Bungee Cord Leadership: Leveraging Tension to Lead a Church Through Change

Leading a church through change is hard. I try to imagine that there’s a bungee cord or rubber band connecting us. If I’m not asking for enough change, the band stays limp and there’s nothing to pull people. This produces passivity and ineffectiveness. But if I get out too far ahead of them, it can snap. This produces directionless churches and lonely, frustrated leaders. They key is tension. Leaders need to keep just the right amount to pull people forward, without allowing the cord between them to break. Staying in the zone between too little and too much tension is one of the most challenging tasks a leader faces.

June 17, 2016

by Karl Vaters

In the 23-plus years I’ve been serving at Cornerstone, I’ve learned one principle that has helped keep everyone, including me, open to necessary changes without feeling overwhelmed by them.

Here’s how it goes: I try to imagine that there’s a bungee cord or rubber band connecting us. If I’m not asking for enough change, the band stays limp and there’s nothing to pull people. This produces passivity and ineffectiveness.

But if I get out too far ahead of them, it can snap. This produces directionless churches and lonely, frustrated leaders.

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.

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