Quotes About Change

Leading effective change in your church without prayer will not work. And it's not very smart either.

Prayer is not an option in leading change in the church; it is foundational. You are not smart enough to lead change. You need to pray for wisdom. You are not brave enough to lead change. You need to pray for courage. You are not strong enough to lead change. You need to pray for strength.

Your role as a change leader has three major components. First, you have to lead the congregation to face reality. Then you have to communicate that reality and the steps needed to move forward again and again. Finally, you must communicate with a sense of urgency.

Vision is critical to lead change. Vision statements are likewise important in the process. But leaders who shape a vision without a foundation of hope are not doing the church any favors. Such is the reason I shared the hope factor first.

The essence of this facet of change leadership is simple and clear: become a voice of hope and provide a clear vision for the church to move forward in a strategic fashion. Change leaders who provide hope and vision are the most successful change leaders.

Do not enter into change leadership lightly. Do not begin the process without concerted prayer. And realize that change is all about people. If you don't deal with people issues in leading change, you will fail. It's just that simple.

If you love change more than you love people, you have already failed as a leader.

Yes, we respect the past. At times we revere the past. But we can't live in the past.

Leaders are first to care for the sheep. They are to love the sheep. They are to serve the sheep. If change is attempted without love, you have failed already.

change leadership involves an ongoing prayer conversation with God to give you love for all the sheep. He will teach you how to love these sheep.

If you are not being criticized, you are not leading. Such is the reality of leadership. Such is the reality of change leadership.

As leaders, we do not want to change people. We want God to change people. And that includes us leaders as well.

Simply stated, your church will not likely be ready for change until it experiences some action steps of an outward focus.

This outward focus prepares the members for change. It gets them looking beyond their own needs to the needs of their community and the world.

Turnaround begins with you. Outward focus begins with you. Revitalization begins with you.

The churches were purposeless. They were engaged in an activity called, "This is the way we've always done it.

Prayerful Commitment 1 God, open my eyes that I might see my church as You see it. Let me see where change needs to take place, even if it is painful to me. And use me, I pray, to be an instrument of that change whatever the cost.

The most pervasive and common thread of our autopsies was that the deceased churches lived for a long time with the past as hero. They held on more tightly with each progressive year. They often clung to things of the past with desperation and fear. And when any internal or external force tried to change the past, they responded with anger and resolution: "We will die before we change.

If given a choice between life and death, most people and leaders choose death if life requires substantive changes.

Members of the dying churches really didn't want growth unless that growth met their preferences and allowed them to remain comfortable.

So, unlike the heroes of Hebrews 11 who held onto nothing of this life, these dying churches held onto everything, at least everything that made them comfortable and happy. Such is the reason we speak of them in the past.

The people in charge, globally, are maniacs. They are maniacs, and unless we do something about it these people are going to deprive us of a future.

If we got into a situation where people start burning our records, then bring it on. That's the whole point. The gloaming has begun. We're in the darkness. This has happened before. Go read some history.

One of the interesting things here is that the people who should be shaping the future are politicians. But the political framework itself is so dead and closed that people look to other sources, like artists, because art and music allow people a certain freedom.