LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
A New Model for Leading Change
CLED 700
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Ministry Department of Christian Leadership and Church Ministries
By
Henry Edwin Shikuku
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
A New Model for Leading Change
Practicing innovative leadership is a necessity for all who care deeply about the faithful and
fruitful stewardship of your congregation’s mission. Maintaining “what is” is never sufficient,
and the more the church and community are changing, the more attuned leaders must be to
those changes and their implications for the church. Matt Miofsky and Jason Byassee captured
the challenge well in Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches when they wrote, “In our
churches, we often overestimate the cost of trying something new and underestimate the cost
of doing nothing.” Three leadership imperatives
Your attention must be focused on three things as you plan your own priorities and work
with congregational leaders and staff to set congregational priorities:
the basics on which all else depends
the sustaining efforts most critical to the organization’s ongoing mission and fruitfulness
the efforts for innovation most critical for the church’s next faithful step
Choosing key change priorities
In addition to caring for the basics and practicing good management to improve what you
are already doing well, vital congregations identify a few initiatives that can take the church
into a new chapter in its history. We suggest that the following criteria are useful in identifying
priorities:
Potential: What difference will it make?
Fit: How will it align with our identity and values?
Reach: How will it help us reach unserved or underserved people?
Readiness: Is the issue “ripe” enough to engage, or can we “ripen” the issue?
Think of looking into a kaleidoscope. Each of the four criteria represents a different turn of
the eyepiece. The elements inside the kaleidoscope stay the same, but you see a new image
with each turn. Each criterion gives you a chance to see fresh possibilities. Once the priority is
determined, you are ready for the next steps.
Determining what God is calling you to do
Leadership for something you are not currently doing or not doing well is different from
making incremental management improvements — making changes you identify through your
experience. Efforts you are not doing or not doing well require new construction, not
renovation. You first must decide what change you believe God is calling the congregation to
make.
Farmers do not know what to do until they decide what crops they hope to harvest.
Builders cannot begin until the nature of the structure is determined. So it is with the most
spiritual of ministry endeavors. You must determine what fruit you hope God will provide from
the harvest of your efforts.
Exploring what you need to learn
Next is learning — and resisting the temptation to begin doing things. You don’t know
enough to do things yet. Remember, Ronald Heifetz says an “adaptive challenge” is one that
requires you to learn before you can act.
As you learn, you will continue to confirm or revise your ultimate outcome, even as you
begin to think of initial steps that will help you test out the assumptions behind your thinking as
well as other critical aspects of the effort. Each of the initial steps leads to evaluation, learning,
and subsequent next steps based on what you have discovered. With each step, you are
growing wiser and more focused on what you still need to learn. Some of your ideas may fall
away as a result of your testing, but others will arise. Those working as a team should gain
energy and confidence from their growing knowledge and experience.
The need for new knowledge and skills
The decline of participation in mainline and other congregations is not news. Mainline
denominations have been working to reverse negative trends for years. We believe change
requires a new way of thinking. The knowledge and skills a pastor needed in past decades are
not irrelevant, but now they have to expand. The new competency requires sustaining and
innovating leadership practiced well and at the same time.
Wise leaders consider how much time and effort they put into sustaining leadership —
building on the strengths of the congregation and minimizing its weaknesses. They also
recognize that they cannot rely on sustaining leadership alone to help God’s people take the
next faithful step, given new and ever-changing cultural and social contexts. They also need to
practice innovative leadership. This both/and approach requires new knowledge and new skills.
