Application of Kotter’s change theory in a Christian Organization Aubrey Malphurs rightly observes that comparing to other periods of time in history, the larger part of the world is bursting with change; accelerated, tremendous transformation. He calls it megachange. As expected, influenced every organization – enterprise, politics, school house and of course the church. This megachange, makes people desperately to look for a secure place to keep changes away; a kind of safe heavenly place where the past will dwell forever. Robert Dale put it in this way: “Change, often viewed as a threat to traditional forms of faith, causes some churches to sprint frantically back into the past in search of security”. . Unfortunately, more churches preferred to choose the path leading to stagnation and slow death rather than to rise up and to reconsider their unique function in the world. Although Kotter’s eight steps approach can be applied to any institutional change, nevertheless it comes from a secular perspective and mind set. Coming to the Church Organization, the real issue every single spiritual leader has to confront is the dilemma of how secular leadership principles can apply to the spiritual leadership field? However, Kotter provides a good insight for dealing with change in the Church Organization. Let’s see what a spiritual leader can do and how Kotter’s theory of change can be applied at the Church Organization level. One important starting point in dealing with a
Turnaround And Beyond consist of eight chapters that are intended to provide the reader with practical insights and principles from men and women who have led their congregations through renewal. Crandall stresses the importance of leadership right from the start. It is implied that a successful renewal is dependent on how well a congregation is led throughout the process. He analyzes principles from the business world, the Bible, and Church
A church whose pastor and others in leadership have failed to put in place a proactive plan for discipleship for Believers is usually a “growing” church — growing stagnant, growing cold, growing spiritually immature Christians, and eventually, many growing closed. Patte said, “There is much at stake in accepting or rejecting the challenge of discipleship…” When a pastor or a church makes a conscious decision to make discipleship of Believers a primary focus in their
The purpose of this paper is to summarize Module 5 of the AOL program, specifically group 226, through the evaluation of a contemporary Christian leader. In this paper I will discuss the contemporary Christian leader I have selected, analyze their effectiveness in business performance, and discuss how they have inspired me. I will also talk about what I have learned from this module that most benefited me. My hope is that through this paper, my readers will have a broadened scope of Christianity in our contemporary world.
The process of leadership requires self-identification of behaviors and reflection on one’s attitude (Bell, 2010). Among the thousands of leadership books in print today, this book is one that takes a different approach to examining leadership from a Christian perspective as well as relating to the process of leadership along with many
In these chapters Banks and Ledbetter draw attention to the raw spiritual, theological, and religious concepts of leadership. Here the authors conduct a case study of a significant author of leadership material, Stephen Covey. It is revealed that many readers are influenced by his Mormon faith without truly understanding or discerning the undertones.[3] This continues with an exploration of other perceived authorities on the topic of leadership. One such study is of Laura Beth Jones, an woman writer with increasing influence as it relates to leadership. Chapter five addresses how to translate practices of leadership into individual context through the use of three basic yet important values: faithfulness, integrity, and a servant-like attitude. Exploration of these three traits is undergirder with discussion of authors such as Robert Greenleaf. He is one of many leaders who brought into popular leadership thinking the idea of ‘servant leadership’.The book closes by offering examples in the form of case-studies. These studies provide deeper insight into the foundational qualities of successful leaders over the span of several years and many different context. This offers the reader a broader view of leadership by showing its success in many different forms and context.
One of the most shocking statistics noted in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman is that if one attends church on a weekly basis, they spend 5 percent at most of their waking hours at church. The other 95 percent are spent out in the world. This illustrates the importance of why this book matters. Sherman starts off by setting the tone for readers – she gives a background as to why she found it necessary that she write this book – and how she read a book by Michael Lindsey in which he discussed research of prominent evangelical business leaders and how their faith impacts their behaviors and decisions at work. A few stood out, while the rest stated they kept a Christian plaque in their office or wore a cross around their neck. They did not fulfill their religious identity in conjunction with their careers. There was a complete disconnect between the two sectors of their lives, and Sherman recognized that. Kingdom Calling is a guidebook for anyone who has ever been concerned about living a divided life – especially for pastors and religious leaders, but for lay people and congregation members as well. In Kingdom Calling, Sherman sets up a three-part framework on how to grow and empower a congregation, a specific group in the church, or a single member.
In addition to structural changes, the Church changed as well. It altered by losing its prestige and power. Due to this, people began to question why the Church could not receive forgiveness (Marks 133). As a result, the authority of the church began to erode and the Church began to weaken (Bill 46). Faith was no more, and the Church was no longer infallible. Some believe this single change was the most vital influence on the future of Europe (Marks 133).
481 years ago change was stirring in the court of King Henry the Eighth and The Roman Catholic Church, this was no ordinary change though this kind of change is the kind that changed religious history.
May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.
In your post you wrote ““It is very tiring and demanding to support change and it requires a leader who is able to confront the precedents and preserve against habits and norm of recognized behaviors. I agree, in my previous workplace, we experienced change so much everytime the nurses saw me coming around they would hide in the patient room. as a manger we would always have a new team huddle or initiative that require taking them away from patient care. Healthcare organizations must develop better strategies for timing of change initiatives. I was pondering where John Kotter framework of change would be on what initiate and what time is best for change. According to Mate and Rakover (2016), state changes should be to ‘eliminate daily hassles,
Religion transmuted rapidly over the years in modern Europe as many key figures spoke out in protest or suggest reform of the system they were acclimated to. This rapid change influenced numerous different parts of life as well. This period in time included not only reformation for religion, but also ordinary life. Change was formed in other areas such as politics, economics, and culture. Political change was greatly affected by religious change in this period.
Over the last forty or fifty years, the church in the United States has gone through a rather large transformation. In many ways, it probably reflects the cultural changes that have taken place and the church’s ability to effectively reach it, and in Who Stole My Church? Gordon MacDonald writes a fictional biography where, as a local pastor of a conservative, evangelical, and Anglo church in New England, he seeks to help the congregation cope and flourish with this change.
A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four
Change happens in all aspects of life. Leaders view change as being good most of the time. An organization can’t move forward without change. This paper will discuss how leaders can use levels of change and the steps of Kotter’s change model to implement change. It will also give a Christian worldview as it pertains to the topics. Leader must learn the language to effectively communicate change. This will give managers an advantage and help demonstrate the vision for the future.
Sadly all this good change had to end and with it went the renaissance. As a result of the renaissance, people wanted answers to religious questions, and so came the reformation. The reformation was a divide in the Catholic Church and protestant groups. The main reason for this split was Christian humanism, whose followers said that the church and society needed changing and to do this you must change the individual. One of the main believers of Christian humanism was Erasmus who criticized the church and the popes for acting like politicians. Erasmus stressed the simplicity of living a simple life and sought to reform the church but not to completely leave it.