by Bob Whitesel D.Min. Ph.D., 6/21/15. (adapted and annotated by the author from his book with Mark DeYmaz, reMix: Transitioning Your Church to Living Color, Abingdon Press, 2017).
So, what steps are required to transition a church? Just 8 really.
John Kotter is a renowned and respected change coach who perfected eight steps for organizational change that have been applied successfully to thousands of organizational transitions.1 Harvard Business Review said, “Perhaps nobody understands the anatomy of organizational change better than retired Harvard Business School professor John P. Kotter.”2
NOTE: Here is a link Kotter’s seminal 1995 article and #InfoGraphic on change and the best overview of this Harvard professor’s change methods.
I have consulted or mentored hundreds of church transitions. And, I have found Kotter’s eight stages to be reliable, valid and important steps for a healthy church transition to living color.
Here are the key phases for implementing the principles and procedures of a church revitalization.
8 Steps to Transforming Your Church 3
1. “Establishing a Sense of Urgency.”
- It is important to begin with a period of time where you acquaint the congregants with the need and Biblical mandate for transitioning to a church living color. Because of the urgent situation, many church leaders will be tempted to ignore this step and launch headlong into transition. Yet, in my consulting work I have found that this step is critical. Pray, study, research and dialogue on the importance of a church transition first.
- Share the urgency is multiple venues. Don’t just use sermons, but let this be the topic of Bible studies, discussion groups, prayer groups, small groups and Sunday School classes.
““Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault. I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life.”
Ezekiel 3:17-19 MSG https://www.bible.com/bible/97/ezk.3.17-19.msg
- Remember, urgency is a key. Congregants must understand that we are today at the point where changes in communities across North America requires churches to stand up for Biblical principles of growth and change.
2. “Forming a Powerful Guiding Coalition.”
- The second step which you must successfully navigate is the development of an influential and guiding coalition. Even though you might think you know the situation the best, due to history, education or background: a church is a communal organization and leadership works best when there is a communal leadership. Find those that resonate with the transition and help them take the vision to the rest of the congregation.
- Look for “persons of peace.” When Jesus told his disciples to spread out and take their message to the byways and villages of the Israel, he suggested they rely upon persons of “peace” they might encounter (Luke 10:6). The Greek word for peace is derived from the word “to join” and it literally means a person who helps people from divergent viewpoints and even warring convictions to join together in unity whereby oneness, peace, quietness and rest result.4 So, enlist people who are “peacemakers” who have demonstrated they can bring warring and opposing parties together.
- Listen to the naysayers, even though they may not be part of your guiding coalition, your coalition should hear them out. This is a step that if overlooked will usually splinter the congregation. This is because research has shown that unless you go to the naysayers and listen to them, they will feel left out of the consultative process and eventually fight the change.5 So go to those who will most affected or displaced and listen to them. Hearing them out has been shown to create new networks of dialogue that can prevent polarization. But, you must go to them early in the vision creating process. And, because they have a long history and historical friendships in the church, they will not leave (even if you want them to). This video illustrates how getting someone who is attached to your (spiritual) family to leave is not easy to do.
3. “Creating a Vision.”
- People must see the future before they can work toward it. The goal is to have an easy to read, clear vision statement in no more than a paragraph.
- Get all of the members of your guiding coalition to help you draft, refine and edit your vision. NOTE: vision & mission are often confused, but very different. At this link I explain how to differentiate them: https://churchhealthwiki.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/change-why-it-wont-happen-unless-you-understand-the-important-difference-between-mission-vision/
- Many times church leaders rely solely on a written statement of vision. While this is helpful (if drawn up with input from your guiding coalition, see above) you must create a vision with the following “communication elements” too.
NOTE: A vision should be a “visual representation” of what the church will look like in 5 years. USE: (a.) A small group to create, (b) a short statement to communicate. Here is an article on “The Art of Crafting a 15-word Strategy Statement” from Harvard Business Review Good vision statements and Poor Vision Statements (compared) which states there are …”two requirements:
- Focus: What you want to offer to the target customer and what you don’t;
- Difference: Why your value proposition is divergent from competitive alternatives.”
4. “Communicating the Vision.”
- Use all communication vehicles available to you: written, vocal, electronic, narrative, arts, mixed-media, etc.
- Experience it first-hand by taking your leaders and congregants to places where turnaround ministry is being done. In these locales congregants can see first hand, ask questions and experience the heart of a ministry that is being revitalized. Vision can be communicated best by picturing something rather than just writing out a paragraph of technical terms.
Use stories to help people picture change. Scott Wilcher while studying change found that successful change is more than twice as likely to occur if you attach a story to depict the change.6 In the Bible you can find dozens of Biblical stories that depict change. Attach these stories to the vision to make the vision “come to life in a story” (after all that is what Jesus did with his compelling use of parables).
NOTE: Read more of 12Stone’s story here. CLICK here for a HANDOUT >>> HANDOUT Whitesel – Metaphor (popular) copy about how metaphor increases change from 30% success rate to 85% success rate.
5. “Empowering Others to Act on the Vision.”
- Delegate your power to others. Too many times passionate church leaders are tempted to go it alone. One pastor said, “Jesus had to do it alone.” And atonement and redemption were definitely things that only the Son of God could accomplish. But remember, he rounded-up and delegated to his disciples his ministry (Matthew 10, Mark 6, Luke 9, 10). You too must delegate to those you have mentored.
- Create accountability. Because the Good News (Matt. 28:19-20) is so essential, it requires that evaluation and accountability be central too. Have regular checkup discussions with clear objectives.
- Remember, because change can be polarizing, oversight and accountability for progress are essential.
6. “Planning for and Creating Short-Term Wins.”
NOTE: This is probably the most overlooked step.
- This is the key step most overlooked. Kotter discovered, and we have confirmed in our church consulting, that short-term wins help people see the validity and direction of a new vision.
- Short-term wins are projects, programs and processes that can be undertaken quickly and temporarily. They usually won’t change the long-term outcomes (yet). But they demonstrate the validity of the transition in a quick, temporary way. Thus, they pave the way for long-term wins.
- Many short-term wins will convince reticent constituents of long-term legitimacy of the new direction.
- Use temporary “task forces” instead of semi-permanent committees to investigate and launch new directions in ministries. Then as task forces prove their effectiveness they can be transitioned into more permanent committees.
7. “Using increased credibility to change systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit the vision.”
- As noted above, wins even in the short-term can give the leadership coalition the social capital to make structural changes.
- Don’t start with structural changes. You haven’t got enough buy-in from hesitant members and/or most of the congregation.
- Only after your short-term wins validate your approach will you be able to change systems, structures and policies.
NOTE: There is a “continuum” or “progress toward” better models for a multicultural (or multiethnic) church. All are found in The Healthy Church (Wesleyan Publishing House). Here are three from good … better … and best: 5 Models of Miltiethnic Churches
8. “Institutionalizing New Approaches.”
- As your ministry moves in the exciting direction of revitalized ministry, encourage an organizational structure that promotes this in the future.
- Institutionalizing principles of church transformation will allow you to reach out to new people and cultures as they develop in your community.
- Finally for long-term health and viability, the revitalized church of must acquire a personality and reputation as a church of consistency in theology but change in Godly methodology.
You can download the article here >> WHITESEL ARTICLE 8 Steps to Changing a Church
Below is the slide I use in my presentations >>
ENDNOTES:
1 John Kotter, Leading Change, (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996), John Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” Harvard Business Review (Boston, Harvard Business Publishing, 2007), retrieved from https://hbr.org/2007/01/leading-change-why-transformation-efforts-fail/ar/1
2 Editor’s note to John Kotter, ibid. Harvard Business Review.
3 John Kotter, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” Harvard Business Review (Boston, Harvard Business Publishing, 2007), retrieved from https://hbr.org/2007/01/leading-change-why-transformation-efforts-fail/ar/1
4 James Strong The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Carol Stream, IL: Thomas Nelson, 1990), 1515.
5 Bob Whitesel, Staying Power: Why People Leave the Church Over Change and What You Can Do About It (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002) and Preparing for Change Reaction: How to Introduce Change in Your Church (Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2008).
6 Scott Wilcher, MetaSpeak: Secrets of Regenerative Leadership to Transform your Workplace, Ph.D. dissertation (Nashville: Turnaround 2020 Conference, 2013).
VIDEO of Scott Wilchert explaining the role of metaphor/story in communicating change:
Scott Wilchert, MetaSpeak: Secrets of Regenerative Leadership (Nashville: Turnaround 2020 Conference, 2013), video at this link.
ADDITIONAL FOOTNOTES for PowerPoint slides:
F. J. Barrett and D.L. Cooperrider, Generative metaphor intervention: A new approach for working with systems divided by conflict and caught in defensive perception, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (Maryland: Silver Springs, NTL Institute, 1990) Vol. 26, pp. 219-239
Exploring Strategic Change, 3rd Edition (New York: Pierson Publishing, 2008).
G. Bushe and A. Kassam, When is Appreciative Inquiry Transformational? A Meta-Case Analysis, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (Maryland: Silver Springs, NTL Institute, 2005) Vol. 41, pp. 161-18.
Sohail Inayatullah, “From Organizational to Institutional Change,” On the Horizon (London: Emerald Publishing, 2005), Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 46-53.
Speaking hashtags: #CaribbeanGraduateSchoolOfTheology 8Steps4Change.church 8Steps4Change.com
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