Strategies for Implementing Change in a Small Church Setting

Author: Pastor Dale

Change is hard. Nobody likes change. I can remember coming home from my first year at college to visit my family. I went up the stairs to my childhood bedroom to find a fresh coat of paint, new bed sheets, all my nostalgic posters and silly toys packed up in boxes and stowed away in a closet. This was no longer my bedroom, but a guest room. It felt more like a hotel than a home. My heart sank. My parents are not bad people. They had no intention to hurt me or pile up emotional trauma. I had moved out, and the room needed to be used by others. It was time for change, whether I was ready for it or not. As an 18 year old, it was hard to see this as a good thing; an opportunity for my parents to express hospitality and show kindness to others when they came to visit. Now, at 33 years old, time and maturity has made this easier to comprehend. And as sad as it was at the time, I bear no emotional trauma from the event. The pain of change subsides much faster than we realize.

The impending crisis of change is felt looming over every church that just hired a new pastor. Change is inevitable in this situation and rarely welcomed. How can new pastors cultivate/navigate change in a smaller church? The question is not about how to avoid change, but how to make the least possible mess of things. There are at least three strategies every new pastor ought to consider: sympathize, standardize, and stay. I will explain how these three strategies are rooted in Scripture, how they can protect both the pastor and the congregation from unnecessary pain, and how the process of change can give God the maximum glory. Change is hard, but it can be done well.

Sympathize

It is a fallacy to believe that change is a minor inconvenience. Change often causes real pain, especially for those who go into it blindly and suddenly. Paul reflects on his own “change of plans” following the affliction he experienced in Ephesus. He longed to go and visit the Corinthians again, after they received his first letter. He first writes,

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death…” (2 Corinthians 1:8–9)

After this painful experience, and a painful letter he had to write, Paul further explains:

For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. (2 Corinthians 2:1–3)

There are two significant implications here: first, Paul recognized that he caused the church in Corinth much pain by his teaching, which had nothing to do with the accuracy of his message or the fidelity of his doctrine. Paul simply told the church where they were falling short. His calling out sin and divisiveness in the church was necessary, but painful. Secondly, Paul experienced pain himself! He was leading change and yet could not make himself go back to Corinth knowing it would not be a joyful reunion. In other words: change hurts.

If new pastors are going to be agents of change, calling out sin and pointing a congregation to righteous living, there will be many painful visits. It will not be sunshine and rainbows. God has so orchestrated the church in this way, that the pastor must feel pain himself, so that he can sincerely sympathize with his sheep in a Christ-like manner. The pastor’s agenda of change should not be domineering over those in his charge, but serving as a living example to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). Pastors are models of pain, ministering to people in pain. We have learned this model from Christ Himself: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

Pastors should never belittle or undermine the pain their people are experiencing caused by change. Like a teenager visiting his old bedroom, they ask, “What was wrong with my old bed sheets? What was wrong with the color of the walls before? I liked how things used to be.” Church members are not bad people because they liked how things used to be. They are people in grief. Pastors must be prepared to give sympathy, encouragement, and gentle direction to hurting members. Perhaps it is time to end Awanas, or change the style of the music, or remove the crusty curtains in the social hall that someone’s grandmother made in 1935. If pastors will lead with sympathy, rather than indignation, both sides will be protected from unnecessary pain in the season of change. At the end of the day, Christ will receive more glory when a pastor loves his flock well, rather than when he successfully changes the curtains.

Standardize

While sympathy is an essential characteristic for new pastors, sympathy alone will not guide the church through the changes ahead. The church needs clear direction. They need an instructive authority that is above their own, and even above the pastor. They need the Bible. The strategy of standardization means the pastor is leading and directing the flock based on the established standard of truth. As pastors communicate necessary changes in the church, their appeal must be to the Word of God. The initiation of change cannot be dictated by opinion, pragmatism, or cultural practices. When change is standardized by the Bible, the pastor establishes common ground with the people, and the congregation will soon realize the change is not a personal attack against them, but an attempt to follow God’s good standards. Sympathy is only useful so long as the basis of the pastoral leadership is Biblical. The manner in which pastors deliver God’s truth is sympathy, but the truth itself must be grounded in God’s unchanging, never-failing Word.

New pastors do not need to be adversarial to accomplish needful changes when the Word is their foundation. Paul again reflects on his first visit to the Corinthians, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:5–7) Pastoral ministry is not about the man, but about the sowing of the Word. The farmer sows patiently, night and day, and he knows not how, but eventually, the seed sprouts and grows. (Mark 4:27) This is the work of God, not the pastor. Paul says of himself, “I am nothing.” Pastors must labor in the pulpit, in deacons meetings, and in personal discipleship to show the Scriptures to be the supreme authority. The ministry should be so thoroughly grounded in Scripture that if the people choose to disagree, they are found not just disagreeing with the pastor, but with God. Preach expository sermons. Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture. Ask influential members to evaluate current ministries for themselves based on the criteria the Bible provides. Let them come to the same conclusion by their own study. The Scriptures are God’s blueprints for the church, His Word will not return void, and following His Word will always bring blessing, even through the hard season of change.

Standardization to the Bible protects the pastor from his own pride and selfish motivations. Standardization to the Bible becomes healing balm to the church member struggling with change, giving real answers to their questions. A church’s devotion to the Word above all others will give God the maximum glory. After all, Christ Jesus is the Word made flesh, and He is the treasure we pursue.

Stay

Finally, for effective and sustainable change to take place in a smaller church, the pastor needs to be prepared to stay for the long haul. The church’s current systems were not installed overnight, and the suggested changes will not happen overnight either. Many new pastors are quickly humbled when they realize the obstacles they must jump through just to make a change the Sunday bulletin. New pastors can begin to feel paralyzed and demoralized, and therefore “called” to bigger and better things. Or worse, some pastors are successful in making quick changes, but leave the church after a couple years, causing a loss of identity and no ongoing discipleship in the congregation. The changes will be reversed as quickly as they were implemented.

Staying is oftentimes the hardest part of pastoral ministry. How can a new pastor prepare to give himself to a church for ten, twenty, or even thirty years? Several personal resolves need to be made. Is the pastor willing to endure patiently? Paul’s longevity came from an unwavering motivation to serve the elect: “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” (2 Timothy 2:10) Paul endured hardship patiently, knowing the bride of Christ was worth dying for. Pastors choose to stay, not because the church is absent of problems, but because the sheep belong to Christ.

The pastor should also count the cost of his ministry concerning his family and finances. Some pastors may need to work outside of the church or sacrifice certain conveniences in the home in order to stay. If married, the pastor needs to discuss his wife’s personal commitment to staying and regularly check in with his children. If the unmet expectations of the family are not addressed, there will be inner conflict in the home, and the pastor may end up resigning because these issues were ignored.  Pastors must prioritize the health of their family if they intend to stay a long time.

Pastors must also learn contentment. In the age of celebrity preachers, temptations to greatness and notoriety abound. This is not how we learned Christ. “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” (1 Timothy 6:6–8) It is unlikely that this new pastor will publish any books, preach at TGC, or grow his church to reach thousands. He will likely be unknown by the majority of the Kingdom. This is a gift from God, that we might be content enough to shepherd the flock that God has assigned. Live and die in obscurity for the glory of Christ.

However, obscurity does not mean lonely.  If longevity is the goal, the pastor must also labor to raise up new leaders through relational discipleship. He will not make it alone. No matter how small the church may be, it should be a long-term goal to establish lay elders who are qualified, trusted, and loyal. “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:1–2) Making disciples requires real “strength” from Christ Jesus. On the other side of the coin, it seems Paul wants Timothy to experience this strength as the fruit of his labor: disciples who turn into fellow teachers. These men will be great gifts to the church and to the pastor, allowing him to stay for years without burn-out, protecting the purity of the pulpit. As faithful men are multiplied, Christ’s glory will also be multiplied. 

Christ is Worth It

Change is hard, and in some senses, change never ends. Jesus is still building His church, refining her, sanctifying her, washing her with the Word. As pastors commit themselves to sympathy, standardization, and staying, they participate in the heavenly work of preparing the Bride for the Groom. The new curtains may create conflict, that hard sermon may result in a difficult conversation, calling out sin and pointing them to Christ may cost us everything… Do not be deceived; this is holy work. There is an unfading crown of glory to be received by those who endure (1 Peter 5:4). Change is hard, but Christ is worth it.