When Is Innovation Too Much…or Not Enough?
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, February 15, 2007
- Viewed 82
- (5) comments so far
Lists like this make me wonder a couple things. First, what constitutes innovation? Does it mean meeting in a bar, as my friend’s church does? Or does it mean, for a hymn-based church, to experiment with using guitars and drums? For one church it may mean starting a homeless ministry, for another it’s an outreach into the porn industry. Certainly there is a degree of relativity to innovation; what is innovative to one person or in one setting will be old hat to another. The second thing I wonder is, do we sometimes place innovation on a pedestal? Do we sometimes innovate simple for the sake of being different, rather than for the sake of the gospel and the kingdom? I don’t think most leaders of innovative ministries would suggest for a moment that that’s true, in spite of the fact that sometimes it may seem that way.
Innovation ministry is simply a fancy way of saying that we’re willing to try things that may not have been done before (at least in our context) in order to reach people for Christ who are not being reached by existing means. So innovation isn’t the goal, but rather the means to an end. We do need to be careful, though, that we don’t hold out innovation - or relevance, or authenticity, or any other of the recent buzzwords - as the key to the world’s salvation…or even as the key to drawing people toward Jesus. That position is still reserved for Jesus Christ himself.
Still, the fact is that we live in an attention-deficit culture; most westerners (especially younger ones) have been enculturated into a mindset that demands things fast and expects change to happen constantly. A 60-seconds is agonizingly long. We want bullet points, not paragraphs. We want our fast food in 90 seconds or less, and our latte in under a minute. The new cell phone we got for free will be obsolete before the two-year contract on it expires. And on top of speed, we want it our way - we’re a Frank Sinatra world. Coffee isn’t good enough; we want a venti, triple-shot, extra-hot, no-whip mocha...with room. Paper or plastic, debit or credit, for here or to go, traditional or contemporary, the now or the not yet. Innovation in ministry is necessary to reach this culture. But while innovation breeds innovation, it also breeds more dissatisfaction with what is and what has been. Soon, innovation won’t be enough; it must be rapid-fire innovation. What’s new on Sunday will be old by Tuesday. In Exploring the Worship Spectrum, Sally Morganthaler suggests that “emerging worship” is not only non-liturgical, but may look different from week to week (which could really exhaust a worship leader trying to facilitate such a milieu of worshipful expression).
I recently read an interesting quote on one of Starbucks’ “The Way I See It” cups: “In my career I’ve found that ‘thinking outside the box’ works better if I know what’s ‘inside the box.’ In music (as in life) we need to understand our pertinent history … and moving on is so much easier once we know where we’ve been.” (Dave Grusin, award-winning composer and jazz musician) There is a timeless historicity to the Christian faith and we need to cultivate a knowledge of that, to bring new believers up in that history. Perhaps in so doing, we can offer a firm foundation on which innovation may be built.
For thought and discussion: How do you define innovation in ministry? In your mind. what would constitute an “innovative church”? What are some danger signs we can look for that might suggest that the next innovation we are considering may not be rightly motivated?
About the author: Randy Ehle is a 40-something husband, father of three, and first-year seminary student. He considers himself a “rushed contemplative”, who finds the pace of life and seminary often strip him of his ability to reflect meaningfully on who God is and how He would have us reach an ever-changing world. He’s been around church his whole life and has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. He has a burden to help the western church reclaim its role in God’s redemptive plan. For more of his musings, see his blog at www.randehle.com.
Recently, Outreach magazine named the top 25 innovative churches (which, as is to be expected, are all fairly large ones). A fellow seminary student decried the list - “Can you spot more than three innovative churches on this list???” Lists like this aren’t new. In fact, Elmer Towns wrote a book in 1991 called, 10 Of Today’s Most Innovative Churches: What They’re Doing, How They’re Doing It and How You Can Apply Their Ideas in Your Church. (The last part of that subtitle scares me…there are plenty of copycat churches around, and I would venture to say that few of them implement the “innovations” as effectively as the innovators.)
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Peter Hamm on Thu, February 15, 2007
Randy,
I’m out here in “the back of beyond”. 2 hours from the nearest really major metro area. We just drink coffee, we drive slow, we wait 3 or 4 minutes for our fast food… we breathe…
I used to be in the metro DC area. Im in my early 40s. I’ll take this anyday!
layne on Thu, February 15, 2007
I would consider innovative any church that 1. understands their strengths 2. understands the needs/hurts of the community and reaches out to touch and heal. Sometimes they would reach out from strength, and sometimes in weakness, but always to the need.
It does not worry me that often a particular form of reaching out becomes entrenched, it becomes the status quo, the question that needs to be answered is are we touching the need (in Jesus name), are people in and out of the church being brought closer to God? If the answer to that becomes no then the needs have changed and they need to innovate. Too often imo we focus on the performance of the ministry and not on the need that is being touched. Seems like if we focus on the needs around us, (both in house and outhouse) we have to innovate.
Wendi on Sun, February 18, 2007
Randy –
I think that your last question about motivation is important. Jesus clearly cared much more about our hearts than our outcomes (though He didn’t neglect outcomes). Sometimes we can do right things that are very effective, for the wrong reasons. And at what cost?
And so, I think discerning what is genuinely motivating our innovation is really important (personal and corporate motivations). But how? What kind of questions should we be asking ourselves to discern the heart that is leading your actions?
Wendi
Leonard on Sun, February 18, 2007
I might be just a big sinner, but the very best of my motivations are still mixed. I am a fairly innovative person and wire heavily into the creative side of thinking. I find that for me innovation is just fun. I like to think outside the box because it is when I am most fully engaged in my gifts and dependent upon the Spirit. In the box thinking does not force me to live dependent upon the Spirit but rather dependent on structures and systems. I go crazy when I cannot be innovative. My wife on the other hand loves the inside of the box, it is where her giftedness runs wild and she is most fully engaged. What great partners we are!!!
I will also say that many innovations are only such for the church. Our culture and world are more innovative than we are because their greed is a much more powerful motivator than our hunger to see God’s will done here like it is done in heaven. I think for many of us in the church world innovation has been relegated to copying best practices of media, marketing and publication. But the churches hold on tradition means that for some churches breaking away from hymns is innovative. So while it might be innovative for the church it is still outdated in the culture.
Wendi on Sun, February 18, 2007
Leonard – You ARE just a big sinner . . . but you’re in good company.
That “inside/outside of the box” concept is interesting. Are you “motivated” by opportunities to work outside the box? In other words, if you realize that the old way is completely broken and you must come up with something new, does that make your heart race and your wife’s heart stop?
That seems to affirm that our leadership styles and personality inform our motivators. But I can see how the heart issues can get into the way. Sometimes a person with your wiring (not you of course) could be unwilling to even consider the possibility of doing things the old way (to honor our heritage or because it’s still working); whereas, a person with your wife’s wiring might dig in her heals and refuse to think outside the box. These seem to be heart issues related to motivation.
I think Jesus had some of each type whose heart He motivation He challenged: inside the box thinkers like the Pharisees, or outside the box thinkers like those who sold sacrifices in the Temple courts. The latter might have been considered innovative in their day.
Wendi
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