A Word from Bob: Change is hard—for all of us. Leading change in a church or para-church is hard work—for every leader. The Bible has a lot to say about change—and it all 
starts with changed hearts before changing purposes and programs. I’ve taken today’s post from chapter 5 of my book Equipping Counselors for Your Church. In this post we’ll look at biblical examples of 3 areas of transformation that must precede organizational change.
Transformed Lives: Changing Ministers Before Changing Ministries
The Bible has a theology of change which we can summarize with one word: transformation. Transformation starts with hearts: changed leaders change people who change churches who change communities.
Before we prepare a change management plan, we prepare people. Before we prepare people, we prepare our own heart.
Nehemiah and Paul each led God’s people through transformative change. We think of Nehemiah as a wall builder and we sometimes use the book of Nehemiah to distill organizational leadership principles. However, Nehemiah never prayed to be remembered as a wall builder, but rather as a people builder.
In Nehemiah 5:19; 13:14, 22, and 31 he prays that God would remember him for empowering God’s people to serve, for leading God’s people to worship, and for motivating God’s people to live transformed lives. The book of Nehemiah is not about organizational leadership; it is about shepherding people whose transformed lives lead to a transformed community.
Likewise, Paul’s ministry in 2 Corinthians focuses not simply on conflict resolution, but on personal reconciliation—first with God and then with one another (2 Corinthians 5:17-21; 6:11-13). Paul’s letter is not about transitioning ministries, but about transforming ministers.
In the midst of conflict, Paul fixes his eyes on the prize. “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Paul laser focuses his goal. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Taking up the leadership mantle of Nehemiah and Paul, we must focus on transforming people before we start transitioning ministries. Transformational spiritual leaders emphasize:
- Transforming My Heart
- Transforming My Attitude Toward God’s People
- Transforming Our Worship of God
- Transforming My Heart: Taking My Sin and Suffering to Christ
Church leaders don’t say, “Physician, heal thyself.” Instead, we say, “Soul physician, go to the Soul Physician for healing before counseling others.” When we do, we follow the ancient path of Nehemiah. Before he implemented a single change management principle, he prayed to the Soul Physician.
“I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you” (Nehemiah 1:6, emphasis added).
To address his sin, Nehemiah turned to God for transformation.
Paul, perhaps the greatest-ever human soul physician, focused first on his own heart.
“We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8b-9, emphasis added).
To address his suffering, Paul turned to God for transformation.
Transitioning a church is hard work. Leading a congregation through the change process of a pastor-centered church to a church where everyone is a one-another minister, is demanding. It is impossible if the leader or leadership team is not addressing personal sin and suffering.
Does your team want to change lives? Then, when you meet, don’t just talk about launching a new ministry, be ministers for and to one another.
- Transforming My Attitude Toward God’s People: Seeing People As My Brothers and Sisters in Christ
Let’s be honest. When people resist the changes we believe God wants us to implement, it is easy to start seeing them as the enemy. I find it fascinating that before Nehemiah dealt with change management, he identified with God’s people. I find it instructive that before Paul dealt with conflict resolution, he identified with the very people who were criticizing him.
Nehemiah questioned Hanani about the Jewish remnant. Told that they were in great trouble and distress, he tells us that he “sat down and wept. For some days I mourned” (Nehemiah 1:4). Nehemiah had it made in the shade, living the life of luxury 800 miles away from Jerusalem. Yet he cares about his brothers and sisters. The word “questioned” (Nehemiah 1:2) indicates much more than a passing interest. It means to inquire and express a genuine concern for the welfare of others.
When he hears of their defeat (they are shattered and broken); when he hears of their disgrace (their reproach and shame), he mourns. He is deeply grieved and moved by the plight of God’s people—of his people. His heart breaks for their suffering and sin.
Paul, even with the Corinthians with whom he experienced excruciating conflict, begins his second letter to them by identifying with them. Ten times in five verses he repeats a form of the Greek word for “comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). Think about that. When you are in conflict with people, is your first thought (and your second-to-tenth thought) about helping them to connect to Christ’s comfort? We can’t lead the launch of a biblical counseling ministry, which in part is about comforting one another in Christ, unless we can offer Christ’s comfort to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As leaders, are we making changes that are self-centered and self-focused? Are we leading change because it’s all about our leadership image? Or, are we shepherding a transformative process out of a heart changed by Christ with a changed attitude toward our brothers and sisters in Christ?
- Transforming Our Worship of God: Shepherding People to Christ
Nehemiah begins his ministry with worship.
“O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love…” (Nehemiah 1:5).
His prayer of confession is a prayer of worship—Nehemiah links each sin to God’s people failure to respond wholeheartedly to God’s holy love. Worship is embedded throughout the book and it provides the bookends that frame the book. Nehemiah’s closing prayer of remembrance is a plea that God would remember how Nehemiah purified the priests and Levites for worship.
Worship is the ultimate focus of Paul’s introductory vignette concerning his despair over his suffering. Why did he share? So that “…many will give thanks…” (2 Corinthians 1:11). In every description Paul provides of his troubles, and there are many, his purpose is to direct people to God-dependence—to worshipping and trusting Christ alone.
The end goal of all ministry is worship—entrusting ourselves to, exalting, and enjoying God (Matthew 22:34-40). The end goal of the process of launching ministry mindset shift should be the same: to shepherd Christians to a deeper worship of Christ. Launching a new ministry isn’t a task to accomplish. It is a relationship—with God and others—to nourish and enjoy.
