Change in the Church – Creating Receptiveness & Overcoming Resistance
Part of the LifeandLeadership.com resources for church leaders on Transition and Change in the Church.
- Introduction
- Change Receptiveness & Resistance in Leaders
- Change Receptiveness & Resistance in Churches
- Related Ministry Resources
Introduction
Perhaps the most difficult task for Christian leaders relative to change in the church is overcoming hesitation. There is the axiom that people do not change unless they perceive the need. Yet this is often not enough, as people may know they need to change, but still fail to take action. Creating a sense of need, both among church leaders and members, and then moving others to action, is a crucial skill. This often involves peeling away several layers of resistance. The following ministry resources help toward that end.
Remember to see the list at the bottom for church leader resources in related areas including Concepts/Theories for Change in the Church and Strategies for Leading Transiton and Change in the Church.
Creating Change Receptiveness, Overcoming Change Resistance in Leaders:
- Eddie Hammett, James R. Pierce, and Steven Devane, Making Shifts Without Making Waves: A Coach Approach to Soulful Leadership (TCP Leadership Series)— An excellent tool for creating a more change-receptive culture through the coach approach, where a leader covenants with a few key people in the congregation who show the most enthusiasm for change. They are coached, and then enlisted for coaching others.
- Ron Heifetz, Leadership Without the Easy Answers – Shows how effective leaders must tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty.
- Ron Heifetz and Martin Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading – Equips leaders for the personal pain experienced when they tackle tough conflict-ridden, belief-stretching issues.
- Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within – Emphasizes the fact that the challenge with organizational change is often the leader’s fear of what it will mean for him or her. Leaders must engage the heroic journey to find true vitality again over against simply being busy with tasks that give the appearance of industry but are actually excuses to avoid hard work of change.
- Robert E. Quinn, Build the Bridge As You Walk On It: A Guide for Leading Change – A follow up to Quinn’s best-selling book, Deep Change. Presents a model of change based on eight practices.
- Gilbert R. Rendle, Leading Change in the Congregation: Spiritual and Organizational Tools for Leaders —A good resource for leadership change readiness.
Creating Change Receptiveness, Overcoming Change Resistance in Churches:
- Chip Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard – Excellent for troubleshooting why change is not working and how to get change efforts on track. Designed for change agents who have very little leverage (i.e. positional authority) to accomplish it, e.g. church leaders. Tons of examples and clear directions expressed in a simple three-part rubric.
- Ken Hultman, Making Change Irresistible: Overcoming Resistance to Change in Your Organization — Not targeted to churches, yet it is a thorough discussion of the reasons why people resist change and what leaders can do to address the resistance ethically and sensitively.
- John P. Kotter, A Sense of Urgency— A sequel to Leading Change. Expands upon the first stage of Kotter’s eight-stage process, “creating a sense of urgency.” Key idea: people do not change unless they see the need, and if they do not see the need, leaders must help them see it.
- Mosser, Transitions: Leading Churches Through Change – A rich anthology of seasoned wisdom on how preachers may be a resource for their congregations during times of confusing change, conflict, and life crises. Includes good chapters on dealing with resistance.
- Bob Whitesel, Preparing for Change Reaction: How to Introduce Change in Your Church — Excellent on how to create change boundaries (i.e. defining what will and will not change), building a biblical theology of change, and how to curb frustration among change proponents (which is developed further in Staying Power).
- Bob Whitesel, Staying Power: Why People Leave the Church Over Change (And What You Can Do About It!) — Discusses a six-stage polarization process that causes change proponents to leave organizations and the five triggers that push a church out of one stage and into another.
Related Ministry Resources
Other Ministry Resources on Transition and Change in the Church:
- Transition and Change in Church, Intro
- Concepts and Theories for Change in the Church
- Leading Transition and Change in the Church (Strategies)
Other Ministry Resources on Church Leadership:
- Church Administration
- Church Leadership, Church Health and Renewal
- Church Conflict
- Evangelism
- Generational Issues
- Christian Leadership
- Ministry Transitons, Interim
- Missional Church
See Resource on Over 100 Areas of Christian Ministry: