For better or worse, many of us in church tech can be naturally resistant to change.
As creatures of habit, we thrive on consistency, predictability and reliability. And when things happen to break that flow, we sometimes tend to react in unhealthy ways. In those moments, we can easily become frustrated that our best-laid plans have fallen apart due to others’ actions, and we can struggle to embrace or consider variables or changes.
In the ministry world, few things are as constant as change. Ministries should always be adapting, vision should expand, and responses to circumstances should flex over time.
So instead of fighting back against change, we should instead understand that the reality of life is that things are going to change--and then work to embrace it.
The downside is that sometimes change is hard and different and scary.
Stuck in a box?
Sometimes change triggers feelings of insecurity, because it causes us to embark on a journey of unknown results where we can’t predict or expect success like we could in other scenarios, and we don’t want to feel like a failure.
Sometimes we just don’t want to change because our current workflow is easy, planned and predictable. We’d rather not put the effort into coming up with something new just because of the time and energy it would require.
Sometimes we just don’t want to change because our current workflow is easy, planned and predictable.
Sometimes we may resist change just because our brains are wired to be so logical. We can’t see a scenario where the new path or idea would succeed because of logistics: money, time, manpower, etc.
And in all of those cases, our negative tendencies can cause us to backpedal, push back, say “no,” develop unhealthy attitudes, and ultimately repel others.
We then acquire a negative reputation: we’re dream-killers, we’re cynical, we’re resistant, we aren’t team players, we don’t support vision, we’re selfish, and on and on.
How can we learn to embrace change instead of resisting it?
It’s clear that our ingrained responses can be unproductive and unhealthy. But when that can tend to be our first line of thinking, how do we change? How can we become different? How can we learn to embrace change instead of resisting it? While we can’t necessarily change others and the way they act or bring things into our lives, we can certainly work on controlling our responses.
Here are three key things to consider as we work on being agents for change.
1-People are drawn to change-agents and problem solvers
Nobody likes hanging around a Negative Nancy that loves poking holes in plans. When people are excited about an idea, or they need help solving a problem, there’s nothing that ruins the situation faster that somebody who’s in a hurry to point out all of the flaws.
Unfortunately, since many of us tend to be strong “logical” thinkers, it can be natural to jump straight to the logistics side when new ideas are presented. But that can ultimately take the wind out of people’s sails and actually kill their idea instead of helping find ways to make it work.
If we want others to bring us new ideas because they see us as supporters and partners who are able to help bring ideas to life, we have to stop beating ideas to death with all of the reasons why they can’t happen.
Many of us technicians complain that we’re the last to know about things that happen at our church. And it can become frustrating to then have to adapt and make changes last-minute to things we feel we should have known about well in advance.
Is it possible that the idea had been on the table for a while, but other teams chose not to talk about it because they knew you would be too negative and appear unsupportive?
If we want to be at the front door of the information, we have to present ourselves in a way where people feel comfortable approaching us with new thoughts and ideas. If we want others to bring us new ideas because they see us as supporters and partners who are able to help bring ideas to life, we have to stop beating ideas to death with all of the reasons why they can’t happen.
So, we can ask ourselves, am I doing things today to present myself as being more engaged with others?
2-Change-agents don’t limit vision
Tying in with the first point, people who resist change tend to suppress vision and new ideas, but change agents are open-minded to possibilities of growth and new methods.
Again, this is another area where instead of jumping straight to a list of reasons why something won’t work, we need to be open to considering new paths and ideas.
If I truly believe my ministry is called to reach people and grow, then I need to be fully on board with the ministry vision of other teams at the church. After all, their vision determines how, when and what technology is used.
In essence, we exist to support and further the vision of how to reach and pastor people.
In essence, we exist to support and further the vision of how to reach and pastor people. If that means I need to use different equipment, or run services in a different style, or staff a new type of event, I should approach those new things with a “yes” mentality, since I’m called to support vision.
Is there room to ask questions to better understand the vision so I can help support it the best way possible? Absolutely. But it’s not my job to figure out why we shouldn’t do something. It’s my job to figure out what I can do to support it.
... it’s not my job to figure out why we shouldn’t do something. It’s my job to figure out what I can do to support it.
In the same way, it can be easy to push back against last-minute changes to service flow, whether with content, presentation, or order of service, and understandably so, since prepping likely took lots of time and energy.
Is there room to have some discussion during the week about how to improve the practice and bring more communication or planning to the table in the future? Absolutely. But in the moment, my job as a technician is to support the vision of the ministry leaders, and whether I like it or not, I’m called to be a servant.
3-Change-agents embody the change they want to see in others
This is the best part. Because when we start working on our attitudes and approachs, it will have an immediate impact on those around us.
The teams we lead will start being more open to changes, because they see us modeling open-mindedness and emotional self-control.
Other church leaders will start bringing us into the discussion sooner, or being more receptive to our feedback when we model a “change agent” attitude.
We may not be able to control what happens to us, but we sure can control how we respond.
We lose the right to complain about how others see us or act towards us if we're not first willing to own our roles and change ourselves.
Other church leaders will start bringing us into the discussion sooner, or being more receptive to our feedback when we model a “change agent” attitude.
We church techs also need to embody a sense of ownership for our areas. Instead of sitting back and waiting for information or vision from others (which we sometimes do, just so we can complain about people not bringing things to us until last-minute, even though we know we could have proactively pursued it ourselves), maybe I should seek out vision and information from other teams or leaders on a regular basis.
If we know that certain people or areas tend to struggle with planning, there likely is value in us finding time with them at various points of the year just to ask questions and learn more about the vision for their particular ministry. This makes it easier for them to see us as a ministry partner, and our regular connection with them creates a natural opportunity for them to communicate information back to us--or even ask for our feedback or perspective.
But we have to lead the charge.
... let’s all challenge ourselves. Instead of pushing back against change, let’s embrace it and see what happens.
The best leaders tend to be the ones who own their role and eliminate excuses. Those are the people who tend to grow in influence because others see how willing they are to do whatever it takes to find a solution.
So, let’s all challenge ourselves. Instead of pushing back against change, let’s embrace it and see what happens. It will make us, and our ministries, better, and it will lead to a whole new world of opportunity.
