Pastor Chuck and his team had done a great job growing a strong, healthy church. In fact, other churches even modeled many of their programs after the successful ministries at EV Free.
So why did I come in and insist on change?
Below are my 10 reasons that even healthy churches need change:
· Our mission is yet to be accomplished.
· Our people are constantly changing.
· Every new generation is a new challenge.
· Change is easier when you are healthy, not unhealthy.
· Scripture gives us our functions, but not our forms.
· Flexibility should be the norm if we value people over programs.
· Creativity should always flow from children of the Creator.
· The church is a body, a living organism, and a body must change to grow.
· Every church or ministry has a natural life cycle and will eventually die unless it is “reborn” from within.
John Young, the chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard, once admitted, “We’ve become the victims of our own success.” Unfortunately, many churches and ministries in America plateau or are in a state of decline for this same reason.
Every organization, at one point in its history, was growing and successful. But the fact remains that success is always the first step toward failure. When you think you’ve reached the top of the hill, you may very well be looking at its descent. So why is this?
Success tends to shut down our creative juices and bring our innovation to a halt because most of us still follow the “old wineskin” wisdom that says, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Instead, as the title of Kriegel and Patler’s book says, “If It Ain’t Broke…Break It!” Always look for better ways to serve your people. Break down your ministry, look it over, and then put it back together again…continually!
The time to be innovative is when you’re on the crest of the wave, not when you’re in the trough.
Think about your ministry this week. Where are you most successful currently? Where are you at the top of your game? Now, take a morning to pray about this area of ministry. Think creatively about it and see if it could benefit from some innovative change.