Making Change a Friend Instead of a Foe

“3 Biblical Ways to Move from Change Loather

to Change Lover.”

What do you call a tree that has stopped growing? That’s right, Dead.

It’s no different with leaders or organizations.

I did an idiotic thing once. (It was the only time, mind you, but it was a doozy!)  Getting fed up with the weeds that kept popping up in my mulch around the gorgeous cottonwood my wife and I planted in our front yard, I doused them with weed killer.

My methodology was extremely effective in killing the weeds. But, as you might have guessed, it also did in my tree. Gone were its lush green leaves.  Gone was its shade.  Gone were the bragging rights we had with our neighbors, since it was the tallest and most beautiful tree in a four block radius.  My tree died a quick death.

Using a dead tree metaphor might be overstating it bit, but the lack of growth and the loss we will experience in our lives, our leadership, and our organizations is real if we resist change or innovation instead of embrace it.

In one way or another, all of us have change aversion, especially when things seem to be going well. Even those who would consider themselves to be change-aholics have their limits. Here’s the thing.  We are not going to change change.  It is as consistent as the seconds ticking away on a timex. It will be a pressing constant until Jesus comes. Then talk about change!

So, how can we move from being a change loather to becoming a change lover? Here are three actions that have helped me as a faith-driven entrepreneur.

1. Date the Method

“Why do you cut off the ends of a roast before cooking it?” a husband asked his wife. “Because my mother did it that way,” she responded with a smile. The husband being the curious type had to get to the bottom of this dilemma. So he called his wife’s mother and asked the same question.

Receiving an identical answer, he proceeded to call his wife’s grandmother.  Upon hearing the question, she laughed and said, “I don’t know why they cut off the ends of the roast, but I did it that way because a full roast wouldn’t fit into my pan.” (*adapted from Ken Boa’s Handbook to Leadership, Trinity House Publishers, 2007)

This story illustrates how some methods or strategies we may borrow from current cultural trends to start up new ventures, create new products, goods and services, to hit our KPI’s, or to maintain compelling work cultures may be the perfect method to fulfill the mission at that moment. But over time—especially with how fast our culture is continually changing today—they become the proverbial roast with the ends cut off.

The wise lead-follower of Christ will know when the appropriate “cutting” or “pruning” is needed. Or when a new “S-Curve” needs to be established in order to become “more fruitful” and thus proving him/herself as an entrepreneur disciple of Jesus and bringing greater glory to Him (John 15:8). 

2. Marry the Mission

I once heard Pastor Andy Stanley charge, “Marry the mission, date the model.” His point was that people resist change when they’ve lost sight of their mission because the model (or method) has become more important.

I have found this to be true in my own entrepreneurial ventures and leadership. When I feel overwhelmed by the enormity of challenges and changes going on, I find renewed vision, motivation, and endurance to tackle them by rediscovering my mission, or my “Why” (as Simon Sinek mentions in an intriguing and well known Ted Talk).

• • Person – I long to be Christ’s ambassador—His salt and light leading others to find eternal, true life in Jesus, the perfect God-Man (Matt. 5:13-16; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

• • Place – I desire to be an instrument—helping people find a place to connect deeply with others in meaningful and transformative ways.

• • Purpose/Passion—I love helping others to find and better fulfill their unique, God given purpose with passion!

These are some of the Why pathways that God has hard-wired in me that have intersected to become my unique calling. They have sustained me and compelled me to embrace some of most significant changes I’ve ever experienced in my life and leadership.

Knowing and staying married to your personal and/or professional mission—and helping those you lead to do the same—will provide the motivational anchors of stability that you (and they) need to thrive in an environment of change.

3. Mimic the Master

He has been innovative Himself in the way He has dealt with human beings throughout history. A worldwide flood, the establishment of languages and nations at Babel, the call of Abraham and a nation (Israel) to Himself, the deliverance of that nation from Egypt and the establishment of laws for living through Moses — all serve as dramatic examples of unparalleled changes that have been wrought by God.

These innovative works led to the most remarkable of all:   Jesus. God in the flesh.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14).

What would motivate the God of the universe to leave the power, the splendor, the pleasures and perfection of His heavenly home? To forever take on humanity as part of His divine being?  To ultimately die a despicable and cruel death on a cross?

All the other methods He had instituted prior to His coming were insufficient to meet our greatest need: the need for forgiveness. So Jesus stayed married to His mission of redemption and willingly paid the painful price of change to cover the debt of our sins.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2).

As followers of Christ, and ones called to be imitators of our God as dearly loved children (Eph. 5:1), we owe it to our Savior to follow His masterful example.

Here’s a final thought that might help us all to become more friendly with change.

To change is at the very core of what it means to be a Christian. Through faith in Christ and trust in what He accomplished on our behalf on the cross:

• • we are positionally changed: made as completely new beings in Him (2 Cor. 5:17)

• • we should be progressively changing: becoming made more like Him daily (Romans 8:29)

• • we will be permanently changed: the best is yet to come. Our God will make all of the earth and the heavens perfectly new; there will be no more pain associated with change!(Revelation 21:1-5)

1. 1. Are there any useless methods in your life and leadership that you need to send a “Dear John,” letter to?
   2. What innovations or changes have you brought to those God has called you to lead?
   3. What changes might God be leading you to make?
   4. What are some of the Whys that will drive you and sustain you as you navigate through these changes?