Being a Change Agent or an
Agent of Transformation
The declining Church needs more than change...
The declining Church needs Transformation!
What the Church needs today is Leaders who are Agents of Transformation not Change Agents.
There are two types of change: incremental change and transformational change. What is the difference?
In incremental change we change the surface relationships but the underlying paradigm is not changed.
In transformation the surface relationships are not the focus, the underlying paradigm or way of understanding the world is changed.
By way of analogy: incremental organizational change is akin to moving chess pieces around a chess board, organizational transformation occurs when we change the chess board which constrains the way the chess pieces can relate to each other.
St. Paul's experience on the Damascus road is an example of transformation. Nothing is changed, but everything is different. There has been a shift in consciousness that leads to new life and possibilities.
When a church is declining people often go into survival mode, they work harder and harder to have less of what they don't want. But working harder at what is not working will not bring life it will only get you dead quicker.
A declining church doesn't need less death, it needs life. The Good News is that Jesus didn't come to give us less death, he came to give us life! This is the work of transformation.
In order for transformation to occur three things must happen:
-
People need a new awareness and or understanding of the nature of God.
You can't have new life without a new understanding of the Life-Giver.
Notice how all revivals both in history and our personal lives begin with a fresh experience of the nature of God. In the secular world organizational transformation occurs when there is new understanding of what is truly life-giving to the organization and life is organized around these core life-giving values.
-
That new experience has to be shared one to one in the telling of stories about what God is doing. (Sometimes the story telling may be one to many, but in the moment of telling it has to become personal between two people.)
Christianity didn't grow because 11 guys got together in a room and took an anonymous survey and 10 voted for the resurrection. Christianity flourished because people shared their stories of encountering the risen Lord and how he had transformed their lives. The sharing of stories helps us to weave our own personal story into the great story of God.
-
Transformation requires sustained breaking of rules, whether they be civic rules such as acts of civil disobedience, or cultural, religious, and familial rules that keep us trapped in doing things the old way.
The breaking of rules changes the underlying patterns or relationships of how we organize our lives and our communities. Einstein once said we cannot solve a problem with the mindset that created it.
We cannot solve the decline of the church with the paradigm or the rules that created the decline. While those rules may have worked once they now restrict life. Transformation begins when we have the courage to break the rules in the light of the new understanding we have of God's love.
If you want to learn more and develop your Transformational Leadership skills I invite you to attend one of our Appreciative Inquiry based training programs at the Clergy Leadership Institute:
Free Tele-Seminar:
Transformational Leadership
March 10, 9:00-10:15 am. PST
For more information please see:
Transformational Leadership Tele-Seminar
Appreciative Inquiry Based Inquiry Training
Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry
Leavenworth Kansas, March 28-30, 2011
Seattle, WA. Jun. 20-22
Learn the Appreciative Way and the transformational power of:
-
Knowing your purpose
-
Asking Great Questions
-
Using the three faces of Compassion:
Tenderness, Fierceness, and Mischievousness.
Restoring Hope: Resolving Grief and Resentment
Leavenworth Kansas, March 30-April 1, 2011
Learn how to lead people from being
a victim, to a survivor, and to a thriver
Appreciative Leadership for Transformation
Mahwah, NJ. May 23-27
Chicago, IL. Jun. 6-10
Learn the core competencies of Transformational Leadership.
Program includes pre-training leadership assessment.
Appreciative Transitional Ministry
Seattle, WA. Jun. 22-24
Learn how to appreciatively join a congregation
and engage in congregational development.
For more information about our Appreciative Way Training programs please see:
Appreciative Way Training
With blessings on your life and work
Rob Voyle
Director, Clergy Leadership Institute
|
|
Restoring Hope
Use the Appreciative Way to
rapidly and effectively resolve
-
Painful Memories
-
Grief
-
Resentment
-
Shame and guilt
This is not a book about
the need for hope!
This book will teach you how to resolve the consequences of distressing events.
Contents
208 pages of healing strategies and scripts.
Access to online resources.
Cost: $39.95
For details and purchasing see:
Restoring Hope: Appreciative Strategies to Resolve Grief and Resentment
What Readers Say:
"Rob Voyle has produced the most comprehensive manual for dealing with the consequences of serious negative life events. Logically organized into easy to follow stages, Restoring Hope provides a large number of tried and tested techniques and processes essential for any clinician working in the therapeutic field." Andy Austin, author, The Rainbow Machine: Tales from a Neurolinguist's Journal
"This book is filled with things you can actually do to actually heal from grief and resentment. Whether you use this book on your own, as a member of group, or to help others, you will find here a resource rich with hands-on and effective strategies for healing. James Finley, author, Merton's Palace of Nowhere and The Contemplative Heart
Appreciative Way Training
Intro. to Appreciative Inquiry
Kansas City, KS. Mar. 28-30
Seattle, WA Jun. 20-22
Intro. to Transitional Ministry
Seattle, WA Jun. 22-24
Using appreciative strategies in transitional ministry settings.
Restoring Hope
Kansas City, KS. Mar. 30-Apr. 1
Learn how to resolve grief and resentment.
Appreciative Leadership
Coaching Competent Leaders
Mahwah, NJ. May 23-27
Chicago, IL. Jun. 6-10
Develop your core competencies of effective leadership.
Advanced Coaching
Chicago, IL. Nov. 7-11
Learn the strategies for growing competence and transforming self-image.
Continuing Ed. Credit
The Clergy Leadership Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Clergy Leadership Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
The Clergy Leadership Institute is a National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPT) and may offer NBCC approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The Clergy Leadership Institute solely is responsible for all aspects of the program.
See our
helpful, healing, and humorous
approach to continuing education and training
What Participants Say:
"Rob will enhance your ability to delight in yourself, your neighbor and God through his insightful, practical, loving, professionally grounded, appreciative and often mischievous coaching and teaching skills; and that will make you a better leader and citizen in God's creation."
Ed Leidel, Episcopal Bishop and Congregational Coach
|
|
