I’ve often said that most people don’t mind change. Except when it affects them. But bringing about change is one of the key responsibilities that leaders have.

So why don’t leaders bring about change when they really should, or even need to?

A few common reasons you may be able to relate to are:

• inertia in the congregation making it too hard to change,
• fear of conflict or of losing support,
• comfort with the status quo. Things are fine just the way they are!
• lack of clarity about what needs to change,
• lack of understanding about how to bring about change (there will be an article about this in next weeks newsletter).

The reasons can be many and varied.

To see the need for healthy change and to lead into it frequently requires 3 paradigm shifts.

Make these paradigm shifts and you’ll be set for change to follow.

Loving the Mission More Than the Method

The church exists to continue the mission of Jesus in the world. That’s our very reason for being. To pursue this mission, we develop methods. These are the ways and means by which we act.

Methods are valuable. They help us decide what we will do and how we will do it. Together, our methods form our ministry model.

The challenge comes when we begin to love the method more than the mission. This happens when we become attached to doing things a certain way even when those ways may no longer effectively serve the mission. Consider, for instance, a craft group or even a Sunday service. Are these shaped more by what has always been done, or by what will most effectively advance the mission today?

When we cling to methods, we risk turning them into traditions and eventually into idols. The very things that should be helping us to pursue the mission that Jesus gave us.

Loving the mission on the other hand is transformational. It leads us to make necessary changes to achieve outcomes that align with Jesus’ calling, even when that means adjusting or abandoning familiar methods. Loving the mission means starting with the end in mind and letting the end goal guide us forward. Loving the method, however, keeps us looking backward, constrained by the past.

When we love the mission more than the method, we become willing to evaluate what we do and how we do it. It helps us recognise where we may have drifted and invites us to realign with the mission Jesus gave us. Loving the mission keeps us open-handed with our methods, holding them lightly, ready to change whatever is needed to pursue His mission faithfully.

Loving the Problem More Than the Solution

We must stay focused on overcoming the problems we face, not on falling in love with the solutions we create. A solution that works today might be exactly what’s needed for this moment, but tomorrow may require something entirely different.

When we fall in love with a solution, it captures our attention. We naturally invest in refining and improving it. But what happens when that solution no longer effectively addresses the problem it was designed to solve? If our hearts are tied to the solution, we may cling to it, tweaking and adjusting it and hoping it will eventually start working again. Yet sometimes, what’s really needed is a completely different solution.

When my wife Sharon and I planted our church, we began with a seeker service. The problem we wanted to solve was how to reach unchurched seekers and help them become fully devoted followers of Jesus. For a time, we thought that this approach served us well. But after several years, we realised it wasn’t achieving the results we’d hoped for. The problem remained, and so we began exploring new solutions like rethinking how we structured our weekend services and even reshaping the underlying operating system of how we did church.

When we fall in love with a solution, we become bound to it even when it stops working. If we refuse to let go and allow new approaches to emerge, we risk turning that solution into an idol; something we end up serving instead of the mission itself.

Loving the problem rather than the solution keeps us moving forward. It drives us to shift our thinking and practices in key areas, such as:

• Making disciples who move beyond church attendance to become disciple-makers.
• Reshaping the “operating system” common to most churches in our nation.
• Shifting our focus from church growth to multiplication.
• Raising up and sending workers into the harvest to plant new churches and ministries.

When we love the problem more than the solution, we remain open, creative, and adaptive, continually searching for the best ways to fulfil the mission God has given us.

Loving Innovation More Than Adaptation

True innovation begins by looking at the mission we’ve been given, the problem that exists, and then designing solutions that truly work.

Our natural tendency, however, is to adapt what we already have rather than to innovate and create something new.

We saw this clearly during COVID. When churches could no longer meet in person, many adapted by finding new ways to bring their existing services to their congregations. But was that really innovation? Not quite. It was adaptation; adjusting the product (the weekend service) to reach the same audience in a different way.

Innovation by Design, on the other hand, starts somewhere else entirely. It begins with the person you want to reach and the problem you want to solve in alignment with your mission and then works backwards to create a new solution. During COVID, some churches did exactly this: they paused, asked “Who do we want to reach?” and “What do they need?”, and then built something new from the ground up. That’s true innovation, not adaptation.

God Himself is always doing something new, not merely improving the old. As Isaiah reminds us, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing.” (Isaiah 43:18–19). Even in sending Jesus, God didn’t upgrade the old covenant. He established a new one.

This is the essence of repentance (metanoia): letting go of the past to embrace the new thing God is doing. The methods that brought us here may not be the ones that will take us forward. Holding on to what God is calling us to release can limit what He wants to do next.

Adaptation generally involves incremental change, and that usually feels safer as it’s gradual, familiar, and builds on what we already do. But incremental change usually brings incremental results.

Innovation can involve radical change which can carry risk. But it also carries the potential for radical transformation.

It’s worth remembering that incremental change helps us do things better but radical change calls us to do things differently.

There is no doubt that true innovation requires courage and conviction. But when we love the mission more than the method and we love the problem to be solved more than the solution, we set ourselves up so that we will pursue innovation and not be satisfied by adaptation.

One More Thought

There are times when our financial model will constrain us from making the changes that we must make. To break free of this, we must love the vision more than the provision. By this I mean that we should not have our vision constrained by the finances that we have, but rather seek the finances that the vision requires.

If this sounds impossible, just remember that whilst we must be good stewards and not be reckless, we are on a faith journey with Jesus and where He provides a vision, He will also provide the provision and it may well be found in non-traditional places.

Tim O’Neill

Executive Director, Exponential Australia