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9
Jan

More Leading through change with Gene Appel

How to Kill Your Church…without Changing
  1. Naively assuming that churches are as resistant to change as other organizations
  2. Neglecting to sell the problem first.  If people don’t understand that there is a problem they will never buy into the solution.
  3. Ignoring the emotions of change.  People will leave if you make change and they will leave if you don’t.  You will never have 100% of people on board with change.

    Types of church people: 
    Like Change                    Will help        Resist Change
    Creatives, Progressives     Builders         Foundationals, Anchors
    4.  Launching without a supportive leading/Sr. pastor.  In their research they found that chance for failure was 100% when this happened.
    5.  Focusing on the change instead of on the transitions.  Need a transition plan so that you take into account where you are and the people involved.
    6.  Over-accelerating the rate of change.  All change is stressful.  Size of change dictates the rate.

How to change your church…without killing it
  1. Prepare the soil – Need data to be informed, so that you can raise the urgency, and identify and sell the problem.  Be honest about your data (Where is the growth coming from?)  Form the Dream Team (4-7 people) that plans, cultivates ideas, etc.  Getting away for 2-3 days can help make progress that would typically take 2-3 years.  You must form a compelling vision.  It is strategic to affirm the past in order to build the future.
  2. Plant the seed (initiating change) – transformational change takes 4 years.
  3. Cultivate with patience and persistance- Celebrate every win.  Share stories of transformation.
  4. Harvest 

8
Jan

Generate – a midweek worship service for 12-30 year olds?

That’s right.  Crossroads Christian Church in Corona, California has gone through some major turmoil in the last year or so, and the team that was brought in to sustain it has a midweek service that ministers to 12-30 year olds.

I went last night.  And it was amazing.  There were 9 baptisms that ranged in age from middle school girl to college graduate.  The worship team was phenomenal, and mostly because they were really trying to lead people to the throne of God and not just display their talent.  It helped that the lead of that group is a young lady with a seriously penetrating voice.  The service is held in the main sanctuary, and there were over 2000 people in attendance. They have a room right off of the sanctuary, called the “Living Room,” where people are directed to go for the invitation. 
But that wasn’t the most affirming thing.  The most affirming thing was that everything they did was in your face and unashamedly bold.  They used a hymn to close the service, before the talk they broke up the congregation into groups of 2-3 people to pray for one another, at the invitation somewhere between 10-20 people came forward, they took up an offering, they shared two stories about people in their congregation and while the talk was all over the place it was impactful because of the transparency of the speaker.
It’s without question where I feel like worship will need to go in the next ten years in order to be relevent to the maority of unchurched people.  Why ten years?  Because I’m in California, and it’ll take that long for the culture in Central Kentucky to be where it is now in CA.  🙂
So, I think Harmony should be expecting Andrew to begin to need to use the main sanctuary, and I think that service may need to eventually become a combo of Journey and what we were trying to do with the Arcade.
I’d love to see comments on that. 🙂
8
Jan

Gene Appel – How to change your church…without killing you

How to Change Your Church…Without Killing You

Four C’s that can kill your spirit

1. Conflict 
    Guard your over-reactions (2 timothy 2:24-25)
2. Confusion that leads to a loss of Courage
3. Comparison
    Joyfully celebrate who God made me to be to help confront the thoughts of not measuring up.
4. Crushes – personal crisis comes along as first three are happening.
    Allow God to work in you during the crisis
    Know that if I have Jesus Christ, then I have enough.
    Don’t be afraid to allow God to work through you during your crisis.

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