If you are a Christian educator looking to facilitate a discussion with your leadership team concerning change within your institution this PP would serve you well.

1. A Quick Analysis

2. Overview
 Biblical rationale for change
 Open or closed to change?
 Encouraged or discouraged to
change?
 The leader’s role as a change
agent
 How does my particular
educational institution size up?

3. What is the Christian
Rationale for Change?
 Mark 1:15,“The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand; repent
(change) and believe in
the gospel.”
 An Invitation to Change
 Matthew 18:3 "Truly I say
to you, unless you are
converted (changed) and
become like children, you
shall not enter the
kingdom of heaven.”
 The necessity for change

4. Open or Closed to Change?
 Open  Closed
Which of these two postures best describes your
Christian Institution's view towards change?

5. Open or Closed to Change?
 During the
Renaissance, Christian
education brought some
of the most constructive
change in human history.
Almost every
discipline, from science
to theology or from math
to art, was positively
impacted by Christian
educators at this time.

6. Open or Closed to Change?
 Throughout the 70s and
80s, Christian colleges in
particular were battling over
whether or not to affirm
their conservative
theological traditions or to
adopt a more liberal
(cultural or revisionistic)
theology. Some Christian
colleges moved left while
others moved right.

7. Open or Closed to Change?
 The 1990s marked the
biggest technological
change in education.
Schools were initially
divided over the
integration of
technology;
however, today, for the
most part, technology
is an integral part of
how educators teach.

8. Open or Closed to Change?
 Do Christian educators
want to see an
educational renaissance
that positively touches
all the disciplines?
 Do Christian educators
want to see schools
fundamentally take a
stand concerning their
philosophy of education
– either liberal or
conservative?
 Do Christian educators
want to see good
constructive use of
technology?

9. Encourage or Discourage Change?
 Encouraged  Discouraged
Which picture best captures your Christian
institution’s outlook towards change?

10. Encourage or Discourage Change?
 As leaders in Christian
education, how do we
encourage change
through our school’s
organizational structure?
(Sunshine)
 As leaders in Christian
education, how do we
discourage change
through our school’s
organizational structure?
(Rain clouds)

11. Encourage or Discourage change?
 Dr. Brown of CIU lists a few occasions
when Christian educators feel
encouraged to change based on a
school’s organizational structure.
 Christian educators who feel encouraged to
change:
○ Celebrate their shared
assumptions, values, and beliefs. They
generally have an agreed upon educational
culture.
○ Trust their leadership to not only deal with the
obvious shifts, but also trust their leaders to
address the hidden factors as well.
○ Are educators that serve in academic
institutions that have embraced a “we are still
learning” attitude.

12. Encourage or Discourage Change?
 In addition, Dr. Brown of CIU lists some
reasons why educators resist change based
on a school’s organizational structure.
 Christian educators who feel discouraged to
change:
○ Have a lack of trust in their leadership.
○ Believe that change is unnecessary.
○ Believe that change isn’t feasible.
○ Feel threatened by the economy or that they may be
downsized.
○ Feel change will be uncomfortable.
○ Believe they may fail in changing.
○ Believe the change may bring a loss of status.
○ Believe that they may be asked to compromise their
strongly held ideals and values.

13. The Leader and Change
 Adaptable & Versatile  Rigid & Inflexible
Which of these two leader depicted above
honestly represents your attitude towards being
an agent of change in your school?

14. The Leader and Change
 What is the leader’s
role in being an
agent of change?
 What roles,
characteristics, and
qualities are
necessary in a
leader to bring
positive change
within a Christian
educational
institution?

15. The Leader and Change
 The best quote I have
ever read on leadership
and change is: “The
pessimist complains
about the wind. The
optimists expects it to
change. The leader
adjusts the sails.”
 John Maxwell
 Good educational
leaders understand that
their job is to bring
change (adjust the sails)
in order to advance the
school’s mission.

16. The Leader and Change
 3 Biblical examples
of leaders who
played a role in
bringing change or
“adjusting the sails”
were:
 Abraham
 Elijah
 John the Baptist

17. The Leader and Change
 Genesis 12:1-3 Now the
LORD said to Abram, “Go
from your country and your
kindred and your father’s
house to the land that I will
show you. And I will make
of you a great nation, and I
will bless you and make
your name great, so that you
will be a blessing. I will bless
those who bless you, and
him who dishonors you I will
curse, and in you all the
families of the earth shall be
blessed.”
Good leaders, like
Abraham, hear from the
Lord and act in obedience
even against all odds.

18. The Leader and Change
 1 Kings 17:2-9
 2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the
Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will
drink from the brook, and I have directed the
ravens to supply you with food there.”5 So he
did what the LORD had told him. He went to the
Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed
there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and
meat in the morning and bread and meat in
the evening, and he drank from the
brook.7 Some time later the brook dried up
because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him:
9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of
Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow
there to supply you with food.”
Good leaders
recognize and
embrace when it
is time to
change and
move on.

19. The Leader and Change
 John 1:35-39
 35 Again the next day John
was standing there with two
of his disciples. 36 Looking at
Jesus as he walked by, he
said, “Look, the Lamb of
God!” 37 When his two
disciples heard him say
this, they followed Jesus. 38
Jesus turned around and saw
them following and said to
them, “What do you want?”
So they said to him, “Rabbi”
(which is translated
Teacher), “where are you
staying?” 39 Jesus said to
them, “Come and you will
see.” So they came and saw
where he was staying, and
they stayed with him that day.
Good leaders know when
it is time to transition out
and who to transition
their team to.

20. How does my particular
educational institution size up?
 Open  Closed
We are open in our Christian educational methodology but
unashamedly closed to adopting unbiblical theology.

21. How does my particular educational
institution size up?
 Encouraged  Discouraged
We are encouraged in the powerful and captivating mission and
vision of the school but we get discouraged when we see fall out.

22. How does my particular
educational institution size up?
 Adaptable & Versatile  Rigid & Inflexible
I strive to be the guy on the left; however, when I am
tasked with the unpopular job of implementing
change, I often look like the guy on the right at first.

23. Change and Christian
Education: A Quick Analysis