Leading Change in Your New Ministry Role
It’s so exciting when you’re just starting out in a new ministry position. You have all these forms to fill out, people to meet, relationships to build and systems to learn. People are looking to you for fresh vision and comparing you to the past. One of the biggest questions they’re going to ask you is “what will you change?”
Since you’re coming into this new position with fresh eyes, you can see changes that need to be made all over. But what changes should you make? What can you change now, and what should you wait on?
Right before I moved to my second church, a wise kids’ pastor sat me down and explained to me what to expect. His best advice to me that day was
“Don’t change anything for the first 6 months to a year. Just you being there is change enough.”
He was right, and I’ve held onto that advice for every new church I’ve gone to since.
But sometimes you need to change things that can’t wait that long. And that’s what I’m going to talk about today. The two types of changes you can make starting day one, and what to do with the rest.
Before I dive into those changes there is a concept you need to understand. Every person has “relationship change.” Think of it as change in your pocket. Every action you make either adds to your change or takes away. The more you add to your pockets, the more forgiveness, grace, and trust you receive from that person.
But every time you make a change, do something wrong or hurt them, you make a withdrawal on your savings. Do that enough and you’ll go bankrupt. In other words, you’ll break the relationship sometimes beyond repair.
We see this in real time with college football coaches. If they coach a winning team, they can stay there forever. Even if they have a few losses, fans will forgive them and be back for the next game. But if they coach a losing team, fans will be calling for their head before the end of the fourth quarter. I talk more about this idea in this post.
This is true for ministry leaders as well. But maybe with a little more grace. When you first step into a ministry role, every person you lead, the kids, parents, volunteers, and staff give you a loan. They’re getting to know you and are excited about the new beginning. Most are rooting for you to succeed. But every change you make you borrow from that loan. Change too many things too fast, you’ll default on that loan and find yourself packing. It’s super important to make regular deposits by building relationships with your people. I talk more about that in this post.
So, what kind of changes can you make without defaulting on you loan? How can you use your relationship change wisely?
1. Changes everyone wants
After being at 7 churches, I can tell you this is rare, but it does happen. Sometimes you come into a new position, and your predecessor has done something that everyone wants changed. They’ve just been waiting for you.
This is why that first leader meeting is so important. You get a feel for the ministry, the good and the bad.
If it seems everyone wants the change, then you don’t have to wait. Go ahead and change it. Instead of it being a withdrawal, it’ll be a deposit in your relationship change. People will applaud that the change has finally happened and that you were the one to do it.
These kinds of changes may be hard to find at first, so I wouldn’t make them day one. That’s the next point. Rather, they will become apparent as you build relationships. Your people will tell you what they do and don’t like.
Look for patterns. If a certain program, activity, or ministry is causing problems and no one wants it, then go ahead and get rid of it.
A word of caution here. There have been times when I ran into this situation and the people didn’t want it, but my leadership did. You can plead your case, but ultimately if they say you have to keep it, you must. They gave you a loan too and sign your paychecks. You don’t want too many withdrawals with them this early. You can read about how I handled this instance here.
2. A Danger to the People or the Ministry
There are some changes that need to be changed on day one. Like I talked about in my Discipline Plan post, when I came into my first kidmin, the rules and consequences were wholly ineffective. My first week on stage, I made immediate changes and instituted the rules I still use today.
As with the changes everyone wants, these also should be rare. But are also harder to find. People won’t tell you about them in the interview or during the leader meeting. These are the things you’ll find when you start getting into the weeds of the ministry. You see them when you start looking at the budget, volunteer structure, or safety policies.
These are the things that the existing team just accepts as normal. They’ve become so accustomed to the status quo they don’t see the problem.
This is where your fresh eyes can point out what’s wrong, and how it can be changed.
A word of caution here. This kind of change is a withdrawal on your loan. Make too many of these too fast, and you’ll go into default.
If it’s a good change, then you’ll start making your relationship change back with interest. But before that, you’ll be faced with skepticism and even criticism. Just know that’s what you’re getting into.
As you make these changes, be sure to point out what’s wrong, why it’s critical to be changed now, and how your solution will make things better. People get behind vision before they get behind the person. So, cast the vision and then follow through. It’ll pay off in the end.
3. Go slow and Evaluate
Like I said at the beginning of this post, when you come into a new role there are so many things you would like to change from the outset. But don’t. Wait and be patient. I always promise my new team that I’m not going to change things for 6 months to a year. I want to assuage their fears and start to build credibility.
People do buy into vision first, but they’ll stick with the leader longer. You want them to buy into you. Then you can cast whatever vision, and they’ll jump on board for the ride. But that takes time. Months. Years.
Don’t rush.
There’s an old story where a man wanted to get somewhere and was stopped by a fence. Furious and impatient, he cut down the fence and moved on. Unfortunately, that fence kept a herd of cattle from heading into the city. When the man returned people kept asking who cut that fence down!
You don’t know why those fences are currently in your ministry. Read: policies, procedures, systems and structures. If you head in slicing and dicing to get your vision in place, you may be removing safeguards that are there for good reason.
So, take that first 6 months to a year to learn your people and your systems. Ask questions and search for understanding. You need to know why they do the things they do. You need to know the history. Their processes may be better than yours. Their policies are probably there for good reasons. Just because it’s in your way doesn’t mean you should remove it. Find out why, then decide. It’ll cost you so much less in the long run.
Leading change, especially in the early days of a new role, is never easy. There are many landmines and pitfalls. Go slow. Use wisdom. Ask lots of questions. Pray. Once you decide what’s best, cast your vision and move forward. God put you where you are for a reason. Steward your ministry well and look forward to that great compliment, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
