How does change impact congregations?
Gil Rendle, an Alban Institute senior consultant, has written:
“The driving assumption about congregations today is that they each have a unique call to ministry, a call very much determined by the congregation’s location and ministry with a specific and unique group of individuals, who have specific and unique needs and interests within the greater framework of the faith tradition. Ministry is no longer a matter of doing what we know how to do best. Nor is it adequate for congregations to continue to do what they did last year. The time and the environment continue to change at a pace that requires us constantly to evaluate, to learn anew what our purpose of ministry is, and continually to reinvent the congregation to meet the needs that face us. We need to learn more at every turn before discerning the appropriate next step to take.”
(Leading Change in the Congregation: Spiritual and Organizational Tools for Leaders, Alban Institute, p. 6) - obtained from Alban institure email newsletter
September 16th, 2004 at 11:50 pm
Change???
The congregation I have been a part of for many years fears change. They have avoided it at all cost. I decided it was time some change occurred. So…I left.
September 17th, 2004 at 8:09 am
Phil, a really important and needful subject for leadership [teams] to grapple with. I see that Roxburgh’s Missional Leadership Institute, in their September 04 newsletter are promoting another Alban Publication - Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change by Mark Lau Branson. I found Leading Congregational Change by Jim Herrington (and others) really useful. My experience: it’s really hard to get leaders to think in terms of change ‘management’ and a journey of transformational change. Grace to you.
September 18th, 2004 at 12:46 am
I did a unit at college last year called Pastor and Change. It was one of the best units I’ve done and something I think all Christians need to learn.
We fear change, when instead we should fear getting in a rut and staying the same.
Complacency is such a dangerous place, yet we gravitate to it so readily.
October 9th, 2004 at 11:51 pm
From the get go I am an Christian, (I stated this for the Pente’s who will read this and think that I am of the synagogue of Satan) Just watched the election coverage on the ABC saw that one Danny Nalliah of “Family First,” (Danny, not even born in Oz), will no doubt hold the balance of power in the Australian Senate.The Australian Christian Church does not need a right wing party deciding and dictating the future of my country. It does not need a party which is an front for the Assemblies Of Kiwi Houston / God pushing forth its agenda on the people of Australia. Come clean Family First you are a religious party and you are tied up with the Assemblies of God (the AOG is actually an American based church), why the deception Family First? unless you have something to hide.
Evangelion