Review of “Leading Congregational Change”
This is the first book that was required for the D.Min program for this semester. I am taking a class in change, conflict, and crisis in congregational life. This was an excellent book with relevant and practical insight into the process of change. The authors who are change practitioners write from experience in dealing with numerous congregations as consultants. On page 13, there is a chart that provides the overview of the entire book. The rest of the book details that process that is outlined in the chart. Some of the great insights from the book are the emphasis on maintaining momentum. Often congregations begin the vision process but stall before completion. The book does an superb job in warning of the coming conflict that will be provoked because of the congregation seeking God’s vision. Even a godly vision will be rejected. People believe that all members once the vision is given, being a biblical vision, will accept and support the change process but this is untrue. There will always, always, be dissent within the congregation and the book talks about how to deal with this in a healthy matter. The book provides an explanation of tension in the change process. The book shows the difference between life threatening conflict and life giving conflict. Do not look past the fact that in change there is always conflict, the question will be if the conflict will build or destroy. This is one of the best and most practical books on leading change within a congregational setting. All ministers and elders should read this book.
Related posts:
- Read “Leading Strategic Change”
- Review of “Managing Congregational Conflict”
- Review of “Leading the Congregation”
- Review of “Leading from the Second Chair”
- Stability and Change
About The Author
Thank you for this recomendation. Your precise summary was very “selling” on the worth of the book.
In the congregation I serve we do not have elders (and though I wish this would change sooner than later, it looks like it will be more later than sooner), so I have created a “Leadership Focus Group” (LFG) of mature members so that there is more than one person involved in the shaping of the congregation’s future. We have just finished a massive congregation survey and now we are asking what should be our vision and specific mission. Last night in our meeting we all realized that no matter how biblical and missional a vision can be, there will still be some people who oppose it (and for various reasons).
Grace and peace,
Rex
On page 50, there is a helpful chart on the vision process. It is the mission, vision, and visionpath. It was a great explanation of the process that is detailed on page 53. If I was you, since you are going through this process of spreading the leadership process to more than one or two members, which could have been the process before your work, you will need this book.
Here is a long review of the book for those who care.
Review of “Leading Congregation Change”
A group project that developed out of the American Baptist Associations desire for revitalization provided practical insights into the process of change in American congregations. Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James Furr all seem to have expertise in leading leaders in the process of changing congregations. All of these men work in the context of the Houston, TX area and seem to be major influencers for that location.
In dealing with the perspection that conflict in congregations is always unhealthy, the author provide a needed explanation between the two types of conflict within a congregation. There is life-threatening conflict which tears down a congregation and life-giving conflict which ultimately builds a congregation through the change process. The authors recognize that most leaders will bear the majority of the stress and tension in a change environment in the local church and most ministers are not equipped for this role because typically there are trained to be managers and not leaders. To is the reason why the congregational transformation model is given as a defining paradigm for the leader of the congregation. There are two parts of the model which are the change process and the learning disciplines. These two tracks combine to create spiritual and relational vitality. Spiritual vitality is one’s relationship with God and relational vitality is one’s relationship with God’s people. A congregation that properly goes through the change process should arrive at a heightened level of vitality.
Before the change process begins one must judge the vitality of the congregation because “congregations without an adequate level of vitality will not be able to sustain significant change” This is why some congregations are destined to die no matter what the leader does. The congregational flow chart is the process one takes to help a congregation to realize God’s vision for the particular congregation. All of the steps are not individual parts but flow together to create the whole picture. Missing a step or a stage will circumvent the process or sabotage the change. All of the dynamics must flow together by supporting one another through the difficult journey.
The process of change is incredibly difficult, especially for the leader because of the systemic pressure on the change agent. Much of the coming criticism will land on his shoulders. Unless there is a strong spiritual foundation of the leadership than the change initiate will come to a screeching halt. This halt happens because mostly congregations are resistant to change. Probably one of the most difficult steps is creating a desire for change. The people must have a sense of need for the change to take place. This is why the leader creates a sense of urgency in the membership. There is tension to this step by presenting the needs of the world or culture and presenting the effectiveness of the congregation. There must be the gap highlighted to the people. Most people have an overinflated understand of their particular congregation. The individual members may love the church, but the majority of new comers have no interest in the congregation.
After a painful dose of reality is given to the congregation, hopefully there is the question of “what do we do now?” This begins the process of discovering God vision for the congregation. This fore coming vision must be a community afford by the powerbrokers of the congregation. It cannot be “sent from above” but must develop organically from the leadership team or vision team in the church. This discernment of the correct vision is one of the most important processes in change. But this vision goes through three stages which provide needed insight on why some vision statements die and others are successful. There is the mission which is God’s overall plan for His church, the vision which is a picture of the future, and the vision path which is a description of the steps that will be taken to achieve the vision. The final form of the vision must be clear, shared, and compelling for it to be motivating and changing. Then the vision must be communicated over and over again. This is where perhaps too many congregations fail. The vision has a series of sermons than is placed on the letter head and than sinks into the background. For the vision to be effective, it must be mentioned often.
After the vision has been given, people must be empowered to implement the needed change. This must be done through people who are empowered to truly accomplish the task. This stage is where most congregations fail because within the churches of Christ context few elders have the ability to relinquish control. Often empowerment means doing the “dirty work” but the entire decision making is still held within the eldership. True empowerment means allowing people to operate within permission based organization that does have a sense of accountability and review. Even if people are empowered, does not always mean they will know what to do. This is why the implementing the vision stage is important. There has to be “a specific set of coordinated, high leverage initiatives that move the congregation toward realization of God’s vision.” This movement must be sustained through alignment to reinforce the momentum. Often the most difficult part of any project is the beginning stages. Alignment is when the majority of the people and ministries are functioning to complement the vision of the congregation. There are two major roadblocks a long this route. One is that people will see this change as “just another program” and all church members know that programs come and go. Also, people might become fatigued by the increased momentum. These road stops must be watched for progress to continue.
As there are two types of conflict within a congregation, there are two types of leadership style. The common style of leadership is transactional leadership which is based on transactions or exchanges between leaders and their followers. The higher level of leadership is transformational leadership in which the leader helps followers to embrace a vision of the preferred future. The circle on the change model of page 13 describes the methods and the actions to take to implement change, while the other circle describes the behaviors of the leader. The first circle is what the leader does and the second circle is what the leader becomes or is.
The first action for the leader is to generate and sustain creative tension. The natural tendency for man is to reduce the tension in various situations in life. The leader must cast the vision of the possibilities while highlighting the reality of the present state of the congregation. Often the leader’s reality check on the congregation will go against the grain because of the naïve perception of the membership. The leader does this vision to motivate commitment not just compliance from the majority of those within the congregation. “The need for commitment is a central thesis of” the book.
The congregation will not be able to process the change model unless the leader is changing. All people have certain presumptions on what church is and does. These are mental models. The leader must challenge is mental laws before he is to lead change. This could be the most difficult for a leader. All people are limited by their own ignorance. One of the major mental changes that a leader must make is from the lone soldier to a team developer. The leader must enable a team to produce results beyond what one individual could deliver. The leader becomes involved with the team as one of the players in the since that he is learning with the other people. The best leaders will produce the best teams. As the leader changes, he must develop the ability to think systems. The leader can consider interactions between different parts and understand causes that may not be obvious. One must know the difference between the events, trends and structures of congregational life. By understanding the process behind human interactions the leader will be able to navigate change more efficiently. Taking a simplistic view of the dynamics of the church will lead to swallow solutions without addressing the real powerful dynamics below the surface. Change leaders should look at the congregation as a complex and interrelated system where one change in one department can ripple throughout the organization.
The two tracks in the change model work together to create the desired solution within the congregation. As all congregations seek to maintain the status quo, the leader in changing the organization must take the appropriate steps for the change to have lasting results. If the leader practices one circle without developing the other circle the change will end up stalling and not producing the spiritual and relational vitality that is the crux for a healthy congregation.
Matthew Morine
Wonderful post yet again!!!!!
I love reading your blog.
Change is a dirty word for many Christians.
I have learned in my 15 years of ministry that most Christians want to stay comfortable.
Does Jesus call us to a life of comfort?
Does Jesus call us to a life of constant change?
Can we like Paul find contentment during times of change? You bet.
Change is a must.
We must change.
We must cahnge everything about ourselves. The way we talk, think, act, and on and on.
I think the problem is that we don’t preach enough on change and the change that Jesus calls us to each and everyday.
Again, great post.
I enjoyed.
Keep up the great work!!!!!