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Leading Congregational Change : A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey
A Leadership Network Publication With this much-needed handbook, the authors brilliantly combine their experience guiding dozens of churches through the change process with both the study of Christian disciplines and the sophisticated understanding of such important business thinkers as John Kotter on leading change and Peter Senge on learning organizations. In this eminently readable book the authors have distilled their insights and practices into simple but powerful concepts for leading congregations, whether long established or recently formed, through profound change.
Leaders using this guide will also be interested in the companion Leading Congregational Change Workbook, which offers assessment questions, planning worksheets, activities, and case examples for each stage of the process.
Leaders using this guide will also be interested in the companion Leading Congregational Change Workbook, which offers assessment questions, planning worksheets, activities, and case examples for each stage of the process.
185 pages, Hardcover
First published February 10, 2000
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83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 7, 2012
Summary
Leading Congregational Change comprises the processed analysis of congregational transformation within the Union Baptist Association (UBA). In the first chapter, the authors relate their experience as part of a team that sought to impact its denominational association by communicating a renewed vision that involved changing denominational structures and priorities. They then share how through that initiative, as well as the inevitable firestorm of conflict that resulted, they developed what they call the “Congregational Transformation Model” found in the book. As stated in this opening chapter, “This book presents the model and principles for congregational transformation that emerged from [the UBA churches’] journey. In sharing the lessons from our experience, we hope to encourage other congregations and to help them navigate their own tumultuous environments.”
Throughout the rest of the book, the authors address the three distinct components of the Congregational Transformation Model. First, in chapter two, they address the component of "Spiritual and Relational Vitality" and it is the imperative stage of entry into change. Here the authors explore the heart of the transformational process – developing a congregation’s unified passion to pursue God’s vision for their lives. Second, the book explores the eight step "Change Process" in chapters three through five. This sequential process, particularly the core stage of developing and communicating the vision and “visionpath” for the church, gives structure and sequence to the journey from the present reality to the future goal.
Finally, the third component of the Congregational Transformation Model represents a set of “Learning Disciplines.” In chapters six through ten, the writing team investigates the four “disciplines” of creative tension, mental models, team learning, and systems thinking. These turn out not so much to be practices as much as principles for creating an environment that develops a congregation committed to change. The book concludes with a chapter encouraging the need for leaders equipped to navigate each of these three concentric phrases.
Strengths
Throughout the book, the authors presented numerous inspirations behind their model. Rather than touting an entirely new theory, process, and tools, the writing team researched current programs and paradigms, integrating them into a system that encouraged congregational transformation. The diverse set of roots, including Henry Blackaby and Claude King's Experiencing God, Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline, John Kotter’s Leading Change, and even attention toward congregations such as Willow Creek and Saddleback, speaks toward the well-rounded nature of the process in this book and inspires confidence in what the authors share.
In addition to the foundations of the material, one of the more refreshing contributions from this work is their repeated emphasis on the leader’s personal transformation and spiritual vitality as part of the necessary groundwork for change. This model does not find its power as merely an agent to change programs or ministries, but in that it first sets out to fortify the hearts and minds of those initiating the change itself. In emphasizing this stage of the process, and indeed every stage, the authors made it clear that this process is not a fast and easy one. They encourage proper attention and time given to each step along the way.
Weaknesses
Although the model presented in the book was developed based upon the experiences of numerous churches, unfortunately there still exists a denominational barrier in the test group that inhibits the principles from being universally supported. Though there did not seem to be much that could not transition over to other churches and denominational structures, it does restrict the application somewhat. Broader buy-in and more opportunity for application could have been reached if the book presented more case studies or detailed illustrations of how different churches interacted with and worked through different stages of the process.
Takeaways
One of the great insights from the book comes through the emphasis on maintaining momentum. Often congregations begin the vision process but stall before completion. The book does a superb job in warning of the coming conflict that will be provoked because of the congregation seeking God's vision. The belief that all members will accept and support the change process once the vision is given is untrue and unsubstantiated. Even changing course toward a godly vision will involve conflict.
In addition, the chapter upon discerning and communicating the vision portrayed extremely well the differences between the mission, vision, and “visionpath.” In clearly delineating between the three, I learned that the communication that goes to the congregation (what is often spoken of generally as “vision”) does not end with one declaration of vision. Instead, leaders must provide a combination of general and specific, long-term and short-term, as they lay out the mission of the church and how to contextualize that mission in their congregations’ present time and place. Overall, of all the books I have read on the subject of congregational change, this one sets the standard.
Leading Congregational Change comprises the processed analysis of congregational transformation within the Union Baptist Association (UBA). In the first chapter, the authors relate their experience as part of a team that sought to impact its denominational association by communicating a renewed vision that involved changing denominational structures and priorities. They then share how through that initiative, as well as the inevitable firestorm of conflict that resulted, they developed what they call the “Congregational Transformation Model” found in the book. As stated in this opening chapter, “This book presents the model and principles for congregational transformation that emerged from [the UBA churches’] journey. In sharing the lessons from our experience, we hope to encourage other congregations and to help them navigate their own tumultuous environments.”
Throughout the rest of the book, the authors address the three distinct components of the Congregational Transformation Model. First, in chapter two, they address the component of "Spiritual and Relational Vitality" and it is the imperative stage of entry into change. Here the authors explore the heart of the transformational process – developing a congregation’s unified passion to pursue God’s vision for their lives. Second, the book explores the eight step "Change Process" in chapters three through five. This sequential process, particularly the core stage of developing and communicating the vision and “visionpath” for the church, gives structure and sequence to the journey from the present reality to the future goal.
Finally, the third component of the Congregational Transformation Model represents a set of “Learning Disciplines.” In chapters six through ten, the writing team investigates the four “disciplines” of creative tension, mental models, team learning, and systems thinking. These turn out not so much to be practices as much as principles for creating an environment that develops a congregation committed to change. The book concludes with a chapter encouraging the need for leaders equipped to navigate each of these three concentric phrases.
Strengths
Throughout the book, the authors presented numerous inspirations behind their model. Rather than touting an entirely new theory, process, and tools, the writing team researched current programs and paradigms, integrating them into a system that encouraged congregational transformation. The diverse set of roots, including Henry Blackaby and Claude King's Experiencing God, Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline, John Kotter’s Leading Change, and even attention toward congregations such as Willow Creek and Saddleback, speaks toward the well-rounded nature of the process in this book and inspires confidence in what the authors share.
In addition to the foundations of the material, one of the more refreshing contributions from this work is their repeated emphasis on the leader’s personal transformation and spiritual vitality as part of the necessary groundwork for change. This model does not find its power as merely an agent to change programs or ministries, but in that it first sets out to fortify the hearts and minds of those initiating the change itself. In emphasizing this stage of the process, and indeed every stage, the authors made it clear that this process is not a fast and easy one. They encourage proper attention and time given to each step along the way.
Weaknesses
Although the model presented in the book was developed based upon the experiences of numerous churches, unfortunately there still exists a denominational barrier in the test group that inhibits the principles from being universally supported. Though there did not seem to be much that could not transition over to other churches and denominational structures, it does restrict the application somewhat. Broader buy-in and more opportunity for application could have been reached if the book presented more case studies or detailed illustrations of how different churches interacted with and worked through different stages of the process.
Takeaways
One of the great insights from the book comes through the emphasis on maintaining momentum. Often congregations begin the vision process but stall before completion. The book does a superb job in warning of the coming conflict that will be provoked because of the congregation seeking God's vision. The belief that all members will accept and support the change process once the vision is given is untrue and unsubstantiated. Even changing course toward a godly vision will involve conflict.
In addition, the chapter upon discerning and communicating the vision portrayed extremely well the differences between the mission, vision, and “visionpath.” In clearly delineating between the three, I learned that the communication that goes to the congregation (what is often spoken of generally as “vision”) does not end with one declaration of vision. Instead, leaders must provide a combination of general and specific, long-term and short-term, as they lay out the mission of the church and how to contextualize that mission in their congregations’ present time and place. Overall, of all the books I have read on the subject of congregational change, this one sets the standard.
February 20, 2025
A lot of wisdom well connected and formulated + supported with real life examples. I will have to re-read it.
January 23, 2015
Jim Herrington, the main author, offers Leading Congregational Change as a guide for congregational transformation based on the findings of Union Baptist Association in and around the Houston area of Texas. This study examines Southern Baptist congregations and their growth via baptism. Herrington hopes to renew the mindset of leaders in the church by encouraging change over holding fast to the ways of the past.
Instead of beginning the book like most Biblically based Christian leadership volumes, Herrington largely skips past the intricate role of the Holy Spirit in transformational congregational change. He dives right into the secular leadership traits and trends that support his broad argument that things have to change.
Rather than taking the approach of working through the cells to change the whole, Herrington believes that change must start in the association. The “paradigm shift” in the first chapter should have referenced the trend that churches are aligning themselves less and less with their denominational association than ever before; Thus, holding to the idea that change can be effective in Southern Baptist churches only when initiated from the Southern Baptist Convention (or the Union Baptist Association) is very outdated and promise-less.
When it comes to the buzzword of “vision,” Herrington begins to unfold his idea of a “vision community,” which he says, “is a diverse group of key members who become a committed and trusting community in order to discern and implement God's vision for the congregation. The vision community should be a part of the change process from beginning to end.” He is essentially saying that vision comes from a group of people, or a committee. Since this book talks about “leading” congregational change, this is an interesting disagreement with most popular works on the topic of vision. Usually, leader-centric writers agree that vision initially—begotten of God—is brought into an organization by the senior pastor. It is then the role of this senior leader to stir about this vision amongst his staff, and eventually the congregation. This is a typical, top-down approach to cultivating a God-given vision. Herrington’s approach takes this away from the congregation’s main leader and divides it up into a group of people. This is odd because it goes against what he said in the beginning of the book about breaking away from the old ways of doing church. He even makes it optional for the pastor to be a part of the vision community, which is outrageous.
In the following chapter, Herrington talks about the vision timeframe. A continuing concern is that he says the timeframe for a vision is 3 to 5 years. Usually, visions last longer than a few years. He must be casually referring to shirt term strategy when mentioning vision.
With the word “alignment,” Herrington is reminiscent of Thom Rainer’s Simple Church, in which both authors talk about moving the pieces (ministries) of a church along the vision. Rather than the ministry shaping the vision, the revolutionary way to think of leading a congregation toward change is to pitch the vision in a way that all of the moving parts of the church as affixing themselves to the shared vision.
Particularly useful in this book is the information on “mental models” or paradigms. Herrington highlights the usefulness of understanding how different people think about how an organization should run. This principle can be found in most every relationship. There are certain expectations that people may have for churches and the leader’s God has brought to run them.
Leading Congregational Change is an attempt at pouring new information into a genre of books that largely cover the gambit of church leadership and change issues well. Overall, Herrington’s book was a very disjointed assembly that began with narrow statistical information that is limited in usefulness for many churches outside the Union Baptist Association. However, there are many repeated strategies of church leadership that have found a less than mainstream application here in this work.
Instead of beginning the book like most Biblically based Christian leadership volumes, Herrington largely skips past the intricate role of the Holy Spirit in transformational congregational change. He dives right into the secular leadership traits and trends that support his broad argument that things have to change.
Rather than taking the approach of working through the cells to change the whole, Herrington believes that change must start in the association. The “paradigm shift” in the first chapter should have referenced the trend that churches are aligning themselves less and less with their denominational association than ever before; Thus, holding to the idea that change can be effective in Southern Baptist churches only when initiated from the Southern Baptist Convention (or the Union Baptist Association) is very outdated and promise-less.
When it comes to the buzzword of “vision,” Herrington begins to unfold his idea of a “vision community,” which he says, “is a diverse group of key members who become a committed and trusting community in order to discern and implement God's vision for the congregation. The vision community should be a part of the change process from beginning to end.” He is essentially saying that vision comes from a group of people, or a committee. Since this book talks about “leading” congregational change, this is an interesting disagreement with most popular works on the topic of vision. Usually, leader-centric writers agree that vision initially—begotten of God—is brought into an organization by the senior pastor. It is then the role of this senior leader to stir about this vision amongst his staff, and eventually the congregation. This is a typical, top-down approach to cultivating a God-given vision. Herrington’s approach takes this away from the congregation’s main leader and divides it up into a group of people. This is odd because it goes against what he said in the beginning of the book about breaking away from the old ways of doing church. He even makes it optional for the pastor to be a part of the vision community, which is outrageous.
In the following chapter, Herrington talks about the vision timeframe. A continuing concern is that he says the timeframe for a vision is 3 to 5 years. Usually, visions last longer than a few years. He must be casually referring to shirt term strategy when mentioning vision.
With the word “alignment,” Herrington is reminiscent of Thom Rainer’s Simple Church, in which both authors talk about moving the pieces (ministries) of a church along the vision. Rather than the ministry shaping the vision, the revolutionary way to think of leading a congregation toward change is to pitch the vision in a way that all of the moving parts of the church as affixing themselves to the shared vision.
Particularly useful in this book is the information on “mental models” or paradigms. Herrington highlights the usefulness of understanding how different people think about how an organization should run. This principle can be found in most every relationship. There are certain expectations that people may have for churches and the leader’s God has brought to run them.
Leading Congregational Change is an attempt at pouring new information into a genre of books that largely cover the gambit of church leadership and change issues well. Overall, Herrington’s book was a very disjointed assembly that began with narrow statistical information that is limited in usefulness for many churches outside the Union Baptist Association. However, there are many repeated strategies of church leadership that have found a less than mainstream application here in this work.
January 21, 2008
Like culture, churches are not static entities. Whether we embrace it, ignore it, or reject it, change happens. Utilizing a three-component model for congregational transformation, Herrington (et al.) emphasizes investing in the spiritual and relational vitality of the church and pastor, guiding the change process itself, and learning the disciplines of the change leader. While far from a predictable science, the art of transformational leadership must utilize creative tension, mental models, team learning, and systems thinking. A thorough and thoughtful presentation, despite less than engaging writing – B+
October 20, 2019
I read this book because it is a required reading for a course that I am taking. In another book by a different author I learned how to join God in what He is doing in our community and how “fixing the Church” has been too long the focus. It isn’t that we should ignore problems but that if we are spending our time praying and discerning what God wants to do and we are focused on following His lead then some of those problems become non-problems. Fixing more often than not involve creating more programs. I find the authors really like terminology a lot and their ideas seem to be formulas for fixing the Church. An example of some problems to resolve would be to have a worship service that attracts the unchurched. Well, I have a problem with this concept for two reasons: Isn’t worship supposed to come from Christians? If it is to attract outsiders then it isn’t for God. Scripture teaches that the Church is for Christians. It is a body ministry with gifts to build up Christians. “If an unbeliever comes in and everyone is talking in tongues, won’t they think you are mad.” The word is IF - not the expected thing!
We are supposed to give them the good news, and when they accept the message of Salvation, making Jesus their Lord then they are encouraged to fellowship with Christians and be disciples.
We are supposed to give them the good news, and when they accept the message of Salvation, making Jesus their Lord then they are encouraged to fellowship with Christians and be disciples.
November 21, 2021
A not-bad primer on leading change. Seems like they mashed up Kotter and Covey, and threw in four "disciplines" at the end as filler - which read like a wikipedia page.
A few worthwhile pages re: vision community and communication.
A few worthwhile pages re: vision community and communication.
December 30, 2024
Don't generally care for leadership books. This one was fine, though.
September 26, 2014
Leading Congregational Change is, according to the authors, a summary of practices leading to large degrees of growth and congregational shift in several churches of the large Union Baptist Association located in and around Houston. The authors served in various capacities in the UBA. The information upon which this book is based is largely anecdotal and was collected in the late 20th Century leading up to the book's publish date in 2000.
One might expect a book outlining strategies for congregational transformation to give substantial space to the mission of the church as articulated in the Gospel as well as to the work the Holy Spirit does in and through believers for the achievement of that mission. Leading Congregational Change does neither.
I made it through 5 of the book's 11 chapters. The introduction promises that the authors will provide principles rather than formulae in order that the book might be useful in a variety of ecclesio-political models. As I made my way through their eight stages (if "stages" sounds formulaic, it is) of change-oriented leadership model, I read much that was based upon Maxwell, Warren, and Hybels--corporate leadership model applied to churches trying to become more seeker-sensitive--but virtually no mention of the Holy Spirit. I kept waiting to find discussion on ecclesiology (if a congregation is in need of change, perhaps it should consider its raison d'être?), or the role of the Holy Spirit in leading the church and outfitting its members to be the body of Christ. I finally flipped to the index to see when these might appear only to discover that the Holy Spirit appears but once--on page 111. Spiritual gifts are not discussed at all, though the Myers-Briggs and the DISC Inventory are (I find these tools very useful, but it seems that gifting belongs in this discussion, perhaps at the point where the authors encourage recruiting and empowering lay leaders).
On the positive side, the authors provide a helpful foundation for congregational change in the first chapter when they talk about the need for spiritual and relational vitality between the leaders and the congregation. If either is lacking, attempts at change will nearly always be disastrous. Though the book is formulaic, it is not without helpful ideas. One such helpful idea is the creation of a "Vision Community" to think through the direction of the church. I say this is helpful because it intentionally involves the congregation (via a representative sampling) in the process of determining direction.
Though the authors claim to be offering principles that apply broadly, the given applications speak only to models prevalent in the late 20th Century Southern Baptist churches. If you embrace seeker sensitive ecclesiology and value the adaptation (or imposition) of corporate leadership model to the church then you will probably appreciate this work. I don't, and therefore I didn't much. It just makes too many assumptions I'm not willing to make.
March 15, 2011
What you see is what you get from the title of this book. The authors offer both principles and a model to journey through the process of leading congregational leaders in bringing about needed healthy changes to both systems, models and practices within a congregation.
Even if you do not follow the specific model for finding a "vision path" that is outlined in this book the principles and the graphics can help you in educating leaders and disciples within the congregation about how to think about change in a more positive light.
The one drawback I found in working through this work is the experience of trying to work through both the book and the workbook. I wish the authors had not focused so much on wanting to sell two different books and instead come up with a combination between the two so I wasn't juggling between the two books.
Even if you do not follow the specific model for finding a "vision path" that is outlined in this book the principles and the graphics can help you in educating leaders and disciples within the congregation about how to think about change in a more positive light.
The one drawback I found in working through this work is the experience of trying to work through both the book and the workbook. I wish the authors had not focused so much on wanting to sell two different books and instead come up with a combination between the two so I wasn't juggling between the two books.
March 13, 2012
This book has opened me mind to a new leadership model that has the potential to be more powerful than the traditional strategies churches continue to pursue. Herrington challenged my thinking and preconceptions. He encouraged me to look at change differently than I had ever considered. I would 100% recommend this book to anyone who is called to a lead a church someday. It will change your perspective and cause you to reconsider how the church reaches the community.
October 19, 2010
This is a dynamic and honest book about the challenges and issues that any leader seeking to bring transformation to a church will face. The book works to bring in a number of great illustrations that help to put flesh on the theory to move it from the classroom to what we see and experience each day. A great read, highly recommended for church leadership.
February 24, 2014
Reading this book was a task. The information was good and I think it will be helpful, but for some reason it seemed like a major investment of time and effort for a 160 page book. It was thought-provoking, but really fairly dry. I think it could have been much less technical and still delivered the message clearly.
July 14, 2008
Although the name sounds boring as can be, I found the book fascinating. Changing the ideas of what church is to match today's ever-changing culture.
June 28, 2009
A good, practical guide for churches’ strategic planning or long range planning processes.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews