Fast Change

Tonight I was thinking about the transition we went through as a church these past couple of years in regards to our mission, strategy and focus.  When I look back at how we approached the transition, I am blown away at how fast we intiated changes.  Let me tell you.....we wasted NO time. 

At the time it seemed like the right thing to do.  And I have to admit - three and a half years later, I have NO DOUBT that it was the right move.

We made a LOT of hard decisions and transitional moves in a very short amount of time.  Sure, it was hard and extremely risky.  And oh yeah, it made a lot of people upset.  But the thing that I'm realizing is that incremental or slow change is actually riskier (and most of the time just won't work) than fast change. 

Will you lose people faster if you change quickly?  Sure.  But those people are already convinced followers of Christ and their salvation in Christ is secure.  Stop and think about all of the people in our community who might not have discovered a relationship with Christ had we tried a 5 or 6 year transition plan.  Not only would all of those people who left probably had left the church anyway at some point, but it would have taken that much longer to begin reaching new people.

(Think about the story where the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go after the 1 lost sheep...)

Reggie Joyner from Northpoint made some outstanding statements in his talk this past week at DRIVE in regards to this exact thing.  Here are a couple of his statements:

"Tweaking" type change isn’t going to work.  We need to be willing to overhaul.

Don’t pattern your church after churches that people aren’t attending.

The best way to radically change your organization is to radically change your organization. 

Don’t be more afraid of the people who are going to walk away then the people who won’t be coming if you don’t make the changes.

You never have to be intentional about reaching insiders.  You always have to be intentional about reaching outsiders. 

We are afraid of radical change – but isn’t that exactly what we are asking people who don’t know God to do everyday?

Comments

[Paul W. Swansen]

Your comments reminded me of Tom Peters quote, "Ready, Fire, Aim."

[Chris]

Always better to yank the bandage off quickly than to slowly peel it off.

[john alan turner]

My experience is that you can walk your church through a transition process and lose about 30% of your people. Or you can make a change quickly and lose about 30% of your people.

The difference is you'll be tired, and a generation of people will go unreached.

[Marty Scherr]

I agree with your assessment that fast change is more effective than slow change -- as long as the change to in response to the Lord's direction.

[Mark Howell]

This is right on target! Our temptation is to attempt to please everyone...and then everyone is mad instead. Since problem-free doesn't exist, let's go on with change that will lead to effectiveness.

mark