Leadership Journal

Books for implementing change in a congregation often read like technical manuals. "Seek congregational input, get leaders on board, draft vision statement, alter course, start new ministry." They're all about techniques.

But successful change is as equally dependent on feelings as facts. How do the church members feel about the new direction?

The key to thriving in change is not found in casting a bigger vision, mastering the Powerpoint presentation, or escaping to an island paradise until things blow over. It's in the interactions that we, as pastors, have with our people.

I learned that when my shiny new worship service blew up in my face.

Several years ago we developed a contemporary service. Following the advice of several church growth gurus, we added rather than subtracted. We inserted the new service between two traditional services, opposite our Christian education hour. Not only were we able to disturb very little of our established Sunday morning structure, we also gave some parents a second option. They could worship instead of dropping their children off for Sunday school while they had coffee and donuts at a nearby restaurant.

Discordant notes were soon heard, though, over the rhythmic beat of the contemporary music that echoed through our hallowed halls. We had difficulty recruiting enough workers for three services. We had parking problems and jammed hallways. Attendance increased, but not enough to fill the large sanctuary three times. We couldn't sustain three services.

The church faced a watershed. We could drop the contemporary service, thus alienating a significant portion of our congregation. Or, we could drop a traditional service and disenfranchise another significant group. Somebody had to lose.

After four months of discussion and prayer, the congregation voted to alter the future by establishing the contemporary worship experience as our second Sunday worship service.

Within days of the decision, the relational fabric of our church tore. Anger and fear snuffed out love and care. Sarcasm and criticism supplanted praise and encouragement. Everyone was frowning.

At first I attempted to mend the tear through logic and persuasion. After all, I reasoned, Christians are rational people. (No, I don't know where that assumption came from.) My illogical assessment almost wrecked the congregation.

When I started to lead our church in this direction, I did so from a logical perspective. My logic was as solid as a mathematical formula:

People's need to experience a living God + The Great Commission to proclaim the gospel = A user-friendly, contemporary service. I became as adept with graphs and pie charts as Ross Perot.

As the conflict erupted once more, I again pulled out my charts and graphs. I quoted Rick Warren, Lyle Schaller, Bill Easum, and other experts. It didn't work. No one listened to my logic, or if they did, they did not comprehend it. No one's attitude was changed.

Through the total failure of my arguments, I finally ...