Knowing when to change
My life is replete with change. I move apartments just about every year and have made several state-to-state moves. Even within ministry I have experienced numerous changes as God has grown me and moved me about to different opportunities. However, having change thrust upon you and independently recognizing the need for change are two very different things.
I know, change can be quite scary. In the church, it is can even be downright divisive. There are an astonishing number of church splits that come about not because of the preservation of Biblical truth, but rather because someone dared change a much-beloved and all-to-ineffective tradition.
As part of a church planting team, I’m not faced with the choking weight of decades of organizational tradition. However, many newcomers bring “tradition baggage” with them. These are the notions of how church should be done because that’s how their old church did it, even if the Bible doesn’t say it. So while I try to be sensitive to this, my main concern is helping to lay a solid and biblical foundation for this new church. Unfortunately, as with any new thing, we don’t always (if rarely) get it right on the first go.
Accessing the Need for Change
So how do I know when to advocate for change? There are four questions I ask:
- Foundation: Are we structured and developing in a way that supports God’s vision for this church, that is sustainable, and scalable?
- Function: Are we modeling appropriate Biblical roles and actions (through servant leadership), building a culture of discipleship (Great Commission) and fulfilling our call to servanthood?
- Flavor: Are we using techniques and language that are understandable, relatable and relevant to those God has called us to partner with?
- Fruit: Are we witnessing positive life change, a deepening of community, an increase in discipleship, and healthy church growth?
These four questions are applied to any and every aspect of our developing church and if the answer is ever no, then change must be prayerfully considered. The hard part is knowing what to change, when and how. This takes a lot of discernment, prayer, fasting, good counsel, more prayer and often lots of trial and error.
Exception 1: No Reflex Change
I’ve come to realize that change isn’t always necessary despite appearances. There have been seasons where things felt stagnant, no one seemed to be connecting, growth was nonexistent. Over the last year we have indeed experienced periods where the visible fruit did not meet our expectations, but through prayer and discernment our eyes were opened to the fruit being born in other ways. For example, there was strengthening in our core group, even when public gatherings felt anemic. That’s why I said earlier that “change must be considered”, rather than automatically enacted. Also change takes time to bear results. I still struggle to wait patiently for God-driven change to bear fruit. But I know, if God has guided a change to take place, it will bear fruit. Sometimes however, that fruit is simply the wisdom of a lesson learned.
Exception 2: Change for Challenge
While we are told to “be content in all things” we are never told to expect comfort. In fact the opposite is true. Sometimes the answer can be yes to all four “F” questions, and yet, something is amiss; comfort has set in. Whereas the world seeks comfort in almost all things, as a Christ-follower I am skeptical of it. Comfort breeds complacency, which breeds traditionalism, which breeds religion, which breeds legalism, which…well you get the idea. I’m not talking about change for the sake of change, but rather “change for the sake of challenge”. This is the riskiest and scariest type of change and often the most profound and fruitful. Sometimes it’s necessary to “mix things up” for no other reason than to defend against complacency. The best advise I have to offer on this is to look past the big picture and really evaluate in detail where change may in fact be needed. Being able to show people specific areas needing change is always preferable over changing when no one thinks it’s needed. But if you really find the need to change for challenge, pray, fast, fast, pray, fast, pray and then have someone try and talk you out of it.
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