Guide for Assessing Congregational Readiness
You’re in the room. The first step toward transformation in the local church is happening because they’re willing to have the conversation. Regardless of how you got there or what desperate point they had to reach to agree to a meeting, finally, you’re in the room. This church has been spinning its wheels for several years, and now it appears they are open to change. . You’ve asked all the right questions, diagnosed the core issues for dialogue, and mined out the opportunities before them.
Fast forward ninety minutes. Tension has risen in the room. Openness has turned to resistance. Looking forward has turned to looking back. The back of your shirt is soaking wet, and you’re wondering where it all went wrong. They invited you to consider options for the future, right? They asked you to converse with them about steps they could take to reach their community, correct? You’re walking across the parking lot discouraged, scratching your head, and wondering if the window for change has just been closed.
You thought they were ready for change. What went wrong? As you drive home you wonder how a meeting that had so much potential turned into what felt like a dumpster fire?
Four Words: They were not ready.
While the leadership team, the board, and/or the pastor may desire to see a significant spiritual shift in the direction of the church, most congregations/leaders are not in a position of readiness to receive those changes. Put another way, they may want change in their head, but they don’t wish to change in their hearts.
Before any congregation can consider their next step into a more vibrant future, we must first assess their level of readiness for innovation to step into that future. Readiness assessment provides you with the necessary indicators to determine what level of change the congregation is ready to navigate-incremental, sustaining, disruptive, or radical.
Most congregations, regardless of health, can handle incremental changes–the type of changes that do not rattle the status quo but add variety to what takes place in their congregational format—for example, adjusting the flow of the Sunday morning worship once a month to move people out of the flow of their routine. If a pastor were to leverage an incremental approach to change, they could successfully shift the dynamics of something in the church over twelve months without too much trouble. However, given circumstances in the church, incremental change may not be substantial enough to restore the church to a vibrant future in a given timeframe.
Sustaining change is the next level up in the degree of adjustment for a congregation–it’s the type of change that leads to significant transitions but ensures that the church’s core identity remains the same. An example of sustaining change is to move from a full-time staff model of ministry to a co-vocational model of ministry where secondary and tertiary positions are paid as part-time but are focused on their niche role. This type of change allows ministry monies to increase and keeps the overhead of the church down–this allows the congregation to remain fresh and inviting without causing significant conflict.
Most congregations begin to run into significant readiness issues when they start considering more of a disruptive change for their context–this is an intentional transformation of a church’s strategy, culture, ministry model, and core ideology. When the external modifications outside of the church’s immediate context and community are disruptive (changing society, substantial
financial increase/decrease, cultural shifts), then it may be necessary for the congregation to consider a more disruptive approach to change.
The last level of change for a congregation to wrestle with is radical change–when there needs to be a replacement of what is currently done with something else due to the out-of-touch nature of the congregation. This often happens in congregations that become bastions of previous eras–essentially, they are now museums where the pastor and staff function as curators of the exhibits.
For a congregation to successfully transition, regardless of the size culture, there needs to be a unity of leadership about the change and willingness of the congregation to engage in a new direction. To determine that level of willingness, we’ve put together an assessment based on a church’s confidence and competence (based heavily upon the Dunning–Kruger effect of cognitive bias).
The purpose of assessing the confidence level of the congregation is to consider their core motivation to move forward in a positive direction. A church that lacks confidence will often settle for the status quo to avoid the unknown.
Competence is the capacity and ability to navigate change successfully. By measuring the competence level of the congregation/leadership, the network leader can better assess the long-term general trajectory of where a congregation can end up. A low competence in understanding who they are in Christ or where He is leading them will keep them rooted in what they’ve always known or understood to be the way things are done.
The following are ten questions to discern the level of readiness of the leadership and congregation to make the shifts they’ve identified as their best next step toward meaningful progress. The assessments are helpful for both the leader, their staff, and the congregation. It is encouraged that these be folded into the conversation as part of the coaching/consulting the network leader provides to the church. These guides can also be used in small group dialogue sessions between the network leader and various groups from around the church:
Competence
Vision - The congregation collectively understands who they are in Christ, what they believe or highly value according to scripture, where they are headed, and how they get there. Their leadership is captivated by God’s vision for the future of their congregation. They have clarity of their biblical identity as a people of God and direction in regard to where God is taking them.
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Spiritual - The congregation frequently invites people into a Christ-centered faith journey and assists those connecting with the congregation to be and make disciples who are maturing their faith. People are experiencing spiritual formation, developing Christian leadership practices, and are active in missional ministry roles beyond the four walls of the church.
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Community - The city/community/neighborhood knows who the congregation is, what they offer, and they have a good reputation. The community they live in demonstrates that they find their high-quality programs, ministries, and activities valuable because they meet their spiritual, social, and emotional needs. The community agrees that the congregation is good news to the city/neighborhood.
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Fellowship - At least ¼ of the congregation is spiritually optimistic about the future into which God is leading them. People have a genuine commitment to helping the leadership toward the fulfillment of God’s disciple-making vision for their context.
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Leadership - The pastor (plus any pastoral/program staff) has a genuine commitment to leading the congregation towards the fulfillment of God’s vision and reaching full gospel potential. The pastor (plus any pastoral/program staff) is highly respected, and the congregation proactively supports the staff as initiating leaders as they cast God’s vision for the congregation.
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Confidence
Critical Thinking - Congregation exhibits a collective desire to consider how to explore the dynamics of the community around them and engage them in new ways—positive dialogue results in robust, respectful discussion.
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Collaboration - The congregation functions with an empowered culture where teams work effectively and respectfully toward a common goal. They enjoy working with one another.
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Communication - The congregational teams/leaders are openly communicating regularly. They readily communicate with one another respectfully.
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Creativity - When encountering a complex problem, the congregation sees opportunities more than they see problems and can coordinate various teams to work together to create solutions.
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Self Direction - The vast majority of congregational members take responsibility for their learning and willingly receive feedback from others. They demonstrate motivated teachability.
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If it is determined that a church has a high degree of confidence and competence, then the network leader knows that the church needs a model of the ministry for the next step that they desire to live into. For example, suppose they’re interested in starting a coffee business out of a building they own next to a busy intersection to connect with and serve the community. In that case, they need only a model they can adapt to for their context. The network leader has the opportunity to act as a relational conduit by connecting the church to others in the network who’ve effectively navigated a similar kind of venture.
However, suppose the network leader assesses that the staff has a high degree of confidence but a low degree of competence. In that case, the network leader must connect the staff to a peer or pastor, or person that can function in a guide role and who will provide them with information to accomplish their next step. The network leader functions as an occasional check-in to see if the church or pastor has found movement forward or if they’ve determined they are in need of a maven.
If they assess that the congregation has a high degree of competence but a low measure of confidence, they will need someone from within the network who can walk alongside them as they pass through each stage of the change through the stages of completing their next step toward meaningful progress. The network leader will need to check in more frequently to assess if the church's confidence is climbing to its necessary levels.
Lastly, suppose a network leader determines that the congregation has a low amount of competence and confidence. In that case, that congregation should likely consider a guide that will help them make progressive incremental improvements moving toward sustaining changes to increase their level of readiness to move forward with positive progress.
Remember that the leadership/staff's willingness may differ from the willingness of the congregation and laity. If the congregation isn’t sufficiently willing to make the discerned next step, then they will voice their opinion with their mouth or their feet. Therefore consider readiness assessment before enacting any significant innovative adjustments.
LEARN UP QUESTIONS
Can you name a time when the best next step was put before a congregation, but they weren’t willing to accept it? What was the result?
What two dimensions of change do you encourage leaders to engage in the most: Incremental, Sustaining, Disruptive, or Radical? How can you use the other more strategically in your context?
Think of a church in your network that has mentioned something they would like to do. Using the assessment above, does their congregation display a willingness ready for the discerned type of change?
5 Tips to Remember about Revitalization
What we know to be true about us as individuals who follow after Christ, the organized church has rejected when it comes to the interdependent parts that come together as a whole and form a local body of believers. For a local church to strip away something that doesn’t glorify Christ anymore is to declare war on the saints who’ve gone before and those who follow their precepts.