Culture-Shift
, that deals with this issue. These are a few lessons included in that book.1. Huddle and assess the present. Begin by assessing your present culture and your attitude towards it. Your job is to develop a healthy atmosphere and let the Holy Spirit do the work through you. Involve your board members and get their input. Ask what is opening doors right now and what kinds of encounters with God people are finding irresistible.
2. Assess your role in shaping the future. As a leader of the church, a new kingdom vision must flow out of you before it will convince anyone else. Search your heart first before you shift the culture.
3. List and enlist. List the concrete values that would exemplify a positive, biblical culture. Enlist buy-in from your leaders; talk and teach them through healthy dialogue and discussion. Be patient. This takes time, but your goal is to have a majority of the board and staff embrace these new values with you. You might begin by telling people what will not change. For example, “What will never change around here is God’s original call for us to do service for others.”
4. Live, teach, and wait. Shifting culture takes time. Every church has an optimum rate of growth, depending on its age, maturity, denominational ties, and other factors.
5. Look for personal change. Finally, don’t make the mistake of thinking that a culture shift is occurring just because everyone is agreeing with the vision. The true test is when you can see the change implemented in people’s lives. Once this fundamental shift has occurred and these new habits and values become central to everything your church does, a healthy, energetic, God-honoring church will be unleashed into a world that is desperately crying out for it.
