By Todd Adkins
When leading change in your church, you must empower people to act. The problem is that the keepers of the status quo will always be with us and will start playing some strong defense. You have given your people a compelling vision, but now they have to be able to carry that ball down the field through any opposition.
Your job is not over. You now have to block and tackle. There will be barriers to implementing this change, and it require adjustments to ministry. You will be shocked to see how many people suddenly realize that to lead change means that they will have to change things in their ministry. That’s why gaining clarity and commitment in the previous steps is so important.
Here is a quadrant to assess and re-allocating resources during change. Determine whether or not the change is strategic and whether or not the change is a felt need for your people. Mark the box where the two overlap.
- If the change is not strategic and is not a felt need for your people, you stop doing it. No further questions asked.
- If the change is not strategic but is a felt need for your church, you starve it. You stop allocating time and resources to it.
- If the change is strategic but is not yet a felt need, strategize it. What could you do differently to make it a felt need for your people?
- If the change is both a felt need and strategic, you scale it. Dedicate time and resources to elevate it and continue its momentum.
This assessment isn’t a one-time thing. You must continually assess your change to best meet the needs of your church or ministry.
Adapted from Leading Change in Your Church. Download the FREE ebook here.
