The challenge of innovating the traditional church

When we think of innovation, the last place that comes to mind is probably the traditional mainline church. Society often views the church as a relic of the previous decades or century. In many ways they are right. The common mainline church presents itself to the world as a place that never changes.

Much has been written about the need for the church to change (innovate) – and convincing arguments are made about the issue of relevance to a postmodern society. The church is always one generation away from ceasing to exist. Not everyone agrees with that concept, and if they do there is often disagreement about what you should and should not change. In my work with traditional mainline churches, I have found that even when the church wants to bring innovative change, there is an incredible lack of information about HOW to bring successful change.

I have heard people say that it is good to change for the sake of change itself. In the appropriate context that may be true, but in the traditional church, that concept can bring up so much backlash that the things that really need to change, cannot be changed.

Innovation and multiple staff:

If you have multiple staff, your greatest challenges may not be from your members. (I can hear many of you saying “amen”!) Church staff can be the hardest group to get on board with innovative ideas.

Imagine this staff meeting:

After much input from every area, you and the church leadership decide that it is time to move the Youth Group meeting time from Sunday night to Wednesday Night. You believe that will open the doors to the youth in your community, and it also lines up with the children’s programs on Wednesday night (and dinner). As you begin to talk about executing this change in staff, strange things begin to happen. You sense that there is hostility towards you for doing this. You also wonder why are you just now finding this out! The very people that you are counting on to make it all happen are killing the plan. Lets look at the key players:

Jerry – the music director

Sheri – the children’s pastor

Larry – the youth pastor

Larry begins by saying that he is not sure it will be as successful as everyone thinks. He is hearing from the kids that they do not want to move to Wednesday night.

You think: Wasn’t this your idea in the first place?

Unspoken reality: Larry is comfortable with the kids he has. He doesn’t know if he can effectively minister to the kids that would come on Wednesday night. He will never tell you that, but he is really scared! Fear of failure is driving him.

Sherri says that the parents are not happy about the change either. It means less time for homework on a school night.

You think: Didn’t you tell me that this would be better for families?

Unspoken reality: Sherri is barely making it with the recruiting she has to do to get enough teachers for Wednesday night. She is afraid that she will lose parent volunteers to the youth group. She is scared of failure.

Finally Jerry jumps in. “The long time members of the church think we need to leave things the way they are. They are the ones that pay the bills, and we should not ignore them!

You think: Since when are you the champion of that group?

Unspoken reality: Jerry leads the Sunday night worship service and if the youth are not there, his attendance will drop in half. He is afraid that he will be expected to change that service to attract them back for Sunday night and doesn’t think he can do it. He doesn’t want to fail.

So now you are left with a staff that has personal needs for your plan NOT to work. And you really need them to make it work. What do you do?

By the way - firing them all is not an acceptable answer.

How do you bring about innovation to the traditional church?

1. Pray (that doesn’t sound innovative does it!)
2. Talk with as many small groups as possible - ask them the right questions – (we will define those later) and then listen.
3. Find a common area that these groups feel needs to be changed. Choose one that is very doable with a little effort and involvement of others.
4. Celebrate any and all positive results from that change.
5. Get back with several of the small groups for feedback on that change; make adjustments to the communication process based on what you learn from them.
6. Take on another area – a little bigger – and repeat 4 and 5.
7. Formalize the change process for your church based on the experiences you have just gone through. Make a presentation to the church board on how to officially introduce and execute change in the future.
8. Run one more “non-threatening” change through the now defined system. If it works, then move on to the next step, if not, go back to step 5.
9. Get with the leadership of the church and find a larger significant area to take on – but make sure it is in keeping with the core values of your church (more on that later)
10. Over communicate to the church about what you are going to change and why. Use every means available to you. Give them way too much information! Talk about it way too long. When your church members (not leadership) say “Can we just get on with this?” then you are ready to bring on the change!

There are many things to flesh out about this process, but that is it in a nutshell. What do you think? What have your experiences been?

FUN?draising

The thought of capital campaign or major fundraiser is enough to send even the most seasoned of pastors running in the other direction. This necessity of a growing church can be a positive time if done properly. If not done well, it is a nightmare. I know of one church that had to change fundraising consults in the middle of their campaign. Why? The first one was sent to prison. That was a confidence killer for the congregation!
Brad Leeper, a stewardship strategist with Generis , says
“For any capital stewardship campaign to succeed, three key questions must be answered: ‘Is God in this plan? Have church leaders cast a vision for the project that exceeds the brick and mortar story? And does each church member understand the sound, biblical basis for engaging in joyful giving in support of that vision?’ Creating an environment where individuals ask God what He wants them to do—in light of what He has called their church to do—is my ultimate task.”
Conceptually, it can be a spiritual growth opportunity for your congregation. But how do you truly capitalize on that opportunity?

The Death of Denomination

There is a great line the move the Princess Bride regarding a friend who is lying motionless:
Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.
Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

It may be safer to say that the importance of denomination in our current culture is mostly dead. That means, as we just learned from Miracle Max, that it is still slightly alive. So when is it important to have denominational ties and visibility?

New info: Great insight in a Pastor's Coach article on this topic.