Man of Depravity - Tyler Braun's posts on Church Ministry, Worship, Seminary, and Theology.

If You Aren’t Changing, You’re Falling Behind

2010 March 10

by Tyler

During my undergrad studies I took numerous management classes and often our class discussions would be centered around the importance of being flexible and nimble in business. We would go through numerous case studies of businesses that were once at the top of their industry, and after 10 years of remaining stagnant (without change in structure or approach) they began struggling to compete with other businesses.

The connections to the local church on this topic are numerous. Granted, churches aren’t competing against other churches to retain the most people. But if eternity is at stake and businesses are constantly changing and adapting to stay at the forefront, why shouldn’t churches?

The goal with churches isn’t to be at the forefront of their industry, but it is to effectively step into people’s lives with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Tony Morgan shared this on his blog yesterday:

“Leaders have to choose between control and innovation. You can’t have both. You can define the desired outcomes. You can create the boundaries, but you can’t expect your team to be creative, innovative or artistic if you try to control every element of the execution. If you must have full control, you just need to know that you are also choosing to shut down new ideas and innovations in your organization.

Unfortunately, the Church is notorious for religiously keeping things the way they’ve always been but hoping we’ll somehow achieve different results. Avoiding new approaches. Top-down, centralized leadership. Preserving the traditional ways of doing things. Sound familiar?” (full post here)

Churches are well known for being slow to change. After growing up as a PK (Pastor’s Kid), now attending seminary, and working at a church, I find myself accepting this about the local church.

But the reality is, when I am honest with myself, everything in me wants to fight the idea that it ok for churches to be stagnant and slow to change.

I can give you two principles that almost always hold true:

What used to work, does not work anymore.
If you aren’t changing, you’re falling behind.

Why is it that churches do a great job of ignoring those two principles?

Filed under: church Tags: church

http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com Kyle Reed

Because Change is not safe and predictable, we like safe and predictable.

Its like the team that wins the superbowl, they are slow to make changes because they do not want to mess with what got them there. What they do not realize is that the teams that they beat last year have gotten better and made changes and if they do not change they will not win it again.

Change is dangerous.
John T

Because we associate believing the Old Book with doing things the Old Way.

I grew up hearing a zillion sermons on “Ask for the old paths” (Jeremiah 6:16).

But I have learned as a pastor you can drive a new car down an old path!

Love your blog.
http://godsidekurt.com Kurt

It all comes down to those who hold the power in a church or organization…they are slow to change because they fear what they personally lose in the exchange. We all must admit we are stubborn when it comes to the things we like and sadly it’s hard to let go of our own agendas and make decisions based upon what is best for the future of the organization EVEN if that goes against what we personally like.
http://brenthodge.com brent(inWorship)

To allow change, is to admit we weren’t doing something right.

There’s lots of pride in “knowing God” and lots of pride in the leadership of Churches.
http://www.justlivingthelife.com Jay Caruso

Kyle hit the nail on the head with ‘safe.’ That’s what too many churches like. They like being safe. They like that comfort zone.

My experience has been that churches are often concerned about “offending” those who were there from the beginning. The ones who were there when the “church” was merely meeting in a somebody’s living room. I saw it first hand. I saw people leave because we did away with the traditional service and went full contemporary. I saw people leave because the Pastor would teach from various versions of the Bible instead of the King James. And these aren’t even big changes.

Some churches won’t do it but the problem is, by refusing to change, they’re essentially ignoring what Jesus commissioned us to do.
James McLaren (Jersey, Channel Islands)

There is a slightly different perspective on “safe”. Church is not the only group that likes “safe”: the large mass of society likes it too.

Every time something new comes along, church is faced with a dilemma: do we do the new thing and risk alienating the membership for no gain; or do we stay safe and keep what we have longer? Express it in those terms (and a lot of clergy will), and most people say “no-brainer” and keep things exactly as they are.

Oh, and there’s the fact that “safe” normally equates to “controllable”, and the number of ministers who are control freaks is abnormally high.
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

I get what you are saying, curious how that plays itself out in practicality for you?
http://www.manofdepravity.com Tyler

Pride.

That is a great point. Pastors tend to think they all know how to do “it” right. Me included.
http://brenthodge.com brent(inWorship)

I include myself as well.

But I think Pride is not just arrogance, but pride is also insecurity. Seeking to protect ourselves. I would bet there is more insecurity than arrogance in leadership.
http://www.contentunderpressure.net Josh

I would be all-in on that bet as well…
http://consumingworship.org/2010/03/19/friday-feeds-3/ Friday Feeds | Consuming Worship

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