Table of Contents

How Do You Know If You Are Ready for Redevelopment?

by Jim Caprell

Reversing Unwelcoming Welcome Habits

by Peter W. Marty

Renewing a Mainline Congregation Requires More Than Praise Music and Small Groups

by R. Robert Cueni

How to Address the Stress Points in Turnaround Churches

by William M. Easum

Revitalizing the Rural (or Anywhere!) Church

by James A. Shelly

So Tell Me...Interviews with Faithful, Effective, and Innovative Leaders:  Featuring Ron Martoia

by Norman Jameson

Turnaround Congregations Moving from Decline to Health, Growth, Renewed Mission

by Marta Poling-Goldenne

Building the Human Resources Team

by Thomas G. Bandy

The Church That's Continually Opening New Doors

by Dale E. Galloway

Coaching Corner

by William M. Easum

Easum, author of several widely acclaimed books on church leadership, including Growing  Spiritual Redwoods, Leadership on the Other Side, and Unfreezing Moves, is Senior Managing Partner of Easum, Bandy and Associates, Port Aransas, Texas.  His insights are used in many denominations across Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.           

An interesting trend has emerged in recent years. More and more pastors and judicatories are attempting to transition the churches under their care from dying to thriving. We began to notice this four years ago on one of our online forums. I asked one group what church leaders needed most from our organization. The overwhelming response: “We need help turning our churches around.” So we added a “Turn Around Seminar” to our offerings the next year, and it filled up in one week. We continued to offer these seminars. Pastors and judicatories from many denominations ask us, “Can you help us transition some of our dying churches?”

One would think that the majority of parishioners would welcome such a chance to turn their church from dying to thriving, but not so. The more the pastors try to transition a church, the more hostility they experience from their church leaders and often from the denomination. Many such pastors find themselves in serious trouble or even lose their pulpits. An odd situation, considering Christianity’s foundation of repentance, change, and transition.

Growing signs of stress among pastors accompany this growing awareness of the need for transition. More and more pastors begin looking forward, early in their careers, to retirement. Many actually retire earlier than ever before. Many drop out of pastoral ministry. Many bypass established denominations and plant independent churches. Too many pastors simply give up and live with congregational death all around them, as if no hope of transition existed. And worst of all, clergy addiction of one kind or another appears to be at an all-time high.

It might be helpful to examine where stress points appear most often in transitional ministries and what pastors can do to reduce the stress. If you find yourself thinking about trying to transition your church or if you are in the midst of transition, read on.

What to Do about Stress Points

Pastors and their spouses often face major stress when one or more of the following situations happen.

1. When controllers are pressured to leave office. We have seen very few turnarounds take place without replacing most of the present leaders. It is usually unwise to think that the same people who got the church into its current mess can lead it out of the mess. The number one lesson I have learned in these Turn Around Seminars is to encourage the pastor to gather and nurture a team of called, gifted, and equipped laity before beginning the turnaround. Only when the group appears biblically and spiritually mature enough should the pastor begin to prayerfully and lovingly replace the leaders. Often this process takes up to a year.

2. When making the attempt either to change an existing worship service or begin an additional worship service. We know from experience that the easiest way to turn around a church is to begin a new worship service designed in a way that today’s person can hear the gospel. However, if the leaders have no clue about the essential mission of God’s church or if they prefer for the church to remain a cozy little club or family chapel, conflict erupts. If the new service succeeds, the conflict often gets worse. Turnaround pastors commonly hear these negative responses: “But we won’t know everyone anymore” or “That kind of music doesn’t belong in the church.” These are unhealthy responses. How much better to grow healthy leaders who understand the biblical mission before trying to transition the church! The goal? To develop people who ask, “Does everyone in our area know God?” instead of “Do we know everyone?” and “Will that kind of music help people worship God?” instead of “That’s not our kind of music.” One more thing . . . Add a new worship service instead of trying to change or blend an existing one.

3. When the pastor begins breaking the personal-chaplain mold and begins trying to be a leader. Such action always results in a shift in emphasis: The “clergy equip the laity to do the ministry” rather than the “laity run the church and clergy do the ministry.” Of all the trends underway today, this is THE Biggie. We see very few churches turning around where the paid staff does most or all of the ministry. This transition also takes a lot of time. One of the best cures for opposition to lay ministry occurs when lay people begin to experience the joy of doing ministry themselves, as well as being ministered to by equipped laity. The key: Go slowly, and seriously equip the laity for ministry. Begin the process by training new people to expect laity to minister to them instead of the paid staff’s tending to their every need. Next, begin to ask, “Who among our members will accept ministry from the hands of laity?” Let the laity minister to them while the pastor and/or staff continue to minister to those who expect you to play “pastor fetch.” When this transition begins, the pastor will have to do most of the ministering to people. Over time, the majority of the church will welcome being ministered to by laity.

4. When the transition begins to cost money. Most dying churches have money in the bank that they’ve saved for a rainy day. However, no one seems to recognize the Ark passing by each day. Younger leaders have to remember that most often, older members’ experiences during the Depression and World War II fuel this passion to save money. Such passion, though misdirected, is still understandable. We have learned that leaders in churches with fewer than 125 in worship need to look for ways to implement the transition with as little cost as possible. We turned around the church I pastored for twenty-four years without spending a dime. Often, this size of church can grow simply because the pastor spends as much time as possible out of the office and away from the flock without losing the pulpit. It is possible for a pastor single-handedly and within one year to bring fifty people into a small church (one located in a populated area). Such a number of additions in a small church can change the makeup of the entire church.

5. When a desire for high commitment begins to encroach upon the entitlements usually afforded to longtime members. We know that the higher the standards placed on church leaders, the healthier the church becomes. However, making this shift causes conflict. Longtime members who feel entitled to all of the benefits of membership become upset when encouraged to act like servants who exist on behalf of the non-Christian people around them. This conflict often surfaces when leaders try to rearrange the way the church spends money, targeting more of it toward non-Christians; or when paid staff begin devoting more time to non-Christians than to members; or when members are asked to park farther from the church to make room for visitors; or when some higher standards are applied to membership and leadership. Church leaders often find that they have to “grandfather” the longtime members and apply the new standards only to the new people coming into the church, at least at first.

6. When new leaders make mistakes trying to implement the innovations. The opposition uses the mistakes as an excuse to say, “I told you so,” and begins to stir up the conflict even further. The best way to deal with this stress: Admit and celebrate the mistakes as a great time for learning, instead of trying to justify the failed action.

7. When churches with paid staff find that before the turnaround can happen, they must replace some long-term paid staff. The staff that most often have to be replaced are the longtime secretaries who refuse to use 21st century technology or who use their position to slow down the transition; the choir directors who try to sabotage the new worship service; or the part-time financial secretaries who tell less than the truth about the church’s financial health, hoping that bad news will discourage people from starting new ministries.

Tips For Turnaround Pastors

Keep your own faith strong. Take time for regular Bible study and prayer each day. Get away from the church on a regular basis so that you have space to dream and ponder and be filled with wonder once again. Keep in mind that congregations are seldom healthier than their spiritual leaders.

Embody servanthood in everything that you do before beginning the turnaround. Everything you do needs to scream servanthood.

Keep in mind that turning a church around usually involves spiritual warfare, not just differing opinions. Sometimes evil is the opposition. Most pastors do not understand this. Being naive about the guerilla tactics of dysfunctional leaders has caused many pastors to lose their pulpits.

Be prepared for conflict. Never take opposition personally. You don’t have this luxury. You must be the spiritual leader of the church even in the midst of conflict. If you respond personally, you raise the level of conflict beyond the ability to overcome. Instead, you must pray for the opposition. Learn from those opposing you, but do not let them set the course for the church if you are convinced the church must change or die.

Realize that the higher your spiritual gift of mercy, the more difficult the turnaround will be for you. Turnaround pastors are often called on to choose the mission over the interests or desires of individuals, even those close to them. People with high mercy gifts find this decision hard to make. They also tend to take things more personally than they can afford to and survive the turnaround. So if your mercy gift is high, consider the costs. Then if you decide to proceed, surround yourself with people with low mercy gifts.

Keep your focus on developing spiritual giants instead of developing new programs or worship services. Focus on growing people, not the church.

Make sure you are secure enough not to worry about job security or feeding your family. Another way to say it: If you’re convinced a turnaround is what God wants you to do, then if you lose your pulpit, have confidence that God will open up another place for you to serve.

Make sure you are in the turnaround for the long haul and aren’t going to jump ship at the first sign of mutiny. To do so destroys the hope of those who want change and increases the power of those who don’t want change.

Prepare your new key leaders by not over-promising and under-preparing. Leaders need to know what to expect before committing to the turnaround. They should never be surprised.

Plan one or two quick victories, especially in the really small church. People need to have something to celebrate in the early part of the actual transition.

After all of this, the best advice is to “Follow the passion of your call.” If you feel transition is what needs to occur, start it. If you’re not sure, or if you consider it only because so many of your colleagues are doing it, forget it.

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