“Many pastors begin their ministry in churches that need reform. Unfortunately, many can also tell the tale of having proceeded with change without understanding where the church has been and how it got into the state it is now in.” - 9 Marks
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)
Before Transitioning to a Plurality of Elders, Know Your Church’s History
Since 2005
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Discussion
NewAgreed
The author is correct that you've got to know where a church is, in particular knowing the real authority structures, before doing a church polity change. Very often, there are official church leaders who actually are led by an unofficial church leadership that will not accept a big change. I remember about 25 years back as an apprentice deacon, I had the opportunity to attend the finance committee's meeting, and I came out of that meeting saying to the head deacon "we have two deacon boards". Thankfully we were able to dissolve that committee without a crisis or church split.
In the same way, unofficial church leadership will often be terrified of the notion that instead of "bending" one lead pastor, they're going to have to "bend" multiple men.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
NewNot just the elder-led transition
I’ve seen it so many times, and heard about it even more: so many pastors start their ministry with a new congregation and immediately try to fix a bunch of things that were not broken—and that a lot of history went into forming.
Then there’s the sacred cow problem that is the other end of the spectrum: something really is broken, but all the history makes it super hard to fix—and only a new guy can get away with fixing it.
Pray for wisdom!
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.