A Pitch for Fast Change in Church Revitalization

/ WestonBlaha

“No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” Luke 5:37–38

Church revitalization is among the hardest assignments a minister can receive. And while many congregations long for renewal, few actually experience it. Research in organizational behavior shows that 60–70% of all business change efforts fail.1 In ministry, the numbers may be even worse. Thom Rainer (CEO of Lifeway) argues that traditional approaches to revitalization carry very low odds of lasting change—just 2% in many cases.2 Yet failure is not inevitable. How we approach change makes all the difference.

Traditional wisdom seems to be that slow, incremental adjustments are the safest course. Ease people into new songs. Nudge the governance structure. Introduce mission language gradually. These are slow but methodical culture shifts are geared towards the heart–the hope is that change can be embraced in small bites, whereas wholesale upheaval might cause complete imposion. But more often than not, this “slow fade” approach does not work. The statistcs cited above back this up. The Reformed tradition—and Scripture itself—suggests a better way: decisive, gospel-driven reformation.

Why Slow Change Fails

The instinct to move slowly is understandable, but it has a host of areas in which it can backfire.

  1. Nostalgia lingers. The “good ole days” remain within reach, and the congregation never feels cut off from its old identity. You can honor history without clinging to the past. But too often, churches get this formula skewed.
  2. Resistance solidifies. Incrementalism gives opponents time to organize. In many churches, the mindset becomes: “This too shall pass. If we wait long enough, the pastor will move on.”
  3. Change fatigue sets in. Endless tweaks without visible transformation wear people down. Organizational scholars call this change fatigue.3 In church life, it manifests as apathy, disengagement, and cynicism. The congregations experiences change fatiuge by losing energy in new initatives; the leadership experiences it by growing weary of constantly having to make difficlut decisions.

This is why in the corporate world, only 13% of organizations with weak change management succeed—while those with clear, decisive strategies succeed 88% of the time.4 The principle carries over: timidity does not lead to reformation.

Why Fast Change Fits the Reformed Vision

Fast change, done with wisdom and pastoral care, aligns better with both the data and the theology of the Reformed tradition.

  • It creates urgency. John Kotter’s famous “burning platform”5 illustrates how bold change communicates that the status quo is no longer an option. The prophets did the same: “How long will you go limping between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:21).
  • It resets identity. The church is not called to be a museum of its past but a living body under Christ the Head. Decisive shifts help the congregation see itself not through the lens of nostalgia, but through the lens of its covenant identity in Christ.
  • It closes the back door. Just as sanctification calls us to “put off the old self” (Eph. 4:22–24), revitalization requires a decisive putting away of old habits. Alcoholics Anonymous understands that cutting off is more effective than tapering; the same is true in congregational reform.

Biblical Models of Decisive Reform

The pattern in Scripture is not gradual drift but decisive covenant renewal.

  • Nineveh (Jonah 3:6-10): When the Assyrian people of Nineveh heard the news of judgment, they embraced immediate reform. Sackcloth, ashes, mourning—their whole world stopped. While the change did not buy them eternity, it did provide a delay—YHWH’s judgment would wait: they had ceased their wickedness.
  • Josiah’s reforms (2 Kings 23): He tore down high places and smashed idols in one sweeping act of obedience. Reformation meant removal, not slow accommodation. Josiah had no concern for offending Israel–his concern was faithfulness to YHWH.
  • Pentecost (Acts 2): The Spirit constituted the church in one dramatic event, reorienting its identity from fearful disciples to bold witnesses.

The Reformed tradition has always echoed this. The Reformation was not a tweak of medieval practice; it was a decisive recovery of sola Scriptura and the gospel of justification by faith alone. Calvin called for “the pure preaching of the Word, the right administration of the sacraments, and the faithful exercise of discipline” (Institutes 4.1.9)—marks that require clarity, not gradualism.

What Fast Change Looks Like in Practice

In a local church, fast change does not mean recklessness. It means courageous, biblically grounded leadership. It means upopular decisions. It means follow-through. Examples include:

  • Worship: Move decisively to Christ-centered, Word-saturated liturgy, rather than “sneaking in” new songs.
  • Mission: Frame and announce a gospel-driven mission statement that redefines the congregation’s identity in light of the Great Commission.
  • Structures: Replace broken committee models with elder-led polity decisively, not piecemeal. This reflects the New Testament pattern (Titus 1:5).
  • Prayer & Repentance: Call the church to corporate prayer in areas in which personal comfort has been prioritized over Gospel calling and brotherly love.

In each case, decisive change helps God’s people live in line with their covenant identity.

The Pastoral Charge

Fast change will sting. Some may resist. Some may even leave. But the call of the shepherd is to lead God’s people toward health, not to protect nostalgia. If the shepherd sees a wolf, he quickly drives the sheep to safety. If the sheep are headed toward a cliff, the shepher re-directs the sheep–even if the grass on the edge of the cliff is wonderful. The calling of the shepherd is alignemnet with the Great Shepherd–should we draw this out for fear of offense? The Westminster Confession reminds us that Christ alone is Head of the Church (WCF 25.6). Faithful pastors must lead congregations away from cultural captivity and toward Christ’s rule—even if it requires ripping off the band-aid.

The alternative is slow decline, which leaves Christ’s body weak and malnourished. Or, it is often years of constant conflict, leaving shepherds weary and burnt out. Better to endure the pain of bold reform than the slow death of timidity.

Conclusion

Revitalization rarely succeeds through slow, hesitant adjustment. Both research and Scripture point to the same reality: lasting transformation comes through decisive, biblically-grounded change. Our congregations do not need a never-ending project on their hands–they need to be fed the kind of food that is nurturing to their soul. If they are fed well through the change, they will mature and grow, able to show others where to find food that nourishes the soul.

Pastor, if you are called to revitalize, lead with clarity, urgency, and conviction. Ground every shift in the Word, lean on the Spirit through prayer, and shepherd with love. But do not delay. Some may leave. But in my conversations and experiences through multiple church reforms–those people were probably going to leave anyways. There would eventually be a limit to how much change would be acceptable–be wary of catering to disgruntled sheep who refuse to be fed.

Rip off the band-aid. Reform for the glory of Christ and the good of His Church.

“New wine must be put into fresh wineskins” (Luke 5:38).

  1. Beer, Michael & Nohria, Nitin. Breaking the Code of Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000. ↩︎
  2. https://replantbootcamp.com/should-we-revitalize-or-replant/ ↩︎
  3. Lewis, Laurie K. Organizational Change: Creating Change Through Strategic Communication. Wiley-Blackwell, 2019. ↩︎
  4. Prosci. Best Practices in Change Management. 11th Edition, 2020. ↩︎
  5. Kotter, John. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996. ↩︎

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