Embracing Productive Change

Sometimes we must change in order to be productive. Change is never easy. In some cases, it is necessary—no change, no increased productivity. Some time back, I felt as though the Lord spoke quite specifically. There were two major changes that needed to take place in my church. First, if we were going to be more productive, we would have to become less event oriented and more ministry oriented. It occurred to me that most people had limited their concept of ministry to the church sponsored events. I realized that if we were to go through the church calendar and remove the major all-church events, the perception among the people would be that there is no ministry happening. This had to change. Ministry would have to be redefined in the hearts of the people, much like it had been redefined in my heart. We will always have the large events, but they can no longer be the main emphasis of ministry. The emphasis of ministry must be in the lives of our people. We want to be in a place that if we were to do away with all major events (which we won’t) people would say “there is ministry happening in and through our church.” Connecting Points affects this change. We would become less event-oriented and more ministry-oriented. The second change had to do with me. We, as a church, must become less pastor-centered and more people-centered. Ouch! It was sad but true. I did not intend for this to happen, but it had. I had worked to become a strong leader, and had unintentionally built ministries that, for the most part, were dependent upon me. Don’t get me wrong. The leader must lead. The problem was that the people had grown so dependent on me that they almost equated my participation with success. I realized, in hind sight, that the programs I got behind and attended were always well attended and deemed a success. On the other hand, if I did not personally push it or attend, it was moderately successful. If the pastor visited the hospital everyone was happy. If a church member came to visit, it was as if there was no visit at all. You can see how limiting this was. Unless I changed this mentality we would forever be limited to my personal abilities and availabilities. My vision goes far beyond that. This too had to be changed. In relation to ministry we must get the focus off of me and on the people. This is where ministry must take place. It cannot be the private domain of the pastor and his staff. The people! They are the deal! We must become less-pastor centered and more people-centered. Now this is embracing productive change.