What is the worst advice you’ve received about navigating change?

Two of the worst recommendations I’ve heard from my work with Christian leaders are: 

1. 1. Don’t change anything until you’ve been in leadership for two years! 
   2. People can’t change, so you might as well start something new! 

The first recommendation is like a long ‘bait-and-switch,’ lulling people into complacency and then snapping shut with a dramatic change that surprises everyone. The second piece of advice is born out of hurriedness and impatience, often sending out wounded leaders to start something new while they are rooted in pain. These consistent responses beg the following question: Is it possible to lead through change when our organization is deep in a rut or the gears have gotten stuck? 

My response is simple: People can change. Churches and organizations can change. They may not change easily, but the hope of the gospel is that transformation is possible. 

Much of the work I do is with established churches, non-profits, church plants, and businesses that have been around for a few years, now find themselves asking how they can identify a team’s willingness to experience transformation, and are looking for skills and tools to guide people on that journey. This change process is called ‘Remissioning,’ which I define as the process of inside-out transformation through discipleship for the sake of our neighbors and world. Rather than exporting mission, apprenticeship of leaders, and the pain of change to someone else, how do we patiently and diligently lead through change so that our neighbors and neighborhoods might flourish? Could our organizations become disciple-making hubs that help people to learn how to navigate the changes that happen in all our lives with more self-awareness and grace?

The change process is called ‘Remissioning,’ which is defined as the process of inside-out transformation through discipleship for the sake of our neighbors and world. Share on X

Remissioning Change Cycle

When a change occurs in an organization (whether it was planned and executed or happened to the people), it is helpful to remember that regardless of how it is perceived, it is a change to the status quo. This can be something as small as the introduction of a new element in a worship service, as large as the end of a beloved program and start of a new initiative, and as damaging as a moral failure in senior leadership.

One of the most helpful things to remember about the change process that takes place in groups of people is that it often occurs in normal, natural, and predictable patterns. It can seem overwhelming when we watch how people respond to change in our organizations. People express a wide variety of emotions, becoming angry, sad, overwhelmed, stuck, energized, selfish, liberated, and a whole host of other things along the way. For example, when your community or team is displaying fear or anger, it’s not helpful to assume that they hate the change itself and are refusing to go with you. By contrast, remember this: People’s emotional response is not an indicator of their acceptance or rejection of the change to come, but rather an indicator of where they are in the change process itself. 

In my book Remissioning Church, I describe the remissioning change cycle (image below) that is helpful in navigating change within church congregations. However, this change cycle also informs how I work with individuals in grief counseling, marriage coaching, and other support processes with my congregants and neighbors. And, surprise, surprise: Change doesn’t only happen to Christians! Helping leaders navigate change has helped to create meaningful conversations about faith and how the Spirit works with people who are not yet followers of Jesus in my community. The remissioning change cycle helps us to have a more accurate perspective on where someone is at in experiencing the change introduced into their lives and ways to help them to take another step towards a “Repent or Resist” moment where resurrection life is possible.

The Remissioning Change Cycle

People’s emotional response is not an indicator of their acceptance or rejection of the change to come, but rather an indicator of where they are in the change process itself. Share on X

Discipleship Over Outcomes

When your organization feels stuck in navigating a particular change, what could shift if you took time to map out your staff, key leaders, congregants, clients, or neighbors on this change cycle? The remissioning leader makes a critical shift when they create a map with people in various stages: They shift the priority from outcomes to discipleship unto Jesus himself. The goal of remissioning isn’t to survive change, but to disciple people through change into more mature imitators of Jesus for the sake of our community. 

I have found a few helpful tools for leaders who are trying to practice imitation of Jesus while their organizations are feeling stuck amidst a change process. Three stand out in particular:

1. 1. Firstly, show up. Instead of avoiding the people who are full of fear or are critical of the change process, remember that resistance to change is normal, natural, and predictable. When we are present with people, we minimize the relational gap that often conveys distance and mistrust. 
   2. Secondly, don’t try and skip the “Repent or Resist Zone.” When the ‘back-to-Egypt’ committee becomes the loudest, leaders must resist the temptation to turn around and find a shortcut to escape the cross they must bear. 
   3. Thirdly, set realistic expectations and avoid a quick fix. It has taken years for people to become shaped, discipled, and formed into who they are when they face change. People are much more like dimmer switches than on/off switches. They process change much more slowly and typically do not experience instantaneous insight. The accumulation of conversations, experiences, and trust helps people to journey with you. 

No one really likes to change because change is often connected to loss. Sometimes the loss isn’t long-lasting or deeply painful, and yet, all change involves some loss. Reminding people that there is a God who also experiences loss with them and who empathizes with their loss can help us to situate change in the larger motif of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Demystifying the change process helps us to create imitators of Jesus who learn and know this rhythm of change as a pathway to growing the muscles necessary to live on mission with God. 

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The goal of remissioning isn’t to survive change, but to disciple people through change into more mature imitators of Jesus for the sake of our community. Share on X

*Editorial Note: Remissioning Church: A Field Guide to Bringing a Congregation Back to Life, written by Josh Hayden, releases was published in April 2025. Remissioning Church is a new release in the ongoing Missio Alliance & IVP Book Series, and we are so expectant in recommending Josh’s book for purchase! ~CK