January 2006
Why are we asking Church Over 40 subscribers to read a pop psychology book written 25 years ago? Because “Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes” by William Bridges (Cambridge: Perseus Books, 1980) can help pastors and church leaders define reality in transitioning churches. Leadership guru Max DePree says that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The simple model of transition in this book can help you do that. It helps make sense of the experience of leading change in older churches. “Transitions” became a surprise bestseller and launched Bridges’ career as a transition management consultant. He writes, “This book is not simply a manual on how-to-cope. It is based on a theory of personal development that views transition as the natural process of disorientation and reorientation that marks the turning points of the path of growth” (p. 5). That phrase, “turning points of the path of growth” aptly describes the difficult in-between times experienced by churches getting ready to grow again. Bridges is writing for individuals, and individual church leaders will certainly find the concepts helpful. However, the basic framework of transition applies also to the congregation as a whole. In every transition, 1. There is an ending, followed by Step #2 is transition, or what Bridges sometimes calls The Neutral Zone. It’s a difficult phase. Churches in transition recognize that the old culture and former ways of doing things are passing away. They grieve the loss. They hear some talk of a new beginning, a fresh start, but nothing tangible has yet emerged. There are only inklings of a new church, whispers on the wind of the Spirit that blows where it wills. “Transitions” has two parts. Part One, “The Need for Change,” makes a case that change is the human condition and offers help managing transitions in personal areas of love and work. Bridges points out that every transition begins with an ending (p. 11). This is a helpful insight for church leaders. Often, we become so excited about the new thing God is beginning to do in our church that we fail to notice how many longtime church members are grieving. They are experiencing change as loss. They are sad about what’s passing away. Until their grief is acknowledged and assuaged, they will be unable to embrace the new vision. Their hands must release “what has been” before they are free to take hold of “what will be.” Some transitioning congregations have actually named their losses in corporate worship. They have offered them to God as a liturgical act. It helps. After the first phase (something ends), “the second phase is a time of lostness and emptiness before ‘life’ resumes an intelligible pattern and direction. The third phase is that of beginning anew” (p. 17). It’s important, Bridges says, not to try to rush through the difficult second phase. Instead, difficult as it is, lie fallow like a field between harvest and planting. We like this image of restoring depleted soil as a metaphor for the congregation in transition. Bridges asks the reader, “Which of your own life transition points have been the most important so far? … What is the chronology of your own experience of transition?” (p. 53). For example, are you a dasher or a lingerer? Your personal way of managing transitions affects how you feel about the pace of transition in your church. Part Two, “The Transition Process,” looks more in depth at Endings, The Neutral Zone, and Making a Beginning. “Endings are, let’s remember, experiences of dying. They are ordeals, and sometimes they challenge so basically our sense of who we are that we believe they will be the end of US” (p. 110). Next is the neutral zone or transition, where “the problem is that before we can find a new something, we must deal with a time of nothing.” People become anxious about this. They may feel sad about the loss of the familiar, and angry that no superior alternative has arisen to replace it. Church leaders cannot succumb to childish demands for order, clarity, and stability in this phase. That short-circuits the entire process. In this time between the times, answers are hard to come by, and pat answers fool no one. Church members must hang onto God and each other in love, patiently waiting for God to reveal what’s next, in God’s time. The new beginning comes in God’s time. “When we are ready to make a new beginning, we will shortly find an opportunity. The transition process involves an inner realignment and a renewal of energy, both of which depend on immersion in the chaos of the neutral zone” (p. 136). We’ve seen this in congregations, when the church has hung together in the neutral zone and used the time to pray and seek God’s heart through Scripture, dialogue, and acts of humble service. In time, the church develops a clear sense of vision. Appropriate actions become clear, and people find fulfillment again through Christian service that bears fruit. “Transitions” was so successful that Bridges has written two sequels: “Managing Transitions,” which we also recommend, and “The Way of Transition,” Bridges’ personal reflections after the death of his wife. Bridges is not a Christian writer, but his simple model of the three stages of transition sheds light on the experience of God’s people in transitioning congregations. In his commentaries on the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann sorts them into several categories. He lists “Psalms of Orientation” and “Psalms of Disorientation.” Obviously, transitions are nothing new for God’s people. May the rich resources of Scripture, your congregation’s
heritage, and your own personal experience of change sustain you
in your current transition. The neutral zone is not fun, but it
is necessary. And the new thing God is doing will be worth it all.
“The Lord Almighty is here among us; the God of Israel is
our fortress” (Psalm 46:11).
Rev. Fred Oaks |