Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change - Hardcover

Southerland, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0310233445 ISBN 13: 9780310233442

Publisher: Zondervan, 2000

Synopsis

A biblical look at how to steer a congregation in a new and exciting direction aligned with God’s unique purpose for them. Transitioning is written to help church leaders and their congregations successfully navigate change and discover that the rewards far exceed the risk. Drawing principles from the book of Nehemiah, Southerland maps out an eight-step strategy for moving from being a traditional, ministry-driven church to a purpose-driven church. Transitioning illustrates practical, field-tested concepts with examples from the Bible and Southerland’s own experience. A detailed workbook section with fill-in-the-blanks, scripture passages, and action steps helps pastors and their leadership teams convert knowledge into reality.

About this title

About the Author

Dan Southerland is the pastor/teacher at Flamingo Road Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL--a purpose-driven contemporary congregation that has grown from 300 in 1989 to over 2,300 today and launched seventeen other churches. Dan and his wife, Mary, live in Fort Lauderdale with their two children, Jered and Danna.

From the Back Cover

In a church, change is like oxygen, essential for life and growth. Handle it wrong, though, and you'll start a fire you can't put out. So if the thought of switching from a traditional church to a purpose-driven church leaves you with mingled feelings of excitement and fear, good! It means that, as a pastor, you know the incalculable worth of aligning your church with God's vision. It also means you understand how potentially explosive such a venture can be. Transitioning is written for you. This book can help you and your congregation successfully navigate change to attain rewards that far exceed the risk. Drawing principles from the book of Nehemiah, Pastor Dan Southerland maps out an eight-step strategy for moving from a typical, program-driven church to a purpose-driven church. It's no cut-and-dried process, any more than God himself is cut and dried. Rather, it's a biblical look at how to steer your congregation in a new and exciting direction -- one that's aligned with God's intentions not just for any church, but your church. Southerland takes you step by step through preparing for vision, defining the vision, planting the vision, sharing the vision, implementing the vision, dealing with opposition, making course corrections, and evaluating the results. Transitioning illustrates practical, field-tested concepts with examples from the Bible and Southerland's own experiences. But this book doesn't end at the blackboard. Its detailed workbook section is packed with fill-in-the-blanks, Scripture passages, and action steps to help you and your leadership team convert knowledge to implementation. Getting in step with what God wants to do in and through your church opens the door for transformation and growth -- not just corporately, but in your own life as well. Amazing things happen when you choose vision, rather than circumstances or tradition, as your guiding star. So get read! You're about to discover the power and effectiveness of becoming a purpose-driven church.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preparing For Vision In my family, we grew up with a standard vacation plan. Every year we would drive from whatever part of Texas or Oklahoma we were living in at the time to the same lake in Arkansas where we would go tent camping. And we would spend every waking moment skiing, swimming, fishing, and motorcycling. Taking a family of six on a two week out-in-the-woods style vacation was not a small venture. Although the journey to our destination was not long (five six hours), it took weeks of getting ready. It was such a major change in lifestyle to transition from the suburbs to the lake shore that it took some very deliberate preparation to pull it off. Vision is not just a destination; it is a journey Preparation is a major part of vision. The reason lies in the essence of vision itself. Vision is not just a destination; it is a journey. Vision is not just a product; it is a process. Vision is not just the finish line; it is the whole race. Any business guru can tell you that research and development is a major part of producing a winning product. Any athlete knows that winning the competition begins with training. Any seasoned traveler can testify that front end preparation is vital to a successful trip. Paul captured the essence of vision when he wrote these words: - No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 For our eyes to see God s vision, for our ears to hear God s voice, and for our minds to conceive of God s plan, we must spend time in major preparation. Before we can receive God s vision for His church we must prepare for vision. God s vision for your church is big stuff so the preparation for that vision must be big stuff as well. Our plans versus God s vision I love this verse about vision: -Many are the plans in a man s heart, but it is the Lord s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21 This verse was written with today s church in mind. Today, our churches tend to have many plans. They have numerous programs and multifaceted ministries. Never before in history has the church tried to offer so much. Yet I wonder if most of our churches have discovered God s vision. Have they found the purpose that prevails which is God s purpose? I believe that the numerous plans that we come up with won t get the job done. Only God s plan will prevail. What is vision? Henry Blackaby s study, Experiencing God, is nothing short of life changing for those who have been through it. The essence of Blackaby s work can be boiled down to one idea: see what God is doing and join Him. Rather than asking God to bless our plan and our vision, we must see what God is doing around us and join God in His plan and His vision. What is vision? Vision is a picture of what God wants to do. Vision is a picture of what God will do in His church if we get out of His way and turn Him loose to do it. So the process of vision is the process of joining God in what He is doing and wants to do in His church. As a junior in high school, I was part of a youth mission trip to a small church in Idaho. When we arrived, the girls were taken to homes for lodging while the boys set up quarters in the church building. The only problem with this arrangement was the lack of a place for the boys to shower and clean up. After a few days this problem was becoming apparent to anyone within several hundred yards of the boys. So our youth pastor asked the pastor of the host church where the boys could clean up. He informed us that just beyond the tree line at the edge of the church property was a beautiful, crystal clear river that flowed straight down from the mountains and that we were welcome to bathe there. That discovery changed the entire trip. Every day thereafter the boys would spend a few minutes of much needed fun and refreshment (and odor improvement) in that river. I have thought often about that river over the years. I am convinced of this truth: the river of what God wants to do is flowing nearby every one of our churches if we will just discover it and get immersed in it. God has a river of vision for each of His churches and most of us are not even aware it is there

Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0310233445
• ISBN 13: 9780310233442
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240