The Christian faith centers around change and the
introduction of new things: the new birth, a new beginning, a
new song, a new commandment, a new covenant, a new life, a new
creation of God at salvation, and walk in newness of life.
Growing to Christian maturity requires that one make change.
Many changes in the church produce conflict. If a church
grows, then changes will come; and with those changes come
conflict. Changes in the music in worship are probably the
most significant changes today. Even a change in the order
of worship can produce problems. Other changes that occur
often in churches, and cause conflict, are: changing a
position from volunteer to paid position, changes in room
assignments, and changes in
policy and procedures.
Careful planning for change can reduce the conflict.
One
of the most important things to consider with change is to
go slowly. A person in a new situation may consider
not making any major changes in their first year.
Change
is a new condition brought about by adding to, subtracting
from, or replacing an existing condition. Change is a
regular part of any growing organization. Many plans that
are made will cause changes to occur. The planned change may
be a minor one, such as altering a written policy, or a
major one, such as the relocation of the church facilities
or merging with another congregation. As plans are made that
produce change, some effort should be exerted on planning to
make the change with as smooth a transition as possible. The
study of planning for change involves studying how change is
created, implemented, evaluated, maintained, and
resisted. Producing change involves three things:
unfreezing, changing, and refreezing.
Change cannot be
avoided; the only decision leaders have is how to respond to
the change. Change is often considered a negative factor,
but change itself is a value free term. Change is considered
positive when used with growth, development, improvement,
training, education, counseling, consulting, and some other
situations. The value comes from the goal of change and the
way it is viewed. Change can be personal, or organizational,
or social. The goal of change is to create a new condition,
which is self-maintaining. There are basically two types of
change: those I am for and those I am against. Those I am
for are generally internally motivated. Those I am against
are generally externally motivated.
Four kinds of
change:
1. Change of structure – has to do with
the changing of the organizational chart, the shuffling of
positions or personnel, and the reworking of the
organization itself.
2. Change of technology – such as
the introduction of electronic processes (e.g., e-mail, the
internet, telemarketing, etc.)
3. Change of behavior in
persons
4. Change of assumptions and values – the causes
of behavior – are the hardest kind of change. To produce
this fourth kind of change, the leader must have an
understanding of why people behave as they do.
Kurt Lewin
(1890–1947) developed a theory of change that had life being
lived in a dynamic equilibrium between sets of opposing
forces; the forces were for and against change. The
equilibrium in the middle is the status quo, and includes
such things as beliefs, attitudes, values, habits,
relationships, roles, norms, social structures, policies,
laws, and other things. Using this theory, one would want to
make a list of forces for and against a change to understand
what would be necessary for the change to be made. Any
change will disturb the emotional equilibrium, which exists
between a person and his environment. It is also obvious
that change will usually benefit some and hurt others. If a
change is made, the persons opposing it will feel hurt. If
the change is not made the ones for it will feel hurt.
