Dear Friends,
One of the greatest challenges in church life is not simply what we change, but how we live with one another while change is happening. Every administrator, project lead, and church manager knows the reality: Even the smallest shift - whether in a ministry, a system, or a long-held tradition - can stir up deep emotions. Some of our people light up with excitement at the thought of something new. Others instinctively hold back, feeling the weight of loss, uncertainty, or the fear that cherished values might be slipping away. And between those responses sits a very real tension that, if left unattended, can pull a church family apart.
But Scripture calls us to something better.
In Isaiah 43:19, God declares: "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" God's invitation has always been the same - to notice, to discern, and to join Him when He initiates something fresh for the sake of His Kingdom. The "new thing" is rarely comfortable, but it is always purposeful. And it is always meant to draw us towards His mission, not away from one another.
This is where your work as church administrators becomes profoundly important.
Many of you will be familiar with Everett Rogers' Innovation Adoption Curve, the model that describes how different people adopt change at different speeds. In every congregation we have our innovators and early adopters who run joyfully into the new. We also have our early majority who wait for reassurance, our late majority who need to see stability before committing, and our 'laggards' who may feel deeply protective of what has been.
Church life would be easy if everyone sat at the same point on that curve. But the beauty - and the challenge - of the Body of Christ is that we don't. And that diversity is not a flaw; it's a God given gift. The enthusiastic voices help us move. The cautious voices help us think. The resistant voices often help us honour what is precious. Healthy change happens when we hold space for all of these people without allowing the tension to become a tear.
Administrators play a key role in this spiritual work of change.
You are often the bridge between vision and reality, helping translate a sense of God's leading into clear steps that people can understand and trust. You shape the communication that turns anxiety into clarity. You design the processes that make change feel safe rather than chaotic. You hold the timelines, the details, and the pastoral awareness needed to bring the whole church - innovators and laggards alike - on the journey together.
Never underestimate the spiritual significance of that role. When you plan well, communicate well, and hold people well, you help create an environment where change can be embraced rather than feared. You make room for God's "new thing" to spring up without leaving people behind or wounding the body of Christ in the process.
So, if you are living in a season of change in your church, please be encouraged and remember that God has placed you there and sees you. You are not just managing change: You're stewarding unity, you're enabling mission, and you're helping your churches perceive the new thing God is doing.
Keep going!
For you,
Jules Morgan
Director, UK Church Administrators Network