Changing Church Culture
I was conversing with some of our leadership team of nbc…and sharing the frustrations and fears I am discovering in local church leadership. Since I am so new at this gig…I try to create opportunities and safe places to confess and talk through the thoughts and emotions that distract from leadership. It took a while, but finally I had blabbered my way to the self-diagnosis of…”I guess I am just wanting to see immediate results.”
After listening to my ramble, one of our leaders paused and said something like, “We are not looking for deposits of change…we are looking for culture change. And culture change always takes time.”
My inner thoughts were scrambling, “But how do we create culture change. How do we move people to not only give sacrificially but to live sacrificially. What does it look like to reshape church-culture forms and religious habits that have become spiritual to people? What does it take to change not only a local church culture but the Church culture?”
The leaders spoke again…as if they had heard my thoughts, “Our responsibility…your responsibility…is to lead this change through clearly and commonly sharing the changed vision.”
I heard it…and it was dead-center right. To change church culture…the changed vision must be clearly defined and commonly shared.
Openness by the leader paves the way for ownership by the people. Without ownership, changes will be short term. Changing people’s habits and ways of thinking is like writing instructions in the snow during a snowstorm. Every twenty minutes the instructions must be rewritten, unless ownership is given along with instructions. – John Maxwell
