- Questions
to ask yourself before you begin:
- What
is God's vision for this particular piece of the Body
of Christ?
(Prov.
29.18 - "Where there is no vision, the people
perish.")
a. What
are the spiritual gifts and talents of the people in
the congregation?
b. What
are my spiritual gifts and talents?
c. How do
a & b complement each other?
d. What in
my Christian faith stirs my passions? What do I get
excited about? For what am I willing to work
hard?
- What is
the history of this congregation?
(I have a theory that the older a congregation is, the
more change they have experienced. Be the #1 fan of
the
congregation's history - talk about it frequently,
respect it, and celebrate it. It can be a great
ally in bringing about change!)
- Are you
willing to make the time commitment involved to affect
real change?,
(Some
changes can be done in a matter of weeks or months,
others will take some years.)
- Is the
environment of the community consistent with the
vision?
- If you
decide to go ahead with the change(s):
- Begin
talking about your ideas -informally.
(Explain
what the problem is and involve the congregation in
creating the solution. Listen to people's ideas and
incorporate them as you can, be sure to contact the
"power" people in the congregation and get them "on
board" if you can.)
- Educate,
Educate, Educate.
- Thank the
people who help make a change succeed. Write notes,
make phone calls, chat with them informally. Tell them
how the change has been a value to the
congregation.
- After a
short rest, start the process again with a new
concern!
(Change
really does get easier with frequency -- the longer the
time interval between change events, the more difficult
change is for people.)
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