to unbelievers on his own, and, well, we have to have a flashy program or this, that, or the other, that should be sort of a red flag on particular changes. I mean, yeah, you don't want to be -- I guess that's why Campus Crusade for Christ changed their name to Cru, which is because there's a lot of bad connotations with the Crusades, and that's an understandable change to make them more attractive to nonbelievers. But you’ve got to be careful not to just do all these changes that are, you know, to the core of what Campus Crusade is in order to just make them sort of more lukewarm or something like that. 

Would it be fair to say that that many churches tend to run with one of these when they look at change initiatives? I'm not singling out necessarily any one, but it would be easier to choose one, wouldn't it? Yeah. But I know churches that that look at, say, unity is our thing; we are just committed to unity, and that motivates us; that's the highest issue, so we're going after that one. And there's nothing wrong with that. 

STUDENT: I see what you’re saying, compromising some of the others, I see. 

STUDENT: I don’t think the Bible church will choose not to change in order to maintain unity, or like the facade of unity, or whatever. 

Interesting. So, this is, as I said, a grown-up conversation, and it's a challenge to maintain the tension, but there it is.