I wrote yesterday about the need for innovation in ministry. But innovation is tough, and marketing Guru Seth Godin explained why in this piece from October 29, 2023. It’s short and makes only three points:

• New approaches will never be embraced by everyone at first. If you need unanimous consent, you’re not going to move forward.

• And it’s not convenient. If it were, someone would have done it already.

• Finally, it’s not sure to work.

I’ve seen all those things starting with the objection to a great idea for a Sunday morning: “That’s not church!”

We had a great idea back in the early 2000s to combine volunteer ministries with intentional disciple-making. It wouldn’t have been convenient. It would have been difficult, and, at the first sign of difficulty, we folded.

And it’s true that innovations are not sure to work, but we try anyway. And what does “work” mean? Often in the church context, there’s the expectation that success requires that we reach everyone. I was in a meeting with a pastor and one of his elders planning a discipleship initiative. The elder said something like, “Not everyone will want to do that.” The pastor wisely responded, “It will never be the case that everyone wants to do something. That’s no reason not to do it.”

So let’s innovate! We don’t have to keep running the same plays that no longer work. As I wrote last week, “If the horse is dead, dismount!”

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead… (Philippians 3.13, ESV)