We’re just Clever.
May 19th, 2008
The term creative or innovative gets thrown out like candy these days at churches. We pride ourselves on how creative we are, but I have to say, I think clever is a better word. Rarely do we come up with something truly innovative, we tend to play off an existing idea. We come up with clever ways to use movies, clever ways to use popular songs, and clever ways to ride pop-culture movements. But to me those are not creative, they are just clever. Try and think of some creative ideas that the church can do to Glorify God, and impact communities. And add to this list of creative churches you know of, I could only think of 2.
Mars Hill Seattle: Ask Anything
LifeChurch: One Prayer
Filed under other |5 Responses to “We’re just Clever.”
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You make a great point - churches are not the hub of innovation in The Church. I just read an article from Alan Hirsch about how the skills of entrepreneurs and questioners are not used in (little ‘c’) church. So they jump off and do their own thing like Ministry Growers, CMS, Ethur, Fermi, etc.
It seems like that kind of innovation gets outsourced to parachurches - perhaps b/c of funding? Maybe not.
NCC: Mark Batterson with their coffee house Ebenezer’s
http://ebenezerscoffeehouse.com/
Ecclesia at 2115 Taft in Houston: Chris Seay
http://www.2115taft.org/
(these two are similar to each other)
Cornerstone Simi: Francis Chan - they are chasing after community hardcore! Not a program or project like the above, but they’re investing less in their building so they can love their community more, and they’re taking specific steps to cultivate authentic community at their church. See his April 6th message.
http://www.cornerstonesimi.com
How is the “Ask Anything…” creative? We take questions during our service as we sit at tables and then I answer them all the time. I used to do Q&A with my youth kids on topics like dating and then I would compile their answers and teach on their questions. Those ideas are not original with me either… I am not trying to be disagreeable, I am just not understanding how doing a Q&A sermon series is creative. Can you help me understand why?
I think the way it was done. Allowing the people to choose and vote on the questions. I have seen many Q&A series, but the pastor tends to pick what he wants to talk about. I like the social setting for this, very hard questions can be asked, and the church will have to preach on them.
I would also say that to do a Q&A after every service would be very creative. Not many churches do this, they have time restraints, childcare issues, and some pastors can’t think that quickly. I love that you do that. Does it tend to drag on, or have you seen any negative of it? I could see you getting some “talkers” who always ask 5 questions just to do it.
Yeah I think the problem is that there are very few mega church innovators, mainly because you take more risks when there is less on the line. The innovative churches normally get big and old and stop being innovative anymore.
Hey Corey, given what you said, I could see it being unique in that people directly voted on the questions… sort of the American Idol of pastoral Q&A.
I should explain though that it is not so much at I do a Q&A at the end. If you listen to one of our podcasts, you will see that we start off with me setting up the passage and then we have some table discussion. I sit at a table, and listen to what people are saying and asking. Then, based on that, I close off my sermon but I find ways to integrate the specific concerns, comments, or questions into the actual message. This way, each message is targeted right to our church, not an abstract thought that I “assume:” people are thinking.
I also get feedback from my table leaders and based on comments or questions from the tables, I adapt the message each week to make sure I am hitting the mark for what folks are needing to hear.
I finish on time every week