FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Jim
Baucom, pastor of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va., has helped lead three
established congregations to renewal and growth. He says doing the same thing
in other churches, while not easy, is possible — with the combination of
factors.
“I think it should be said
that growing a church to relevance and vitality from near-death is an extremely
rare incidence that requires a confluence of ‘favorable conditions,’” he said.
What are those conditions?
Emphasizing that there is no
magic formula, Baucom said he believes that certain transferable principles may
guide a congregation in transition from hopelessness to new vision and new
vitality. The transition begins with leadership.
- A ‘change agent’
“A new leader is an absolute
necessity, and that leader must be a change agent,” he said — noting that a
change agent heightens the crisis in order to heal the system, much as
chemotherapy temporarily sickens the patient but destroys the cancer. The
pastoral change agent uses the crisis to implement necessary changes — small at
first, then larger. These changes eventually create a cultural shift in the
attitudes and expectations of the congregation.
“Once the church family
becomes convinced that it can be effective again, and the first small waves of
growth begin to generate excitement, something of a snowball effect is
generated. Over time, the new growth overwhelms the old system as those who
enter the ‘new church’ live out the new mission without the fear created by
previous failures they never even knew. In other words, as new members are
added, the church becomes the church they believe they joined.
Of course, he cautioned: “Inevitably,
a few of the traditional members will leave the church.”
- Inwardly secure
To move a congregation from
self-absorption to having a missional focus and confidence in the future, the
pastor must be “more committed to being relevant and effective than being
universally liked,” Baucom said. “A portion of the traditional constituency of
the declining church would rather see their church die than change (though they
would never say so). Dramatically declining churches typically become unhealthy
in ways most members cannot understand.” Churches that experience lengthy
decline begin to panic about the future. They turn inward and develop a
survival mentality that reduces the church’s ability to functional effectively,
he said.
Decisions such churches make
tend to meet the members’ needs but do little if anything to share the gospel
with others. “Most leaders console and comfort such a system, engaging in
hospice care that eases the suffering but limits the possibility of restored
vigor,” Baucom contended.
- Relational
Tremendous relational work
is necessary to keep those who choose to remain on board. Although they may
resist change initially, they are generally thrilled to see their church thrive
and excited to be part of the journey when they witness successes.
“Some of those who remain
may be unhappy with facets of the new church, but their voices are drowned out
by the vast majority of people who are thrilled with the new direction,
especially if they believe that the new thing is built on the foundation of the
old,” Baucom advises. “For this to happen, the new leader must begin his or her
work by helping the traditional church clearly define its core values and
competencies. New ministries are created as extensions of old values, and in a
very real sense the church simply does much better what it has done well in the
past, casting itself into a new era to reach new generations.”
- Patient
“In a real sense, the work
of turning a church around is not one movement, but many smaller ‘shifts,’ each
of which is ‘set’ by intentional periods of rest. The church moves forward,
then rests; then moves again, then rests, again and again,” Baucom said.
At each stage of its growth,
such a church pauses briefly to allow the change to gel. “To most, this feels
like one constant and rapid push forward, but the leader instinctively freezes
the system after each primary shift before prompting the congregation to initiate
new changes. This is a careful balancing act,” Baucom cautioned. “If the leader
moves too quickly, he or she will cut himself or herself away from the body.
The most likely response to systemic change, by far, is to remove the change
agent.
“If the leader pauses too
long between change phases, the system becomes complacent and stuck, especially
once the initial threat of congregational death has passed and the change
platform has cooled,” he continued.
Baucom said many would-be
change agents “become too patient or too exhausted and either leap from the
change platform or lie down upon it. Either response short-circuits the change
cycle and ends the turnaround.”
- Confident
“I think it goes without
saying that the change-agent must have a certain charisma and a degree of
confidence tempered by humility and love for people,” Baucom said. “Over time,
the congregation begins to trust the change agent implicitly IF the people
believe that the leader has the church’s best interest at heart consistently,
follows God unflinchingly, and loves the people unfailingly.”
- Aware of own limitations
“Along the way, the leader
must also draw around himself or herself gifted, selfless and spiritually
mature leaders (or disciple such leaders himself or herself) who can implement
the change he or she envisions. I say this, because the change agent is almost
always a visionary communicator with limited ability to translate change into
programs and ministries without the assistance of a platoon of gifted
administrators and ministers. The leader must know his or her own limitations
and interdependence with others in order to be effective long-term.”
- Love for the church
“What made me uniquely
qualified for turnaround was vision, energy, charisma, communication skills,
and an intense love for people grounded in the traditional church. Because I
loved the old thing and had a certain set of leadership skills, I could lead
the turnaround,” he said. “I do not discount, even a little, what it means to
be the son of a successful traditional-church pastor nurtured in the heart of
great traditional churches any more than I do my enthusiasm for entrepreneurial
creation of new things. In our context, the turnaround pastor must have both in
equal measure.”
Another factor affecting the
ability to turn around a declining church is the number of new, vibrant
churches that have emerged in the area. The greater the number of exciting,
effective, ministry-oriented churches in the area, the more difficult the
turnaround will be.
“All that said,” Baucom
concluded, “there is no joy like turnaround leadership, in my book. And there
is no leader loved so much, trusted so thoroughly and embraced so quickly as
the proven, successful change agent. Turnaround pastors become cemented into
their church systems like no other leaders, save perhaps the founding pastors
of new churches.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — White is
editor of the Virginia Baptist Religious Herald.)
Related stories
Saying good-bye to church hard
Pastor not superhero to save church
Two Burlington churches form one new fellowship
Stuggling congregations lack hope, purpose
Southview sells, stays on as renter
Editorial: Keeping doors open not reason enough to keep doors open
BSC, Foundation available to help
A time to die: How do (and should) churches die?