How to lead your media ministry in church through change.

Graeme Spencer Author

Leadership tips for navigating your media ministry in church through change. Be flexible, lean on others, and don't take it personally.

How do chaos and constant change impact the plans for our media ministry in church? And what can we do to navigate change when it comes?

There is no denying the last few years have been tumultuous times. COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, challenges in the Middle East, the economic crisis, etc, have all presented unexpected and unplanned challenges. I believe challenges like these can significantly impact how we "do" media ministry in church.

Oh, and by the way, change is here to stay...

Seismic shifts.

Consider for a minute the enormous challenges that happened in churches at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Churches suddenly couldn’t gather in person and those who had never even thought about a need to livestream as part of their plans were forced into it (overnight, in many cases). They had to devise a plan to roll it out as part of their media ministry in church.

Remarkably, many churches successfully pivoted (that must have been the word of 2020) and fully embraced this new aspect of media ministry. However, when I look at where many are now, it seems they are unfortunately "stuck" at the same place they were during the pandemic and that their media ministry in church has not moved on or evolved from what they did then.

As a quick aside, if you want to see how your Digital Ministry is doing, you would benefit from our Digital Ministry Assessment. It will help you think through what you are doing, where you want to go, how you can improve your media ministry in church and also give you practical steps to take.

Uncertainty on uncertainty and further uncertainty.

Since we all pivoted, though, change has become the norm, and we seem to have even more significant uncertainty on a global scale every week.

Where I live in the UK (though many of you outside the UK, I am sure, can also relate), we have faced more and more change: other lockdowns due to the resurgence of Covid, our government in chaos, wars in various parts of the world, growing economic challenges and even the Queen's death. All of these impact what happens in our churches, which has often impacted how we go about media ministry in church.

Because of this, I want to share some insight with you and explore some leadership principles that will be beneficial.

I want to consider how we can remain effective in times of great uncertainty and how, by so doing, we can lead our media ministry in church through the changes that come.

Three essential leadership tips.

I will share three leadership tips that I believe will help you navigate any change well, be it in your media ministry in church or any area of life.

Let me dispel a myth right at the start. That is the idea that if change is inevitable, why plan?

There is a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin: 

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” 

That is very true, and I have learned over the years that planning is a vital part that will help us when things change. The crucial thing is knowing how to change our plans at a moment’s notice.

Here are the tips:

Tip 1 – Flexibility is your friend. I know it probably doesn’t seem like it to those who love our rigid routines and “locked down” plans (excuse the pun), but embracing flexibility rather than resisting it can be a game changer - particularly in media ministry in church. What I mean by that is maintaining flexibility in every area you can. This is particularly hard for many involved in media ministry in church. We like (no LOVE stability), right? It's easy for us to get locked into unchangeable patterns that are traps of our own making.

Tony Robbins says:

"Stay committed to your decisions but stay flexible in your approach".

But I like to say, “There are no sacred cows in the Kingdom.” Question everything you think is non-negotiable about how you are doing things, your technical set-up, your content, and your strategy, and ask if it is only that way because it is easier for you. If so, you have set up your own sacred cow, which needs to be killed. Keeping an attitude that embraces flexibility will help you immensely (even if it is still painful) and will help those you serve and lead in the media ministry in church.

Tip 2 – Use the strengths of others. OK, so I said flexibility is your friend – well, I want to confess, it often hasn’t been mine. IN-flexibility is much more my “norm”. So, being flexible has been one of the hardest things for me to learn (and still is hard to apply), but I have been fortunate to work with others that even when I think something is a non-negotiable, THEY have shown me it isn’t. Surround yourself in your media ministry in church with people who will help you see your blind spots in this area. Also, draw on their strengths. We often think (mainly as leaders) that we are the ones who need to have all the answers – well, that is a fallacy.

Phil Jackson said:

"The strength of the team is each individual member, The strength of each member is the team."

I believe it IS our job as media ministry in church leaders to make decisions, but NOT necessarily to have all the answers – in fact, good leadership is about allowing people around us the freedom to speak into our situations and instil in them the confidence that what they have to contribute is valued.

Proverbs 11 v14 talks about there being safety in an abundance of counsellors - that's certainly true when it comes to your media ministry in church – so positively inviting and encouraging people to have the freedom to input into all our process is essential – they may have the piece you are looking for.

Tip 3 – Don’t take things personally. I think for me this is one of my worst traits. I get SO invested in a solution or “my plan” that when something (or frankly, more often) when someone comes along, and forces change, I struggle to cope as it seems to become about me, my value and my worth. My “go-to” is that I should have foreseen what was coming and planned accordingly. It’s tough to get out of that mindset, but I am trying to learn not to fall into this trap and instead roll with the punches.

Winston Churchill summed it up well when he said:

"Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."

If the last few years have taught me anything, it is that nothing is certain and that when changes have to be made, they are not necessarily because of your inability to foresee a problem. Getting to the stage where your “worth” isn’t on the line when things happen and changes must be made in the media ministry in church will help you enormously. Then, these challenges will be quicker to recover from.

So, there you have my top 3 tips for coping with and not just surviving but thriving through change.

I would love to hear your stories on this as well – would you take a minute to share your insights in the comments? How have you adapted to change in your media ministry in church?

I am pretty sure that the last few years have taught you some valuable lessons, and I’d like to hear them and share some of them with our Media Mentoring followers. I think we can all do better about living with change and embracing it in the media ministry in church we lead.

In conclusion, stay flexible, lean on the strengths of others and don't take change personally. There are great tips for life in general and to apply in your media ministry in church.

Categories: church media ministry, Foundation, Leadership, Strategy, Team