Transforming Church

Resources and Guidance to Transform Your Church

Are You Ready To Make A Habit Of Change?

July 13, 2016 by Transforming Church

In 1927, Charlie Chaplin was the biggest film star in the world. That same year, his world was shaken to its foundations. 1927 was the year the first motion picture with sound was released. Chaplin was not impressed. In 1931 he said this in an interview: “I give the talkies six more months”.

He was a little off in his prediction.

In 1977, Ken Olson, the cofounder and CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation famously declared that “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home”. Around the same time, Bill Gates was popularizing the notion of having a PC in every home by the year 2000.

Guess whose vision proved to be more accurate?

Imagine being the CEO of Blockbuster Video in 1997. At the height of its prowess, Blockbuster was considering major mergers that would take it into all realms of content – visions akin to those of Amazon today. By 2013, caught off guard by streaming video and ever-present personal devices broadcasting everything, Blockbuster was filing for bankruptcy.

Our point is this: Our habits of thought can either lead us to get buried in the past or drive us to reinvent ourselves.

If we want to remain relevant, reinvention is essential.

There is an inherent tension here for church leaders. We believe we have a timeless message. Some of us resist the impulse to “make” the message of Christ relevant, believing that it is relevant regardless of what we say or do. In addition, members of our congregations, looking for security and safety in a world changing at a dizzying pace often look to us for stability and predictability.

Nevertheless, we know our methods and perspectives must change. The question for us is: Is change a habit, or something we are forced to do?

Questions for your leadership team:

-When was the last time we initiated a change effort designed to help us better reach and serve our community?

-On a scale of 1-5, how open are we as leaders to change?

-If we changed something major around here (you fill in the blank) who would stand to lose?

-If we knew there were no price to pay in terms of resistance, blowback, controversy or lost opportunity or revenue, what would we choose to change right away?

The nature of the Gospel and of the church is that it must adapt a timeless message to a world that never stops changing. This takes both integrity and courage. Are you ready to make a habit of change while preserving that which must remain?

Our Transforming Church Insight (TCI) begins with the premise that every church can be a great church if it is committed to realizing its God-given potential. The TCI is a church-wide online survey which will reveal your congregation’s strengths, challenges and opportunities and provide a tested field guide for change which results in growth and health while preserving the things you value most as part of your culture.

The Transforming Church Insight is an integral part of our Discovery process. Are you ready to make a habit of change? Find out more, and reach out to us by clicking here.

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Filed Under: Change, Featured Content Tagged With: TCI, Transforming Church Insight

5 Questions To Measure Your Church’s Effectiveness

June 14, 2016 by Transforming Church

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Over decades of research and work with churches we have been able to measure what makes for a truly healthy, transforming church. Transforming churches are found in all sizes, in all locations, in all denominations (and no denominations), with all kinds of worship styles, theological emphases, and leadership structures.

So, what makes a church a transforming church? And how can you measure how your church is doing in terms of health?

Here are five key indicators of church health:

  1. Are members at your church experiencing authentic life change?
  2. Does your church have a clear sense of mission and a compelling vision for the future?
  3. Does your church embrace change to fulfill its mission more effectively?
  4. Are your leaders successfully mentoring and mobilizing your members for ministry?
  5. Is your church effective in seeing transformation in your local community as a result of its ministries?

If your answer is a strong “yes” to these questions, congratulations!

If you see areas for improvement as you consider these questions, take heart! There is no reason in the world why your church can’t move towards health and transformation.

We’d love to help you discover how God is already at work in your church and how you can maximize its unique potential

OUR WORK IS FOCUSED ON ENSURING EACH CHURCH HAS HEALTHY LEADERSHIP THAT IS PART OF A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM THAT CAN GENERATE A CLEAR VISION OF WHAT FULFILLING THEIR MISSION LOOKS LIKE. 

Maybe you’re ready for an assessment of your church’s strengths and opportunities. Our congregational survey, the Transforming Church Insight, will provide ministry-altering perspective on your church’s unique strengths. Find out more about this tool and the rest of our Discovery process here.

Perhaps you’re ready to build on your team’s strengths by understanding how each member is made and how you are made to work together. Our Talent Stewardship Process will unlock your team’s personal and collective talents and provide a framework for leveraging those talents to create ministry success. Read more here.

Or perhaps you are a pastor who is ready to take your own leadership from good to great in terms of sharpening your ability to use your own talents to create a fully mobilized congregation focused on accomplishing your church’s unique and God-given mission. A personal leadership coach could be exactly what you need to move to your next level as a leader.

Every church can be a great church – a healthy, transforming church – regardless of its size. Let’s talk about how we can help your church become just that – together!

Filed Under: Change, Coaching, Featured Content, Transformation

3 Steps To Successfully Lead Change

May 4, 2016 by Transforming Church

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Effective leaders know that too much change too fast creates anxiety, uncertainty, opposition, and unnecessary conflict. As a result they introduce change incrementally – one step at a time. At Transforming Church, we encourage leaders to use a simple but profound tool to introduce change while regulating stress. We call it the 3-D Method.

The 3-D Method allows for change to be introduced in three phases – Dialogue, Discussion, and Decision. Each phase has different ground rules, and each may require a different amount of time to complete.

Dialogue Phase

In the dialogue phase, people simply state personal opinions without feedback or interruption from others. The goal is to gather as much information as possible. Look to outside resources. Listen to each person. In a group setting, this usually happens when people go around a circle and state their opinion about what the key issues are and what they think should be done.

The purpose is to capture the data. The leader’s task here is to use positional authority to enforce the ground rules; no interruptions, no reaction, no feedback. Them stop.

 

Discussion Phase

The discussion phase occurs in a separate meeting, sometimes days or months after the dialogue phase, depending on how hot the topic is. No decisions are made in this phase, but unlike the dialogue phase, participants are free to agree or disagree with each other. The goal is to identify the competing values, clarify the issues, and provide scenarios or options.

Healthy competing values, such as “community” versus “outreach”, need to be kept in some sort of balance at a macrolevel. In other words, while leaders need to choose one of the competing values in each unique situation, the two values should remain in dynamic tension in the life of the church.

There are many different sets of competing values, and a healthy exercise for you would be to identify the leading ones in your church. In each case, the task of leadership is to frame the discussion of competing values around the church’s mission.

Some people will experience the exposure of competing values as a personal loss, so they need to understand that their voices have been heard.

Remember, the goal of this process is not consensus; it is to raise the competing values so that leaders have everything on the table to fully consider. If consensus occurs, it is after the fact, as the byproduct of a healthy process.

Decision Phase

The decision phase occurs after the discussion phase. At the decision point, conflict will emerge, but it will be much less significant because the group has already processed the issue through dialogue and discussion. If this phase becomes too personal, each participant shares the responsibility of returning the conversation to objective ground. At some point, the authorized leaders make a decision based on what they perceive is the right direction for the church. The leaders earn their ‘pay’ at this juncture.

Although dialogue and discussion are inherently democratic in nature, the final decision belongs to the leader or leaders. Consensus decision making is usually a bad idea because it plays to the lowest common denominator.

The revered leadership author Jim Collins once told a gathering of our clients that “consensus decision-making was the biggest mistake of twenty-first century management”.

The 3-D Method is robust, productive, and ultimately builds relationships. Why not give it a try as you navigate your next change initiative.

A trusted advisor or leadership coach can be invaluable as you lead change, assisting you with framing decisions and using tested processes such as the 3-D Method. We’d love to talk with you about serving you or your church as a trusted advisor and coach – you can talk to a coach here!

 

Filed Under: Change, Featured Content, Leadership Tagged With: 3-D Method, change

Leading Change At Church

April 9, 2016 by Transforming Church

So, you’ve just taken a new pastorate. Part of your mandate during the selection process was that the church needed to change to reach its community.

Or you’ve been in your pastorate for a while. You love the place and the people, but it’s clear to you that the church is going to have to change in order to move forward in its mission to reach its community. It’s apparent that you are going to have to make some hard calls and lead some risky change initiatives.

You’ve heard the horror stories of pastors who tried to lead change too fast and ran afoul of strong, long-term volunteer leaders. And you’ve heard the regrets of friends in the ministry who wish they had demonstrated the courage to change.

At Transforming Church, we are in the business of helping those in positions of spiritual leadership lead change. It’s what we do and what we are passionate about.

 

change chalkboard

 

When we sit down with a pastor for the first time, our goal is to understand their situation, their gifting, their context, their deepest passions for ministry. We apply personalized tools and our experience to help them assess both themselves and their church. And then – with relational health and missional integrity first and foremost we help design a process for change that leads to empowered leaders and real ministry effectiveness.

So, how do you start? There are two early tasks that have to be nailed in order to set you up for a successful change initiative.

  1. The first task of leadership is to distinguish between what needs to be preserved and what needs to change. As you work through changes in your church, make sure not to lose sight of what is valuable and needs to be preserved and built upon. Make sure you know your church’s code – your DNA – and build your cultural change upon this foundation.
  2. When you come into an existing church knowing you need to make changes, make sure not to condemn the past. Always frame your vision in an upbeat, positive way. Your job is not to erase the past but rather to help people envision a brighter future. The people you now serve were part of the past – honor their contributions, effort, and investment. Even the most dysfunctional church has things in its past that are worthy. Dwell on these even as you chart a course to the future.

So, step one is to DIAGNOSE (that which needs to change and that which needs to be preserved) and step two is to HONOR (the good parts of the church’s past and the people that have given themselves in service).

We’d love to be your trusted advisors in the change process, through congregational assessment, leadership coaching, or facilitated learning. Find our more and contact us here.

Filed Under: Change, Church Growth, Featured Content, Leadership Tagged With: change, church growth, Diagnose, Honor, Leadership

The Vital First Step to Change

August 15, 2014 by John Holm Leave a Comment

ChangeI recently worked with a church that had faithfully carried out their mission for 40 years. Then a slow decline took hold. Today, they are nothing like they once were. Recognizing that fact, they brought in an expert to tell them what to do. The expert told them to jettison the past, loose the dead weight and embrace new things research showed were the trends in growing churches. They brought in a new pastor. He discounted their identity from the past and tried to create a new and exciting identity for the future. After some initial excitement (and anger) the “new thing” began to stall out. Interestingly enough, when I read the recommendations of the “expert” I saw many great ideas that I have seen work in many places. So why didn’t they work? What was holding them back?

Change happens—you can fight change but you can’t stop it. Without change, organizations die. Many churches in the U.S. face this challenge: culture has changed, yet churches have not embraced change along the way. Many churches continue to simply try to do what they did in the past in the same way they did it – only “better.” Doing the same thing “better” is not change.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Community, Culture, Featured Content Tagged With: change, church culture, culture

Should I Change Ministries? A Pastor’s Checklist:

July 28, 2014 by Jim Osterhaus Leave a Comment

imagesOne of the most important decisions the pastor will make throughout his/her career is the decision to move to a new ministry. A search or pulpit committee from the new church makes a thorough investigation into the minister’s credentials and general suitability for the position. But often, the minister who is being considered has no sense as to how to investigate the new church — whether or not this new position will be a good fit.

We have developed a set of considerations and attendant questions that the deciding pastor will find useful in considering a new ministry. It would be beneficial to first read Kevin Ford’s, Transforming Church. This will give a basis for the categories and questions that are listed below.

In the material below, we will provide categories in which you can mold particular questions. We will also provide specific questions to help you probe areas that are critical in order for you to gain a full understanding of the new church situation. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Featured Content, Personal Growth Tagged With: change, ministry change, personal growth, Questions

Launch Ministries By Asking the Right Questions

July 23, 2014 by Rich Hurst Leave a Comment

shutterstock_725513261Michael, a single’s pastor invited me to lunch. He was concerned because he had two groups of single adults at his church. He called the singles in their early 20’s Singles One, and the singles in their late 40’s Singles Two. But the church had a lot of singles in an age bracket between these two groups. Mike referred to them as the Singles 1.5’s. He had been trying for months to get Sarah and her friends to start a class for their age group. But they wouldn’t do it, and he was frustrated. So, my job at lunch was to convince her it was a good idea to start a class for the 1.5’s at their church. (Hey, he was buying lunch so I figured I should at least try. Right?)

Over lunch I asked Sarah, “Sarah, I understand you are one of the Singles 1.5’s at your church?” She laughed and said, “Yeah, that is what Mike calls us!” I said, “Well, Mike tells me there are a good number of you at the church, is that true?” She said, “Yes, there are.” I said, “Well, why don’t you all start a class for singles that age?” She said, “We don’t want to.” I could tell she was not at all happy about my questions so I dropped the subject. At least I’d tried–or had I? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Church Growth, Community, Featured Content Tagged With: ministers, ministry

Your Church’s Best Resource

July 18, 2014 by Frank Tillapaugh Leave a Comment

6_10-resource-light-painting-72-400I wasn’t surprised when only about twenty people showed up at a small evening service where I was speaking. Nor did the remarks a lay leader made during the service catch me off guard. Her task, as part of the annual emphasis on mission, was to promote the ministries of the church’s missionaries.

She reminded the sparse crowd that it was their responsibility to pray for, and financially support their missionaries. So far so good, but unfortunately her challenge became destructive just where most missionary motivational speeches go bad. She told them that because they had normal lives, and God had not called them to be missionaries, their role was to support those God had called into “the ministry” with their prayers and finances. It was similar to a challenge a school might give to encourage students to attend a homecoming game. If you can’t be an athlete be an athletic supporter!

As she spoke, few tried to hide their expression of apathy. When she finished, it was my turn. I began by saying, “Unlike the old country song, my heroes have not always been cowboys, rather, my heroes have always been people just like you.” A few smiled faintly as if to say, “Yeah, right. When have I ever been a hero in the church?” I had to be careful. I didn’t want to attack the lay leader. But, at the same time, it was important to challenge part of her message because what she implied was a lie. Sure, the missionaries deserved the church’s support – that part was true. But to tell these people the best they could do was to support those who had a “real call to the ministry,” was a lie. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Culture, Featured Content Tagged With: calling, ministry, resources

Beyond Tactics and Strategy Hides a Leader’s Greater Need

June 8, 2014 by John Holm Leave a Comment

thumbnailI was recently speaking with a pastor with over three decades of experience as a leader in the church. He is very talented, with much wisdom and insight in mission and ministry. He has strategic vision. “In the day,” he would simply be a benevolent dictator: a tactical leader. He would say, “We are going in this direction and we are doing this to get there.” In the last few years, the culture has changed enough so that many leaders and members in his congregation are not accepting his benevolence as a tactical leader.

This pastor is frustrated because he is fairly confident that his strategic vision is on target (and I would say it is pretty good as well). However, he is being told that he needs to have a process for collaboration in decision-making for real change to happen. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Featured Content, Transformation Tagged With: change, Leadership, strategy, tactics, transformation

6 Essential Skills for Transformational Pastors

June 4, 2014 by Tod Bolsinger Leave a Comment

6 Essential Skills“Adaptive leadership consists of the learning required to address conflicts in the values people hold, or to diminish the gap between the values people stand for and the reality they face.” — Ronald Heifetz

Anybody who has ever been to London has seen the ubiquitous “Mind the Gap” signs in the underground. They warn train travelers to watch their step because of the small chasm created between the train and the platform.

For leaders of organizational change, we face our own chasms, or our own gaps. Indeed, leadership is exercised in helping our charges “mind the gap” between our aspired values and our actions, between our values and the reality we face.

So here is a quick list of how leaders mind the gap and enter into adaptive work.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Featured Content, Transformation Tagged With: change, church, Leadership, trannsformation, vision

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