The Process of Organizational Change

Yesterday was my final presentation concerning outreach and evangelism in our postmodern world.  In the past ten weeks in eight talks, we have explored the nature of our culture, the nature of church culture, and how to bridge the gap between the two.  If you are interested in downloading this talks, please go to our church website www.seattlecrc.org and look at the evening service sermons.  The sermon part of this site is not the easiest to navigate, but you can find the lectures and my lecture notes under each message title.

Anyway, through the lectures we have seen that the gap between our two sets of cultures is often more of a gulf/canyon/divide than a mere gap.  I believe the divide was clearly illustrated through the very strange and convoluted election results from last week.  We are living in a post-modern culture where one's beliefs (lets say about Obamacare or the economy) did not translate into voting.  As a culture, we feel free to hold a private belief about something and yet vote the opposite because of our desire for "fairness."  In fact, in Washington state, we approved both homosexual marriage and the use of pot for recreational use in the name of tolerance and freedom while overwhelmingly voting for larger and more intrusive government on every level.  Post-modernism does give interesting contradictions!  

So what do we do with this culture?  Is there cause for despair?

No.  No.  No.  Throughout these talks, I declared that effective evangelism is more than possible in our culture because today's western culture closely resembles the thoughts and tensions of the decaying first century Greco/Roman culture in which Paul effectively ministered.  I firmly believe that we are ripe for revival because the cognitive-dissonance between what we know at a heart level and what we do leaves us searching and empty.  Jesus is the only thing that can fill that need.  We merely need to communicate the gospel in a manner that the lost and searching can hear (even if they do not know they are lost and searching!).

Aw.  Here is the rub!  How do we do this?

I have posted many times in the past few months concerning this subject.  I firmly believe the full-orbed understanding of the gospel is needed.  It is the answer to every question.  Unfortunately, it is also not known or believed in and by many professing believers today.  Equally sad is the reality that many of our churches are not marked by gospel- and grace-centered outreach, but by 1950s or 1980s cultural markers that shield the true gospel from view.

How can we change these cultural trappings to allow the gospel to be seen?  It is a process!  Working in an established church is like riding a glacier.  Movement and change is often slow, almost imperceptible, but constant.  The goal is to help get the glacier moving in a certain direction.

Even this task is difficult.  There almost always is resistance to any movement within the church.  Even if we see that we need to change, we resist it.  Why?

The following is a chart concerning organizational change that was first proposed in 1964.  I have found it extremely helpful in diagnosing the difficulties and dealing with the process of change in the church.

Everett Rogers, The Diffusion of Innovations

Rogers argues that in the process of change, people adopt the change at different times and speeds.  The innovators are 2% of the people, but they come up with the ideas.  The early adopters are risk-takers who are often decisive folks who make up 18% of the folks.  When they hear the new ideas, they see the benefits and they jump on-board.  The ideal is to have these people in leadership!  

The early and late majority compose 60% of the people.  Some move quicker than others.  The early majority has ears for the opinions and thoughts of the early adopters.  They will change when given good reasons.  The late majority is marked by a willingness to listen to the complaints and objections of the laggards, who also make up 20% of an organization.  These late majority folks have to have these objections answered, but they are willing to go with the flow if the ideas appear to "work."

Meanwhile, the laggards are not bad or evil folks.  They just do not like change!  They will often have clear and solid questions about innovations.  As the organization moves through the stages of change, these objections must be answered to secure the late majority and hopefully some of the laggards.  It should be obvious, but some laggards will never adopt to innovations. 

What does all this mean?

The key to successful change within a church is getting 80% of the folks on board while praying that some of the laggards come along for the ride!

The reality?  Most churches listen to the laggards instead of the innovators or early adopters.  Desiring "consensus" they never move past the objections of those who are marked by a high propensity to resist change.  

In fact, many churches are lead by boards or councils composed to those who strongly resist change and new ideas on the basis of their protection of "the way things should be" which is code for the way things are.

The world is changing.  Our message is not.  Our means of communicating the counter-cultural message of the gospel is adaptable, though we always must be careful not to change our message of the gospel through our means of communication.

We have an increasingly lost and searching world at our doorstep.  Will we answer their calls for help, meaning, and solid truth?