Why Churches Refuse to Change

Sunday, November 24, 2013

In the “real world,” change is normal, it’s expected, and it’s even celebrated! When your team wins the Super Bowl no one ever looks around and complains about the stadium being too full. When your business takes ground and expands no one ever complains about experiencing success. When a new child is born into a family no grandparent complains about having to buy more Christmas presents. Change like this is celebrated. So much so, that we go around and show pictures of our new grandchild to everyone, we leverage the success of our business, and we buy t-shirts and other paraphernalia from the winning football team.

In the church it’s different. Even if it means growing, reaching more people, planting a new church, taking a risk, or even simply making the right change so that the church can be more effective with it’s mission; most churches avoid change like the plague. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Avoiding the Brutal Facts

Most churches would rather avoid reality by ignoring it, or explaining it away than dealing with it head on. Dealing with it would mean having to take ownership and responsibility.

2. Trapped by Past Practices

Many churches have been doing the same things methodologically for so long that people have fallen in love with methods instead of the message. What worked years ago in reaching people now works to keep people. And changing things up to reach new people creates fear in the hearts of many leaders about who they might lose instead of excitement about who they may reach.

3. Unclear about Next Steps

Some churches want to change. They want to move forward, they want to reach new people with the Gospel. They just don’t know what to do next. If this is you I’d like to encourage you to check out the Ministry Health Assessment that we offer at the Unstuck Group. We can help you understand your current reality and identify next steps.

4. Leadership Lacks Courage

The tough thing about leadership is that eventually you have to lead. It takes real courage to receive criticism (some of it fanatical) and keep moving in the direction the Lord has asked you to go.

5. The Weekend Happens…well…Every Weekend

It’s the tyranny of the urgent. It’s hard to rebuild a plane while it’s in flight. You can’t just shut the church down while you work on it. You’ve got to learn to be an incessant tinkerer. Consistently improving things as you go. While it’s difficult to take energy away from the weekend, you’ve got to figure out how to spend time working on your work (organizational health) and still get the weekends done.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about why churches refuse to change! Leave a comment!

Posted in Leadership

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Introducing the Unstuck Group

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

I’m pleased to announce the launch of the Unstuck Group! Founded by Tony Morgan, the Unstuck Group is made up of an incredible team of experienced ministry leaders from around the nation. This team knows how to help churches implement the strategies and take the correct actions to move from where they are to where God wants them to be! Below are some of the consulting services that we provide.

Assessment: Complete a comprehensive assessment of your ministry and identify opportunities for next steps.

Strategy: Clarify your mission, vision, and core strategies—and then realize it through prioritized action initiatives.

Structure: Determine the best organizational structure for future growth and get the right people in the right roles.

Communications: Review communications systems, staffing, website, graphic design, branding, social media, and messaging to develop a communications strategy.

Creative Arts: Evaluate your creative arts structure, series planning, and service programming then design strategies for improved service experiences.

Speaking: We’re available to speak at your conference, leadership or staff gathering on a variety of leadership and ministry topics.

At the Unstuck Group we don’t just offer consulting solutions. We help churches get unstuck! Ready to move forward? Our team is ready to help you have a bigger impact. We’d like to get to know you, talk through options and design solutions that work for you. Let’s start the conversation. Follow this link to get started today!

Posted in Leadership

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The Difference Between a Shepherd and a Leader

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

I love helping churches and leaders get unstuck and make vision real. In fact out of all the stuff I get to do with churches and leaders one of the things I enjoy the most is Leadership Coaching. Recently I had the incredible opportunity to spend a day coaching a group of Pastors and Church Leaders from Australia (unfortunately their cool accent didn’t rub off). One of the topics we spent time digging into was the difference between shepherding and leading in relation to why some churches are stuck while others move forward. Here are couple of thoughts from the conversation.

Leaders Lead and Shepherds Shepherd

This may sound naively obvious, but leaders and shepherds have different gifts and skill-sets. The Scriptures define leadership as a spiritual gift (Romans 12:8). Shepherding is an analogy that Jesus used along with various writers of the New Testament to describe to an agrarian culture what spiritual leadership looks and acts like.

People are Led by Leaders and Cared for by Shepherds

People follow leaders because the very essence of a leader is to lead. They’re going somewhere and people are inspired to go with them. On the other hand, people often feel endeared to shepherds because shepherds know their name, know what’s going on in their lives and provide more intimate care to their flock.

Shepherds have their Eyes on the Flock while Leaders have their Eyes on the Hill

Shepherds and leaders naturally think about and fix their gaze on different things. Shepherds are consumed with the state of the flock while leaders naturally drift towards the future and where they’re taking people.

Some of the best Church Leaders not only have a leadership gift, but also have the heart of a shepherd. Church Leaders who don’t naturally have the heart of a shepherd would do well and benefit by surrounding themselves with others on the team who do.

Posted in Leadership

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When to Hire from the Outside

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

In making your next hire the best place to begin is by looking for existing talent that is already inside the church or organization first. For more on that, check out part-1 of this post “When to Hire from the Inside.” But an inside hire may not always be the best hire. In fact here are three overarching principles that will help you understand when it’s time to go outside to make your next hire.

1. It’s Time to Implement Change

When you don’t like the culture and the ministry practices that are in place it’s time for a change. And that means a new hire from the outside that brings with it a new skill-set, new experiences, an infusion of new ideas, and fresh eyes that challenge the status quo. If change were going to happen with the current Staff it would have already happened.

2. The Church is Stuck

As a church grows it’s not uncommon that it will outgrow various leadership lids of some of the Staff on the team. When the Staff has hit a lid and is stuck, the ministries and the church will become stuck as well. If the Staff can’t grow past that lid they’ll need to be moved over, under, or out.

3. A Specific Skill-set is Needed

It’s not uncommon as a church grows that needs arise for very unique skillsets and greater talent levels that simply may not already exist inside the church. They may involve I.T., media, creative arts, a worship leader, or a presentation or speaking gift.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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Top 5 Posts from June

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Thank you for making the month of June an incredible month on Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s so encouraging to read the comments and see the interaction through social media about the content and articles that are posted here! It’s encouraging to hear stories about how different posts have been helpful. So thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

#1 Defining the Leadership Culture at Your Church

Peter Drucker is credited with saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Every organization has a culture – attitudes they want adopted, values they want championed, beliefs they want instilled and behaviors they want reproduced. Leaders are the cultural architects of any organization. Eventually every organization takes on the character and priorities of its leaders. As a result, leaders need to become intentional in creating culture.

#2 The Dark Side of Vision

Many tout the most important aspect of a leader is the ability to paint a clear vision of the future. If you’ve been around church-world for any length of time you’ve probably even heard a sermon or two about it, after all “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18) right? What many leaders often fail to realize is that there is another side to vision, a downside, that if not understood and artfully led through can derail the vision before it begins.

#3 The Baby Elephant Principle

How do churches get stuck? Churches are stuck because they’ve been conditioned to be stuck. Here are 3 critical questions you should be asking about why your church is stuck in the past. And how you can get unstuck.

#4 6 Reasons Your Church Should Use a Search Firm to Make Your Next Hire

Hiring a new team member can be exciting because it means there is going to be fresh eyes on old problems and status quo ministry, new ideas, and a new well of experiences to go to. If you’ve read much of my blog you know that I enjoy the hiring process and helping churches recruit and hire great teams. In fact you can check out this series of posts on “Recruiting and Hiring Teams that Make Vision Real” or take a look at how I help churches build a staffing and hiring strategy. But sometimes the best move that you can make is to enlist the help of an Executive Search Firm. Here are 6 reasons you should consider using an Executive Search Firm when you make your next hire.

#5 New Leadership Coaching Network Opening Up

A couple of weeks ago, we opened applications for the new leadership coaching networks that will begin early this fall through TonyMorganLive. The deadline for applications is July 31, but applications have already been coming in and these new coaching networks will probably fill up before then. Over half of the spots are already spoken for in my Network so get your application in soon to secure your spot!

Posted in Leadership