The Test of Transition

by Adam Kolosik

Life is full of transition from one thing to the next. These transitions could be childhood to adolescence, adolescence to adulthood, student to working, nonbeliever to believer, one job to another, one city to another and much more. We, as leaders in student ministry, know transition better than most. Our role is a continual transition as students transition from Children’s Ministry and we graduate students to college each year.

The idea isn’t to look at transition as a bad thing, but to look at it as an opportunity for something new. Change is always hard, but it is also an opportunity for unexpected growth. We never know how we’ll do after a transition. We never know how our students will do after a transition. But we cannot avoid a transition because of the unknown. We must embrace the fact that transition is going to happen. We should do our best to prepare for it, and do our best to turn the scary transition into something incredible and new.

Last year we transitioned a lot of amazing students out of our youth ministry due to high school graduation. It was tough to see such an incredible group of students go, but it was also a great opportunity to start investing in new students. Our youth ministry looks completely different today than it did a year ago because we had to transition from some older students to focus on building up new leaders. I will admit I made a lot of mistakes over the year and transition, but I’m still excited for what is to come next and I’m more prepared for it this year because of the mistakes I made last year. In youth ministry we live in a state of continual transition and we must get used to it, or we won’t be able to continually and effectively reach students for Jesus.

Processing the Shift

by Chris Bobblett

As I look at the lives of great men and woman of faith, survey the struggles and success of the early church and ponder my own pilgrimage, two things remain constant: change and God’s love. Things in the kingdom are always moving and we must move with the King of the kingdom, which is not always as easy as it seemss.

2 Corinthians 10:4 (ASV), “For the weapons of our warfare (GK-‘stratia’, war, strategy) are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds”

The weapons we use for kingdom warfare are not carnal (not human reasoning). Too often we fail because we posses mighty weapons, but we do not possess the right strategies for that time or season. We have often failed to advance and, in many cases, give up ground because we’ve lost the element of surprise. Instead of going through the transition required and pressing in to hear a proceeding word, we have resolved to go back to the previous patterns or “borrow” someone else’s idea. We continue to do what God said, but we miss what He is saying.

Too often we become perfectionists in antiquated methods of warfare. History illustrates this: because someone said it was noble to dress up in blue and red coats and stand across the field from each other and shoot at one another, that is how armies fought for  many years. However when they tried to use that method on armies with different methods, they got a surprise. Warriors would hide in creeks and trees. They utilized the element of surprise and they had it because they were authentic, they were not just trying to mimic someone else’s method, pattern or concept. The element of surprise is connected to being authentic!

Please understand me, it is not that we have been doing things wrongly, but that we have been perfectionists in using antiquated methods for too long. The problem with patterns is that eventually they become ineffective. You can repeat the same processes without the presence and lose authenticity. Authenticity comes from revelation, which produces the element of surprise. Our desire to be relevant causes us to reproduce what’s already been done or what others are doing. We desire to be relevant while the kingdom is calling for authenticity. Although He changes not, we are always changing.

On a personal level this transition (which is still ongoing) is challenging, confronting and life changing because I’m learning to be me and not the mirror image or mimic of someone else. For ministry to be authentic, we need to be ourselves and what a wonderful place of rest and peace it is! Change is inevitable. We are always in a process of transition. Learning to be yourself is a simplistic, but vital key.

Process

by Heath Adamson

Genesis 8:22 reads “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.”

After a cataclysmic event (Noah’s flood) the Lord sovereignly instituted a process that we can all count on. We never have to wonder what next winter holds: He has predetermined it. Noah was given fair advance from the Lord regarding the flood. He had plenty of time to warn those around him and design/build the ark. Imagine, however, the feeling of uncertainty when you are surrounded by water for week after week? God established security and serenity with Noah simply by establishing a process. When God speaks, nothing can affect the outcome.

God used the concept of process to enable Noah to move forward with God’s plan. A system put in place enables us to launch into the world of the unknown when there are certain things we can count on regardless.

This generation of leadership pioneers change. Leaders trumpet evolution. A temptation is to become addicted to change. In the book Good To Great Jim Collins identifies an underlying characteristic in the organizations that were good but never reached greatness. They were “addicted to change.” Someone once said that tradition is the living faith of the dead while traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Some things need to be challenged, critiqued, set aside or created. At times, however, the weak link is not the employee or the motivational cause. Sometimes the system is flawed. When this is the case, evaluating and improving is more beneficial than starting from scratch.

As you evaluate your current context, be ready to assess what systems need to remain regardless of your season. These systems can anchor you in growth when you need staff or volunteers. There is something to be said for consistent growth over the long haul as opposed to sporadic growth only to fade away. The right systems with the right people will produce the right results.

Before making another change, allow God to lead you in assessing if the problem is really that person or that principle. Maybe, just maybe, your system just needs to be established and remain long enough to produce fruit along the way. Sometimes change is the answer. Other times, however, remaining is.