Transitions

In any organization but especially with churches one of the most difficult thing to navigate is transitions. The churches that grow verses the ones that don’t are the ones that prepare not just for the growth but the transitions between the stages of growth. In my experience there are a few numerical stages that seem difficult to attain but when you do there is often a difficult transition to get to the next stage. For instance, in my experiences as a youth pastor and a church planter I have always started in small environments. We started with about 20-25 people so our next stage was to get to was 50. However, as a ministry of 25…we ran ourselves as though we already were running 50. When we finally broke that ceiling of 50 we needed to ask ourselves “What does this ministry look like if we ran 100?” That question is the transition. In that question often requires shifts in teams, shifts in programs, shifts in methodologies…and shifts are often met with push back.

Why change what is working, people will ask. I like the way things are now, people will proclaim. So, as a leader here are a few things that I believe you can do to ease into these transitions smoothly (or smoother).

MOVE SLOWLY – Don’t call your team together Monday to declare a shift to the organization by Friday. The larger the shift the longer you should give yourself to turn. Bill Hybels says to think of it like the difference between a speed boat and a super tanker. One is small and can make quick turns, the other is massive and takes a while to make the same turn.

MOVE GENTLY – You can’t expect everyone to immediately (or ever) completely understand your decisions. So, be gentle in your explanations and in your responses to push back. Change is scary to some people and so you need to understand your team, encourage your team and guide your team.

MOVE CLEARLY – The best way to take the fear out of the equation is to be as clear as possible. Share the Why’s of the shift. Share the goals of the shift? Share the responsibilities of the team of the shift?

There are churches that didn’t want to transition…those are the ones holding onto their traditions and slowly decaying in their buildings. Transition is key to growth. Growing is hard. Thats why it is so rare. Comment below your thoughts or maybe some stories of transitions gone well or horribly wrong.