As the common saying goes, "attitude is everything." It is what makes the difference in how hospitable a congregation is, how externally-focused it is, its priority for spiritual growth, its openness to change and so on. The determining factor in congregational flourishing often comes down to attitudes. Change initiatives can grind to a halt when prevailing attitudes impede movement, frequently leaving demoralized leaders with the belief that attitudes don't change. But attitudes can change, and leaders who have an understanding of the anatomy of an attitude can help congregants reconsider and revise them.

An attitude is made up of three components: a belief, an evaluation, and a strength. At the core of an attitude is a belief about something (what is called the attitude's object). Let's imagine a person's attitude towards contemporary worship music (the object). A person might believe this music is loud, simplistic and monotonous. Next, what really empowers an attitude is the evaluation one makes of the belief: that it is good or bad, true or false, right or wrong. In our example our worshiper might evaluate her belief about contemporary worship music as "I dislike it." Finally, every evaluation has a strength. Our congregant may simply not prefer contemporary music or she might really hate it. Leaders encourage attitude change by helping congregants review and revise any of an attitude's components: the belief, the evaluation or the strength.