The growth of the Kingdom of God involves constant change, by definition. A church that wants to be in exactly the same place in 10 years time is extremely complacent. It will atrophy. Leaders the the people who mainly expect to receive and shape God-given vision and direction for where the church and its mission should be in the future.

However all churches tend towards liking stability and predictability in their organisational life. Change is the biggest threat to the security. Therefore being able to lead through change is critical to church and kingdom growth.

I can think of 7 reasons why change might be necessary in a church:

1. Some area of church life, activity or witness is not as good as it could be. Some things may need to stop to allow the capacity to develop new ones

2. The church has distanced itself from the present. Any church that deals with the realities of its surrounding culture by withdrawal or avoidance is doomed to never speak the gospel to that culture. Far too many churches in the UK have decided that their ideal era is some time before the present. Every year that passes makes them a year more out of touch

3. The church has a wrong view of itself. For example they have become the inward looking pastoral community rather than a biblically outward looking missional community

4. Problems arise that need fresh solutions

5. A church becomes structurally set up to run favourite activities rather than to facilitate all the believers in living out gospel vision

6. Comfort has replaced kingdom growth. The church has become satisfied with the unchanging status quo

7. Error has arisen in some area of teaching or doctrine that needs to be corrected

Whether a church develops for future gospel extension or concretises itself in the past will largely be decided by whether leaders are allowed to lead for change, and how they lead for change. This is what I want to explore in this series of posts