I think those questions are great, and I’ll suggest one more: “How much formal, institutional power do I have to change things?”

When trying to work toward change in any organization, it’s important to understand where one fits in the organization.

I had an interesting experience in a church in which I thought I had power to work toward change when in reality I had none at all. This was an elder-rule church in which all decision-making authority was in the hands of the two elders. No one else had any formal power. The experience helped me temper my experiences for change in the future, and it helped me realize I didn’t want to be in a church like that.

In other forms of church government, a single member may have a vote that actually matters — it’s real power even if it’s not a lot. Or, a member may work toward gaining more power, by running or volunteering for a church office.

When a person truly understands his or her place in the organization, it’s easier to accept the relative impact one may have when working toward change, whether that impact is none or a lot. In a church, it’s easy to think we may have more power than we actually have. The church seems much more informal than our workplaces in which we know who the boss is or who has power. But make no mistake, there are authority hierarchies in a church just like a business. It’s important for church members to know where they fit in those hierarchies.