The church planted in the suburbs in the 1950 s found it easy to add youth programming and eventually senior adult ministry as the neighborhood gradually aged. The challenge is much greater when the community goes through rapid transition. Yet in seeking to respond to today s challenges, these congregations often use yesterday s mental models. Spiritual and relational vitality has numerous implications for churches. A couple of these are a.
Leadership is a key principle in leading congregational change.
Both individual leaders and, especially, the vision community, must shoulder tremendous responsibilities throughout a transformational journey. Individual leaders, however, must not hoard leadership. Leadership is intended to be shared and to be empowering to other emerging leaders. Creating and nurturing teams of leaders is a crucial challenge for leading congregational change. Change and transition bring inevitable conflict.