How to change your church

Pastors often ask, «How do we get our churches to change?» Many ministers have been pushed aside by their churches in their attempts to implement change. Some have even been fired.

However, as pastors, we have a responsibility to lead our churches to change, even if it takes time and effort. Here are some tips for implementing change: teach, stay, and love.

Teach for change

First, our ideas for church change must come from Scripture. This means that the pulpit is the most powerful tool for church change. Regular expository preaching of Scripture is the primary way in which the Spirit of God usually works in people’s hearts.

Pray that through your sermons God will teach your church what it needs to change. It is amazing how often we pastors want to fix problems before we have even explained them.

Too many pastors try to force change—often explained as «leadership»—instead of teaching. Friends, we are to feed the sheep God has entrusted to us, not beat them. Teach them.

Even if the changes you’re considering are the right ones, the question still remains: Is the time right? Being right is not a license to act immediately, and that brings me to my next piece of advice.

Stay in church for change.

The ability to be tied to one place is disappearing, both in the workplace and in family life. For the younger generation, the current model no longer resembles a pre-prepared corporate ladder with limited options for the path. Instead, it is a mosaic of a global network where the possibilities and options seem endless. We are taught to value diverse experiences because each enriches the others.

We pastors need to offer a different model in our churches. We need to teach that commitment is a value, whether it’s to our marriages and families, our friends and faith, or our church. In light of such long-term commitments (thinking in terms of decades, not months), we can help the church find the right priorities.

Our greatest strength in helping the church community change lies not in authoritarianism but in years of faithful and patient learning. The changes that don’t happen this year may happen next year or ten years from now.

• Choose your battles wisely, carefully identifying one most necessary change at a time.
• In general, pastors must learn to think maturely, with a long-term perspective.

Long-term pastoral ministry also helps the pastor. It prevents us from coming in with a «bag of tricks,» completing our tasks in two or three years, and leaving. The longer we stay, the more real we have to be—and that’s good for both our souls and those we serve.

The key to change is to stay in the same church long enough to train people. If you don't plan to stay, be careful before you start something that someone else will have to finish. Don't leave the church resentful of you, your successor, or the change itself.

When I was a young seminarian, I took as my role models three Anglican priests from Cambridge. All three had an expositional ministry in key places over many years:

• Richard Sibbs (in Cambridge and London for over 30 years)
• Charles Simeon (at Cambridge for over 50 years)
• John Stott (in London for over 50 years)

By God's grace, all of these men built the churches they served and influenced new generations of ministers with their enduring faithfulness.

Love to change

To seek the right changes, to teach about them, and to stay long enough, you need to love. You need to love the Lord and the people He has entrusted to you.

Clement of Rome stated:

«"Christ belongs to the humble of heart, not to those who exalt themselves above their flock"»

It is from love that arises the patient care that brings the church back to the Word of God again and again.

Jonathan Edwards was no less a faithful pastor even when his church fired him. Some of us have had short but faithful pastorates. But that is not what I am concerned with in this short article. I am simply trying to encourage you to think about how you can, through teaching, long-term presence, and love, lead your church toward biblical change.