Yet, changes, i.e., life transitions, are the most powerful times for high impact ministry. When we as pastors and ministers are the incarnate presence of Christ at the occasion of a birth, a marriage, a death, or at any of the other significant event that marks a change in the family status, we do our most effective ministry. Change is inevitable, yet we tend to resist it, resent it, deny it, or try to ignore it. Unfortunately, this is a mistake. No wonder that during major changes in ministerial staff or changes in worship service, new building programs, etc. create a time of disharmony and discord in the church.
Members leave or sulk or complain.
Undo attention is focused on the mechanics of change and the power changes rather the vision that God has for the body. The failure to identify and be ready for ending and losses that change produces is the largest single problem that organizations in transition encounter. Yet, this need not be the case if transition is better understood. The keys are to understand the sequence of the components of healthy transition. The ending of the old.