Reflection on Change - Part II
By Jeff Bills

Last week, I wrote about four motivations for change - pain, love of chaos, epiphany, and Holy Spirit promptings. This week, I want to share some reflections on how people respond to change and the impact that can have on community life.

The first major change that I had to lead HOPE Church through was moving our Sunday worship services from the Signal Hill Elementary school cafeteria (not much bigger than our Activity Center) to the 1,500-seat auditorium at Eastern High school. I assembled a team of opinion leaders to explore the rationale for the move and to examine all positives and negatives of a move. Other than adding a second service in order to stay at Signal Hill, the team agreed a different venue was needed. We then began to share the vision for this move with the congregation. Their reactions taught me a great deal about how people respond to change, as well as the role leadership plays in helping people understand and adapt to change.

One reaction to the idea of moving, was to immediately embrace the move and to see all of the benefits in so doing. These “early adopters” did not focus on the challenges, but on the opportunities and advantages of the move.

Others reacted with a “tell me more” response. These folks understood that this change would be significant and before they got on board, they needed more information. After addressing their concerns, they embraced the move.

Another group of people took a “wait and see” approach. They were non-committal on the whole idea and said they could neither support nor reject the proposal. They would simply see how it went and then decide if they would remain involved with HOPE. Exactly how many chose to leave after we settled into the high school, I cannot say.

Lastly, there was a very small group that flatly said if worship services moved to the high school, they would no longer attend.

I have learned that with any change, these same basic responses will emerge. There will be the early adopters, there will be those who embrace change, but need some time to process it in their own minds as well as in conversation with others; there will be those who stand back to see how the change plays out before committing; and finally, there will be those who will simply not accept the change no matter what the circumstance. I have seen this play out in changes as significant as approving a multi-million dollar building project to as small as the design of the worship bulletin.

When it comes to making a change here at HOPE, the first question to consider is “will the change be consistent with our vision?” and secondly “will it create greater opportunity to realize our vision?” If the answer to both questions is “yes,” then it is the responsibility of leadership to convey as clearly as possible the “who, what, why, where, when and how” of the change to all who will be affected. In our history, we’ve experienced the most push back concerning change when we’ve failed to communicate adequately.

On the flip side, it is the responsibility of those affected by change to process their thoughts, feelings, and questions in ways that are productive and relationally mature. Asking questions, stating opinions, and voicing concerns can all add value to the process. On the other hand, gossip, personal attacks, and placing personal preference over vision achievement do damage to community.

HOPE Church has been enormously successful in keeping pace with the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We have navigated through change with faith and a commitment to maintaining a healthy community life. I am grateful that Spirit continues today.

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