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Transitioning, by Dan Southerland
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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.
- Sales Rank: #272931 in Books
- Brand: HarperCollins Christian Pub.
- Published on: 2002-04-01
- Released on: 2002-04-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .63" w x 5.47" l, .49 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 240 pages
From the Back Cover
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 the Author
Dan Southerland is one of the pastors of Next Level Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is also the founder and director of Church Transitions, an organization that trains pastors and church leaders to effectively manage change. He has trained over 100,000 pastors and church leaders in the past seven years, and is one of the leading experts on implementing the purpose-driven paradigm in existing churches.
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
Most helpful customer reviews
57 of 67 people found the following review helpful.
Heartless Transitioning
By Tim Challies
If The Purpose Driven Church is the "what" and "why" of the church growth movement and all things Purpose Driven, Transitioning represents the "how." "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...Transitioning is written for you." (From the back cover). We also learn from the cover that the book will help a pastor and congregation navigate change and attain rewards that far exceed the risk. Essentially, this book is a how-to guide for changing an existing church from program-driven to purpose-driven. It is written by Dan Southerland, but endorsed by Rick Warren who says that Southerland's church is "one of the most exciting and encouraging examples of transitioning from being program driven to purpose driven." (From the foreward)
I always take the time to read the author's bio that is generally on the back cover of a book as it usually outlines the author's credentials, providing the reader with some confidence that the author is worth learning from. As if to emphasize the concerns of those who believe that the church growth movement is driven by pragmatism, the author's bio says "Dan Southerland is the pastor/teacher at Flamingo Road Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida - a purpose-driven, contemporary congregation that has grown from 300 in 1989 to over 2,300 today and launched seventeen other churches." The author's sole credential is that he has made the Purpose Driven principles work by seeing the requisite numerical growth.
I have little doubt that this book can help many churches move from being "program-driven" (which is synonymous with "traditional") to purpose-driven. There is a logical model to follow, there are plenty of practical examples, and many blanks to fill in as part of the workbook section in the back. Those who believe that Purpose Driven churches are the wave of the future, will find much here to praise and imitate. Those who believe Purpose Driven churches are tearing the Christian world to pieces will similarly find plenty to support their belief. I am no lover of Purpose Driven principles, so allow me to point out some of my foremost concerns with the book.
First, the principles within this book are steeped in pragmatism. What works is elevated far above what Scripture teaches. If it works, in the author's view, it must be good. This is, of course, consistent with The Purpose Driven Church which is modeled as much on Peter Drucker as on the Bible.
Second, the author misuses Scripture. In a vain attempt to lend Scriptural credence to the book, the author bases the process of transition on the model of Nehemiah, who led the Israelites in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Many of these parallels are forced and the Scripture simply does not support the conclusions. For example, when discussing the reality and inevitability of opposition, Southerland writes about Sanballat and his opposition to Nehemiah's work (see Nehemiah chapters 2 and 4). Of course there is vast difference between opposition raised by a hostile unbeliever and a concerned believer! Southerland, though, groups all those who oppose change as Sanballats.
Third, the author does away with biblical models of leadership. One of the necessary steps in moving to a Purpose Driven church is to make the church staff led instead of committee/deacon led. Rather than having a plurality of elders, a church should have a vision team which is composed of dreamers and power brokers, so that the church becomes led by those who dream big and those who have the money and power within the church.
Fourth, the churches the author proposes are custom-built to appeal to a very limited element of society. It is not mere chance that the author's church had the average age of attender fall nearly 20 years over his transition period. The church was custom made to appeal to a certain element of society at the expense of others. Who is building and planting churches designed to appeal to the elderly?
Fifth, there is little consideration given to whether this transition is right or biblical. We are to blindly accept that it is the way to do church and to begin the process, regardless of what other church members may desire. The first step in transition is creating a vision. This teaching about vision is something that is in-line with the teachings of Schuller, Warren, Wilkinson, Blackaby and the New Age - we are to dream a big dream, call it vision, and raise that up as our standard. Decisions are made and programs are accepted or rejected based on their conformity to this vision. Yet this vision is created by a man. He may ascribe it to God and it may be biblical, but it needs to be regarded as a lower standard than the Word of God!
Sixth, the method is brutal in its dealing with opposition. There is no latitude given for those who oppose the change, even if they object on biblical grounds. Criticism is viewed as inevitable and unfortunate, but ultimately an attack on God Himself. The pastor is cautioned to remain on track with the change and not allow opposers to derail the process.
Those are a few of my concerns. Ultimately, if you are committed to being Purpose Driven, this book may help you avoid making some costly mistakes in transitioning your church, but I would urge you to spend some time studying the biblical concerns of the opponents of this movement. Determine for yourself if this movement is pleasing to God and if it really does represent the way God would have us "do church." For those who are opposed to the movement this book has little value. It does provide an interesting case study of the Purpose Driven Church in action but it will merely add fuel to your fire. There must be some better way to spend your money.
44 of 51 people found the following review helpful.
Promotes "top down" leadership
By S Nyles
Are pastors so desperate for "success" as defined by this author they implement (what amounts to) power grab strategies. The author starts from an assumption that "church growth" can only be acheived through adopting the "purpose driven" format which is also assumed to be THE way to reach the "unchurched". According to the book, the pastor first needs to convince the congregation they've "lost their vision". The pastor casts a new vision which includes the implementation of the "purpose driven" format and attempts to sell it to the congregation. In order to make this work, old leadership must be dissolved and a new vision/transition team installed. Church members who reject or question this "transition" are seen as "whiners and complainers". A whole chapter is devoted to dealing with the opposition. The author tells pastors to know who the "power brokers" are in the congregation and get their support up front, otherwise you will have to "fight them" or "run them off". Southerland tells pastors to be willing to lose a significant portion of the congregation to this transition as some are "vision immune" (they can't catch the vision).
Why are churches and pastors eager to latch onto this gimmicky and commercialized way of doing church? The methods promoted in "Transitioning" are, in my opinion manipulative, contrived and unChristlike.
42 of 49 people found the following review helpful.
How to conform the church in your own image!
By PJ
I wish I could rate it lower than a 1. It's far worse and more blatant than Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church.
I found it interesting to note that he teaches you how to get rid of dissenters before he teaches you how to listen to legitimate complaints. After seeing their fellow church members kicked out, how will people with 'legitimate concerns' be willing to come forward?
The church growth apostasy (yes, APOSTASY) is taking over all denominations. I have seen it in Evangelical Covenant (rampant there) and being pushed on the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (you can see it all over their website in their 'igniting congregations campaign') Mennonites, Baptists, and the list is endless.
The older saints who just want the pure word of God, realizing that adding all the trappings to it is just distracting from the truth, are called 'sanballats' (leaders from hell). What a respectful way to treat fellow believers who may very well have legitimate concerns.
Take a stand against this apostasy. It will come to your church.
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