Leading Through Change: Pastors & Presiding Elders – A Regional Perspective!

Pastors and Presiding Elders have the unique challenge of working through a plethora of changes within their region while sustaining the authenticity of their calls to ministry and God’s command to fulfill the Great Commission. Change may be initiated by leadership transitions, system modifications, discipleship transformations, resource availability, and cultural shifts.

Presiding Elder Andrew B. Smoke recognizes that leaders will rarely have 100% of the people they lead. He shared, “I tell my pastors to do the will of God how God spoke it to you.” His Guidance: Recognize the need, make assessments, and move according to God’s will. When systems and norms have been in place for many years, it is extremely difficult to initiate change. He believes the key is showing how change will help the church reach the masses. He admonishes us to meet the people – Adults, Young Adults, Youth, and Children – where they are. We lose some of our younger members because we’re unwilling to meet them where they are. “You’ve got to minister to the whole church!” Sometimes that requires change to be brought in and slowly fed to the recipients, giving them the time they need to digest the change.

“Change is challenging!” says Presiding Elder Charles Tillett. “When it comes to leading change, you must be flexible and transparent.” It is important to remember that not every congregation is the same, so similar situations at different churches within different communities must be approached differently. He also cautioned, “If you’re leading spiritual transformation, you have to be integral to the Biblical narrative – that’s imperative!” He reminded us to be patient because change takes time: The fruit that the church is bearing today is relative to the seeds that were sown yesterday. The key: “We all have to be held accountable.”

Rev. Dr. Carolyn Dewberry spoke of the challenge of change from the perspective of leading as a woman. Change is difficult for everyone, but being a woman leading change in a congregation often exposes a stigma – spoken or unspoken – that challenges the female leader to stand firm in what God has called her to do. There are voices still articulating that women should not be preaching or pastoring; however, Rev. Dr. Dewberry declared, “I go in and stand on who I know I am in the Lord. Whatever God leads me to do as far as change, I attempt to do as God says.” Working ministry will always present leaders with those who support change wholeheartedly and those who actively resist change.

There was a totally different viewpoint presented by Rev. Lakeisha McCoy. Her perspective provokes pivoting. She stated, “It’s the constant pivot that has really taught me, and it comes off of the negative, but the pivot is what strengthens me from one leg to the other; one situation to another.” Not having the necessary resources but being innovative to replace what you don’t have by creating what doesn’t exist is the instigator of the pivot.

Having served with or under the leadership of those who participated in my interview, Rev. Lloyd Nivens IV shared that he learned some of the strategies of leading through change by gleaning from more seasoned leaders around him. During Rev. Dr. Dewberry’s pastorate at Moore’s Chapel, he learned that although the church was more traditional, she fully embraced the worship styles of students from Livingstone College and encouraged parishioners to be receptive to worship styles that weren’t as traditional. He also shared, “Dr. Tillett showed me that sometimes change takes a while, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t stop trying.” And from his current Presiding Elder, Rev. Dr. Smoke, “What do you have to lose?” He stressed that sometimes you must identify what needs to be changed and then come with a plan to fix it.

Rev. Henrico D. White shared the truth that people in church are also part of the world’s culture. It is an interesting twist that members want the latest and most up-to-date technology personally, but they want things to change more slowly at church and in the work of ministry. “Which then makes it difficult and challenging for those who are leading ministries to make that adjustment, to make those pivots, to make those necessary movements for the church to lead the culture and for the culture not to lead the church.” “Where we once were leaders in changing culture, we now find ourselves trying to play catch-up to culture.”

And Rev. Dr. David Williams closed the interview by saying, “When you start talking about the changing of the culture, from an organizational standpoint for Corporate America, the stakeholders are making the investment.” Without having investors, you don’t have the capital needed to fix what needs to be fixed. The church is behind because we need people to make the investment.

Investment fuels change. For us to successfully lead through change, we must consistently commit to utilizing our time, engaging our talents, and injecting our treasures! Change will not occur without righteous perspectives and right investments.