leading change in childrens ministry

Leading Change in Children's Ministry: A Healthy Process Yields Long-Term

Benefits

I visited the local Les Schwab Tire dealer this morning to purchase

and mount four brand new tires on my car. In order to achieve optimal

long-term performance for my tires, I chose to have them siped. Siping

is a mechanized process by which each tire receives nearly invisible

90 degree cuts in the tread. For an expert explanation and depiction

of the process you may visit the Les Schwab siping webpage. The

purpose of siping is to achieve improved braking, traction and a

smoother ride, all of which are integral functions of good tires,

hence making siping critical in their performance improvement. It is

also believed to help cool the tires without hurting their structural

integrity. As a result, the four excellent tires I purchased were made

even more optimal for the Oregon climate.

Leading change in children's ministry (indeed in any form of ministry)

is an ongoing process. All ministry organizations, however small or

large, growing or declining or plateaued (plateaued churches are

actually churches at the apex of either an impending decline, or about

to experience a critical intervention which will spark a new curve of

growth), are undergoing continual change. Yet, not all of them are

receiving intentional leadership. If I may be permitted a moment of

metaphor, I would like to compare the siping process to the leadership

task of decision making, specifically in terms of casting vision,

listening to feedback, and solidifying support toward common goals

based on shared generative vision.

Leaders often must help their people make minute adjustments (or to

use mariner terminology, minute course corrections), sometimes

seemingly invisible except by careful inspection, so that the vision

may be carried forward with real impetus. Even as the tires become

more responsive to braking due to improved traction in all kinds of

inclement weather, so also do ministry teams become more responsive to

leaders who competently lead the decision making process which then

improves their performance. Good decisions create traction for ideas

and movements, especially when leaders involve people in the process.

A healthy process provides the cooling effects for the interpersonal

heat that sometimes can surface in conversations. It also enables

ministry teams to perform well even in less than ideal special

circumstances.

Leading change with excellence is like mounting onto a car good tires

which have been properly prepared.