It’s one of the toughest tasks in pastoral ministry. Leading an existing church through a turnaround from unhealthy to healthy.
But it’s even harder when we’re trying to do so without understanding some basic principles needed for a successful turnaround to take place.
Here are four common, fundamental principles that are regularly ignored or unknown by pastors trying to turn a church around.
1. When a church gets turned around it will be heading in a different direction
Why do we use the word “turnaround” if we don’t want anything to change?
Many pastors say “I want to help turn this church around”, when what they really mean is “I want this church to get bigger.” Those are two different goals. If you want a bigger church, there are plenty of resources that will give you those principles, but know this…
Bigger is not a turnaround. It’s just more.
Sometimes numbers are the least important factor in determining a church’s health. They can even be a false proxy that deceives us into thinking we have health when we don’t, and vice versa.
We need to be ready for things to change. That’s what “turnaround” means, after all. If you and the church are not ready for change – for a lot of changes, actually – you’re not ready for a turnaround.
2. A turnaround means more than surface, stylistic changes
Yes, when a church gets turned around from unhealthy to healthy, it may mean changing your order of service, your music, your clothing style and other facets of your church’s culture. If you want a real turnaround, everything outside the core biblical principles needs to be up for grabs.
But singing Chris Tomlin songs to guitar and drums, instead of Charles Wesley hymns to organ and piano is not a turnaround. No matter how spiky the worship leader’s hair is.
Turnaround happens in the middle ground of attitudes, methods and systems. It’s deeper than a new church logo, but it should re-affirm, rather than challenge eternal biblical principles. More about this in a future post.
3. Turnaround doesn’t start with what we add, but by what we remove
When we did a multi-year turnaround at the church I now lead, we stripped everything back to almost nothing before we started adding things.
Here’s why.
It’s easier to see your real needs when you have nothing. When the calendar is filled with events we’ve gotten used to, it’s harder to know if they’re really necessary.
But be very careful here. We didn’t just start chopping things off because “the pastor wants to change things”. That’s dangerous.
Instead, we won the long-term battle of attrition. We removed events and activities one-by-one, and only when it was obvious to (almost) everyone that they were no longer working. It was like a company reducing its staff by not replacing retirees, instead of by layoffs.
After we “retired” an event or an idea, we didn’t rush to replace it. We waited a while. In some cases, we came to realize we didn’t need anything at all. Less was more. But even when we decided we did need something to replace it, we still didn’t add anything new unless and until we knew for sure we had something that was both better and sustainable.
4. A turnaround church needs a turned-around pastor
Is it cynical to say that most pastors really don’t want to turn their church around? What most of us want is a bigger church.
The main turnaround that has to take place is in the heart of the pastor. If it’s just about pastoring a bigger church, you might as well walk away now. No one ever built a great church just by trying to build a bigger one. Yes there are some that grew healthy and big at the same time, but ask yourself this hard question…
If you had to choose between pastoring a healthy Small Church that you knew would stay small, or pastoring an unhealthy big church, what would you choose?
Healthy is better than bigger. Turnaround starts here.
No pastor is ready to implement a true, lasting church turnaround without acknowledging this one simple fact. Bigger isn’t better, it’s just more. And there’s no sense having more of something unless it’s better.
And no, this isn’t some bait-and-switch where I tell you, “get the church healthy without worrying about growth, then when it is healthy it will grow like crazy!” The truth is, the reason pastors need to be OK with pastoring a healthy Small Church is because that’s what 90% of us will end up pastoring for most of our ministry.
There is no promise of growth, even for a healthy church.
Health is not a means to an end. It is the means and the end.
That attitude starts with us, pastors. It starts with us.
So what do you think? If you’re a pastor, are there any attitudes that may need to be turned around in you, to allow for a turnaround in your congregation?
We want to hear from you. Yes, you!
Enter your comment right below this post and get in on the conversation.
(Turnaround G photo from Mattcameasarat • Flickr • Creative Commons license)
