Leading redemptive change in your ministry requires specific knowledge of the types of people that form the whole.
This chart from Dealing with Darwin by Geoffrey Moore illustrates five kinds of people: Techies, Visionaries, Pragmatists, Conservatives, and Skeptics.
A few key questions related to applying this chart to your ministry:
- Which one of the five best describes you? The majority of your ministry will be comprised of people like you. If you are a pragmatist, conservative, or skeptic you will need to empower a techie or visionary to help you shape the future. If you are a techie or visionary you will need a pragmatist, conservative, or skeptic to help you maintain the present.
- What percentage (rough estimate) does each group represent in your ministry? How does this affect decision making and the tone of your culture?
- Do you or any of your leaders view one group as better or worse than the others? What are some specific benefits each group brings to your ministry’s health?
Just try it! Get ahead of the herd!
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Dear Brian,
what do you mean with change in comparism to normal companies? What circumstances make a change management necessary in churches?
Greetings from Germany
Rainer
hi Rainer! read your blog via google translate–awesome stuff!
ministries in my experience go through different phases, which bring a unique set of challenges and opportunities.
i would say a change is necessary in a church when the particular leader no longer drives the ministry toward the future, but seeks to protect the past. this does not mean that the leader should be “fired” but rather step into an overseer role where they empower a leader or group of leaders that can help them realize the future.
does that answer your question? i hope i understood you correctly.
Dear Brian,
thank you for the answer. What I really want to know: Is there something in the environment of churches that forces you to fit your own structures? I’ve got the link to you over a German Christian blog. Sometimes the blogger refers to people from companies and sometimes to reverends. Leadership as I know it is management in an economic sense but it seems that you can also use the term for preaching (is that what you mean with ministry?) as an instrument. A company has to react to changes (new trends, new technologies and so on) but has a church also to react (to be more efficient and so on)?
Greetings
Rainer
i don’t mean preaching as much as how a ministry leader designs and facilitates the overall operation of their ministry.
specifically here are three things i look for:
–how their leadership team is set up: qualifications, roles, responsibilities
–how they select and develop new leaders
–how many teams/groups exist to support the ministry?
these three things provide tremendous insight into the health of a ministry and it’s capacity to be effective in the future.
Dear Brian,
does the word ministry mainly mean the preacher, the Sunday service or the congregation/organization/building?
Greetings
Rainer
i was thinking of the preacher and leadership team.