what to do if the church/ministry your lead is in DECLINE...

CHANGE...there is the answer. Do you want to hear it again? What do you do if the church/ministry/business/non-profit you lead is decline is, CHANGE. Change has to happen for any organization that wants to grow or continue growth. Change is hard but it leads to growth (spiritual, financial, numerical, insert what you measure or care about). You can either change and experience growing pains that come with growth or you can run from change and experience the pain of decline and lost momentum. This year we added a third service at GCC and moved to service times of 830, 10, and 1130! Wow, that sure is fun...NOT. It has been a big change for us, added work, more volunteer needs, and we made families have to choose when they would serve and worship. After 4 months I can say that this CHANGE has been totally worth it because it enabled us to continue to serve our community and make room for the people who have not found Christ yet. That is a big deal. The service time change and the growing pains of it are totally worth it in comparison for the decline that comes from having no room for new people to discover our church. What keeps churches/nonprofits/ministries/businesses from making the changes needed to get HEALTHY. It is one word and one emotion and that is FEAR.

• fear of what MIGHT happen
• fear of what our family will think
• fear because it "has never been done like that"
• fear of the current leadership
• fear of failure
• fear of success
  
• fear of making someone mad
• fear of getting fired
  

What are you afraid of? Why are you not fighting for change? What is holding you back? Do you think you are actually helping the people you lead/serve by allowing them to stay in DECLINE MODE and not fighting for change?

If your church/ministry is not changing it is probably declining. Organizations that refuse change will die and some churches/ministries do need to die so new life can begin. There is hope. Have the courage to begin to ask God what needs to change where you are at and with courage, faith, and humility start fighting for that. Change might just be what brings a new beginning.