5 Stages of Building and Shaping Church Culture

The beliefs, ideologies, principles and values of an organization form its culture. Stable, thriving churches are led by pastors who exhibit the ability to build and shape a culture where all who contribute are unified in purpose and ideology. While strategy and casting vision are also important, culture forms a foundational setting in which stable, long-term growth is fostered. Casting vision is exciting, while building culture can be really hard work. Fortunately, there are some best practices that churches can utilize to ensure a meaningful, thriving culture.

In every church, department, or ministry, leaders will inherit the existing culture. Culture is a powerful force, which can either positively or negatively impact the health of a church or department. Frequently, this culture needs to be energized or rebuilt. The resulting change can be tense and a bit painful, but the role of a successful church leader is to create and build culture by leading change. When a leader establishes that change is necessary, knowing the process of leading it through a path of least resistance is often the difference between struggling and flourishing. Leading this change with high energy, encouragement, and collaborative effort will transition a culture from an unhealthy environment to one which cultivates a refined progression toward lasting growth. Tension may still be present, but if properly managed, tension can actually contribute to healthy change. Remember that all impactful movies and television shows have tension purposefully built in to the story. The reason is that tension, when properly guided, fosters focus toward collaboration and positive change.

In this video, Chris Railey of Church Multiplication Network defines a prescriptive course and presents five stages of building and shaping culture. When you learn how to establish, communicate, and work through this critical process, you will find yourself leading a collaborative effort toward a stable and thriving organizational culture.