'Change' and the mysterious ghettoes

As someone entrusted with a completely ‘blank canvas’ and a vast spectrum of coloured paints it is all too easy to forget that for the vast majority of our friends engaged in church leadership navigating change while plotting a way forward is a constant, hazardous challenge that looms large. Unfortunately however costly, it seems unavoidable.

While it is undoubtedly true that ‘not all change is improvement, without change there can be no improvement’ (Developing The Leader Within You. Maxwell, 1993:73). It is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are. Jesus told Nicodemus the same thing (John 3:3). It may well be difficult to take, perilous to conduct and uncertain in its success, but change is an imperative of life not an optional extra. Indeed those reluctant to change would do well to heed George Carey’s caveat that ‘to live is to change, and a changing church is a sign of life within. The church that does not adapt is sentenced to be a mysterious ghetto existing on the fringe of society contributing nothing to its life’ (Leadership For New Life. Pytches, 1998:122).

Perhaps the key to successfully implementing change and avoiding Carey’s ‘mysterious ghettoes’ is to realize that within any organization, church or movement there are different types and groups of people who respond to change differently. Given The Salvation Army’s unwritten ‘doctrine of adaptation’ it would appear that the propensity for many to resist change is a reality we must acknowledge and address. Yet while resistance to change is common it is certainly not universal – people do not always resist change. For some, change is to be welcomed as it represents possible opportunity yet for others it is a threat that represents potential loss. If, as Robert Warren urges, ‘we can understand what those differences are, then we can facilitate, rather than frustrate, the changes we are seeking to implement’ (Being Human, Being Church: Spirituality and Mission
in the local church Warren, 1995:197).