Monday, October 24, 2011

Do You Really Want Change?

I was reading a blog this morning by a pastor named Shaun King. He talked about his experiences trying to lead a church through change, and I don't think I can add to his words any better. Here's an expert of what he said (the full post can be read here).

People L.O.V.E to hear about radical change. They just don’t love making it.

Political campaigns based on radical change win. Books written about radical change sell. Sermons on radical change boost Sunday morning attendance. The idea and thought of change is exciting to people, but mistaking that excitement for an actual willingness on behalf of those people to change now or later could be a miscalculation. I found out the hard way.

In March of this year, I announced I was preaching my last sermon series of all-time. For the next 8 weeks, I preached the most radical, game-changing sermon series ever entitled “Disciple.” Our average attendance was its highest ever. Our average offering was the highest ever. Excitement was its highest ever. Man, I was pumped!!

Then, almost literally the day we jumped into change, all types of stuff started falling apart. People left in droves. Scores of people started falling through on leadership commitments they made. Systems starting failing. Attendance was down. Offering was down. Excitement was down.

I had no idea that zero correlation exists between how much people love hearing about change and their actual willingness to make it.


This started me thinking about my own life, especially all the things I keep saying I want to change. Do I really want it... or just like the sound of it... After all, change means work...

T

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