What it Takes to Get unstuck

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!
www.BoomerangChurches.com

• By
• Dr. Tom Cheyney

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Here are some of the things that do not make you
  become stuck
• An undersized facility will cause you to become
  stagnant AND STUCK!
• Stuckness is not a matter of having space
  problems.
• Having staffing problems does not lead you to
  become a stuck church!
• Stuckness is not a matter of having a large
  number of ministers, ones who do not like each
  other or a small number of staff.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Here are some of the things that do not make you
  become stuck
• Most stuckness comes from a nebulous sense of
  sadness which eventually congeals into a more
  recognizable feeling of disappointment! (What
  happens next)
• A consultant is hired report given
• Ideas are suggested but not acted upon
• Eventually, the pastor is fired or leaves in
  disapointment.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Key teaching point in church revitalization
• Sparking change in a congregation is beyond doubt
  risky business!
• The simple fact
• Once you have revealed how and when your church
  has gotten stuck, you have tapped into something
  enormously unstable.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Depending on how you deal with the stuckness you
  have uncovered (this is not an overstatement) you
  are either playing with high explosives or you
  are igniting the fuel which can rocket your
  church to renewed life.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• The first thing you must do is to get your
  congregation prepared emotionally before you
  begin to make changes (any change not just the
  big ones)!
• All of us have a natural resistance towards
  change. Our reluctance to let others make chnges
  in our lives is intensified by our human tendency
  to strive for security and comfort when we know
  things are not quite right!
• Church Revitalization Principle
• This means the more we need to change, the less
  we are willing to change!

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Be light hearted in the midst of the hard things!
  When others perceive you as the leader to be
  anxious they become all the more and act upon
  that anxiety. It is the display of anxiety which
  is most likely to cause any leader to fail.
• Church Revitalization Principle
• The one thing to guard against more than anything
  else as a revitalization leader is anxiety. To a
  great extent, learning to be playful and peaceful
  rather than anxious can defuse the explosiveness
  within your congregation (Mt. 10 19-20).

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Stuckness Truth
• Despite what many perceive as a dwindling
  authority of the preacher today, ministers are
  stilled viewed a congregational change agents.
• Laity tend to believe that pastors have certain
  qualities such as some intellect towards fixing
  this, a sense of divine calling, an education
  specifically designed to deal with congregational
  life, and the capacity to learn to the abstract
  sort of ideas and put them to use.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• If a congregation is going to move forward,
  most members will usually expect the preacher to
  take the leading role. They will expect the
  preacher to be able to recognize what needs to be
  changed in the church and thus are not too
  surprised when he seeks to make those changes.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Lay people are more invested
• The laity who attend your church are much more
  invested emotionally into the well being of the
  church (unless you planted this church) than the
  pastor who they see more as a preacher first.
• Usually know how to figure out how the church got
  stuck and the personalities involved.
• Are a lot more likely to be tolerated if they
  irritate other church members. Remember it is
  hard to fire someone who does not receive a
  paycheck.
• Laity usually do not move on to other churches
  once they figure out how to un-stick the church.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Who is the best change agent for church
  revitalization?
• Answer
• Your ability to renew your church has more to do
  with you being courageous, perseverant, and
  playful than with whether you are a lay person or
  a pastor.

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What Qualities it Takes to un-stick a stuck
church!

• Once God is calling you to revitalize your
  fellowship, if you are going to start these
  changes then you will need to know what sort of
  personal abilities it takes, what sort of tolls
  the process requires.
• Lets take a look at the qualities a person needs
  to learn in order to get his church unstuck.
• While some people may be naturally gifted in
  these ways, the attributes we are talking about
  here can pretty much all be learned.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Vision The leader who wants to bring about
  change in a congregation must have vision. The
  vision for church revitalization includes knowing
  where you want the church to go, some idea of
  when it got stuck and a notion of how to go about
  getting it unstuck!
• You do not need to know precisely where you want
  the church to go.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Vision Sometimes a mending church becomes a
  tidal wave of vitality, and tidal waves are
  notoriously difficult to steer.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Persistence The leader who wants to bring about
  change in a congregation must have additionally
  persistence. There is a degree of obnoxiously
  and calmly persistence that is a real key to
  un-sticking your church.
• It is important because as a leader you will
  encounter distracters, detractors, and defectors.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Persistence
• It is important because as a leader you will
  encounter distracters, detractors, and defectors.
• These are people who will respond to their own
  anxiety by trying to lure your focus away from
  your vision for the church by criticizing you and
  your ideas, and by being such terrible supporters
  that you will wish they were your opponents.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• The ability to anticipate resistance an sabotage
  Can you guess who will work double time to
  prevent you from unsticking your church?
• Ask this question Who in the church family is
  going to mess things up and how are they going to
  do it? The is a very important question for
  those who want to revitalize their church
  fellowship.

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What Qualities it Takes to un-stick a stuck
church!

• Folks are never more creative than when they are
  raining on someone elses parade!
• The important thing is to remember that such
  interference can and will occur and to decide
  that, when it does, you will not be deterred from
  pursuing your goal.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Playfulness - The leader who wants to bring about
  change in a congregation must have the quality of
  playfulness.
• Because we love our churches as we do and we
  recognize that they must change if they are going
  to thrive or simply survive, our concern for them
  has a tendency to make us really serious.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Playfulness - The leader who wants to bring about
  change in a congregation must have the quality of
  playfulness.
• Seriousness is the fertile breeding ground of
  anxiety! Anxiety ignites hostility, polarity and
  despair in a congregation. By maintaining a
  playful attitude there is tendency to defuse all
  those negative things.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Playfulness Could be
• Humor
• Quips
• Cleverness
• Witty remarks
• Ability to not get upset
• Shrug it off
• Just remember we cant always be playful so use
  it wisely when you need to defuse a situation!

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What Qualities it Takes to un-stick a stuck
church!

• The fact that there will be opposition to your
  ideas and that you will have critics and
  detractors means that as you proceed there will
  be winners and losers in your efforts to
  revitalize your church!

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• The Ability to Stay Connected- The leader who
  wants to bring about change in a congregation
  must have and demonstrate regularly the ability
  to stay connected with key individuals within the
  congregation, even those who do not particularly
  like you or you like them!

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• The Ability to Stay Connected-
• Connectedness has to do with having an open,
  honest, non-anxious relationship with those who
  will be touched by the changes you are trying to
  instigate, and especially those who have strong
  emotions about those changes.
• Mere connectedness goes a long way toward
  defusing both anxiety and resistance.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Remember
• Even your loyal opposition have a vested interest
  in your church revitalization success. They need
  to be reminded frequently that their leader is
  along side them emotionally. I think that is the
  emotional process behind being connected.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• You must become an Anxiety Shock Absorber - The
  leader who wants to bring about change in a
  congregation must become an anxiety shock
  absorber.
• A person with this quality can successfully
  resist the avalanche of anxiety which is bowling
  over everyone else in the fellowship.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• You must become an Anxiety Shock Absorber
• The mere suggestion of change is enough to spark
  upsetness throughout the entire membership.
• Once change begins to happen the anxiety level
  rise even higher.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• You must become an Anxiety Shock Absorber
• If you stay calm ad demonstrate that you are not
  going to let the process of revitalization get
  derailed it usually has a calming, quieting
  effect on the entire church.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Remember
• You are the guy in charge of staying cool when
  everybody else is freaking out!
• That is a big part of a church revitalization
  persona.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• The opposite side of the coin
• It is invariably destructive when a church leader
  is unable to remain calm while the rest of the
  members are feeling anxious. The anxiety of a
  leader can instantly impede the process of
  change.
• Also there seems to be a connection between
  pastors and other leaders who cannot rise above
  the tension of the moment particularly if they
  are being criticized and the failure and
  termination of their leadership.

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Put on your emotional Teflon - The leader who
  wants to bring about change in a congregation
  must put on daily his emotional Teflon. If you
  desire to revitalize your church the ability to
  cover yourself in emotional Teflon is a must.
• You must let the ugly stuff slid off of you
  without changing your demeanor, the way you feel
  about yourself, or the way you respond to these
  anxious folks who are acting childishly.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• Tactic you will observe from the membership
• Resistance tactics
• Delaying tactics
• Load you down with other stuff tactics
• Feeling of displacement tactics
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?

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Qualities of a Church Revitalization Leader!

• Lastly, (9 if counting) The leader who wants
  to bring about change in a congregation must have
  the ability to tell the difference between
  content and process.
• Content- is the stuff people argue about. The
  small talk, the debris that floats to the top of
  the raging river.
• Process- is the real reason people argue. The
  emotional reality. The raging river.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!

• When we put our energy into dealing with the
  content of conflicts rather than its source,
  which is to say the emotional process behind it,
  we are wasting our time and demonstrating that we
  do not know what the real problem is.
• Nobody gets it right 100 of the time. If you can
  do these things right 70 of the time that is the
  best you can expect. Stop beating yourself up
  emotionally when things do not always work out
  perfectly.

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!
www.BoomerangChurches.com

• By
• Dr. Tom Cheyney

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What it Takes to Get unstuck!