People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Common Mistakes in Introducing Change
by James W. Moss, Sr.
Introducing change in a church can be a delicate and difficult process. Pastors and other change leaders should be aware of these common mistakes.
1. Overestimating discontent
The first common mistake is to overestimate the actual degree of discontent in the church. Pastor Joe Smith of Newtown Church is convinced his people are dissatisfied with where the church is. He has expressed his own dissatisfaction. Others have affirmed his observations. He assumes that affirmation expressed a desire for change. The people were just being nice to their pastor. He misread the climate. As a result he got hit hard when he pushed for change and no one was there backing him up.
2. The real power base
The second common mistake is the failure to identify the real power base in the church. Pastor Mary Jones of Highline Church believed that Elder Richard Lackey was the most influential person in the congregation. Richard was a very nice person. Everyone in the Highline Church liked Richard, but no one followed him. Richard was a nice person and Mary mistook the universal appreciation for him to be an affirmation for his leadership. When Mary began pushing for change, she was surprised to learn Richard had virtually no influence. Susan Hightower was the real power broker. She seldom said much. But when an important decision was to be made, everyone would look to Susan for instruction. She would nod her opinion, then others would speak. People would seldom disagree with Susan. She was the largest contributor in the church. Mary failed to notice that everyone on the board looked to Susan for instruction. Susan gave her opinion with great subtlety but gave it firmly for sure.
3. Sufficiently large change core group
The third common mistake is the failure to enlist a large enough initiating group for the change. Pastor Mark Johnson had been at Harrisonville Church for ten years. He had a very successful ministry. He had a closet full of chips for quality efforts over many years. He wanted to introduce a significant change in the design of the program. He was comfortable that he could pull it off pretty much by himself. After all, his years of successful ministry surely would give him that right. He had failed to pull together a core of people who were for the proposed change as he had in the past. He was shocked with the depth of reaction that nearly cost him his ministry.
4. Incompatible strategy and tactics
The fourth common failure occurs when the strategy and tactics were incompatible. Pastor Harry Wright was in his fifth year of ministry at New Berlin Church. He wished to introduce change. He knew there was some opposition so he began to skirt the constitutional rules to get what he wanted for the church. The proposed change would have benefited the church, but Pastor Wright was called on the carpet for the tactics which broke the constitutional rules of the church. That effort cost Pastor Wright many chips. It wasn’t too long before he moved on.
Resistance to change
Except in perceived crisis, every proposed change is met with resistance. The resistance to change may come in four distinctly different time frames.
The first will occur when the proposed change is first mentioned. Right away there is a reaction. The propend for change is blown off the map.
The second point occurs at the point of implementation. All the plans are made. The leadership has no hint there is going to be a reaction. There has been a little grumbling, but it hasn’t been taken seriously. The church is 24 hours from the proposed change, and all of a sudden there is an eruption of massive proportions. It catches the leadership by surprise. An even larger surprise may occur about six months after the initial implementation. It appears the change has been successfully implemented. All of a sudden there is a violent whiplash. Even the opponents of the change may be surprised by its intensity. Frequently, that reaction is sufficient to eliminate the change.
The fourth point is not as much of a surprise. That occurs when the change agent is removed—when the pastor or key lay leader who proposed and assisted with the implementation of the change leaves. A number of times I have sat in the first council meeting after a pastor left and observed as the chair outlined an agenda to reverse most of changes introduced by the departed pastor.
Be very careful to listen to those in opposition. Remember there is a difference between listening and agreeing. Many dissidents simply want to know they are heard. A genuine listening ear may defuse a great deal of opposition. Remember: we earn the right to speak by listening. Keep the channels of communication open with all parties involved.
In the beginning strive to reach an agreement on a simple issue. Then sometimes a second agreement can be built on the first. Peter Angelos is recognized as one of the master negotiators of his generation. He instructs that you should never make the other side feel bad as you prepare to leave the table. Bad things happen if you have done that.
Try to understand what the other people are feeling. Where is their opposition coming from? What is the real reason they are opposed? Remember the old Indian proverb, “Walk in another person's moccasins before you make a judgment.”
Keep involving others. Pastors have either neglected or not been taught how to use the elders as leaders to assist in defusing opposition to change. Be sure to follow through with all assigned responsibilities to make sure the proposed change happens effectively.
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October 18, 2002. Volume 5, Issue 11. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.