Group Mind

“Outside the fence are even more eggs…” Lisa announced to the kids waiting impatiently for our church’s Easter egg hunt.  A group fifteen five year old lined themselves up along the wall inside the walls of the preschool playground.  My five year old son said, “I’m going outside first!”

The command, “Go!” was given and off they went.  My son true to his word, went right outside the playground (along with one other boy) and found a whole bunch of eggs waiting to be picked.  The rest of the kids stayed within the playground searching.  Within minutes his basket was full of eggs and I had to cut him off.  By this time, other kids were making their way outside the fence to find more eggs.

Wondering about life as congregations.  How many more new ideas and experiences are outside the “fences” of the church?  How many pastors and lay people when told by God to “go” simply meander among the familiar “playground” while abundance waits on the outside?  The playground may be safe and familiar, but the truly adventurous leader will see beyond the fence and move there.

One of my improv teachers taught us that while waiting to be part of an improv scene, we all must stand with our weight forward, on the balls of our feet, ready for our opportunity to jump in. If we were to stand flat footed, or worse with the weight on our heels, we would be slow to respond to opportunities to enter a scene. Hyper awareness is a necessary reality for good improvisors and I think in life too.

As I consider my life and my work with organizations as an applied improv practitioner, what is emphasized is that sense of being ready to act, participate, add an idea at a moment’s notice. The best organizations and the best lives are, like good improvisation, characterized by people who are completely invested in the moment, not hanging back letting others do all the work.

But, that said, is there a time to stand flat footed in the world? Is there a time to take a break? The Wall Street Journal a few months ago had an article about how American workers take less and less downtime. What is becoming natural and accepted is doing work on vacation with family and/or friends, and well into a weeknight. Technology begins to encompass our lives to such a point that we are available 24/7. This concerns me. I think a balance needs struck between ambition, awareness, investment in the moment and times to simply ‘be’ with no pressure to perform or do anything. I think there is a time and place to rest. For me, I crave the rest of Sundays and enjoy sleep. I hope you find times to rest too.

Thanks for reading.

Last week I and a colleague of mine met with a marketing consultant to help get a business off the ground.  When we told Susan (said consultant) that we (Robin–colleague and myself) want to work with churches to enhance creativity, Susan asked plainly, “Are churches very creative?”  The point of her question wasn’t a theological one or even practical to begin discussing creativity or the lack thereof in the church.  Her question was one pushing us to ask if that is the best area of the marketplace in which to begin work.

What I find interesting about Susan’s question is the perception behind it.  While there are churches that are doing creative and innovative things, I wonder if Susan’s question is representative of much of people looking at the church from the outside.  Maybe the question is born out of the region in which I live, the midwest.  Columbus, Ohio is not the hotbed of creative enterprises.  It reflects the midwest quiet well.  If we were food, we’d be mashed potatoes and gravy.  Tasty and to some, important stabilizer to a meal, but not very creative and spicy.

Has the church become no more creative than a pile of mashed potatoes and gravy on a plate?

How does a church continue to do new things and take risks in culture for the sake of Christ?  Yesterday I sat with a group of colleagues of mine who were asking that very question as leaders of their congregations.  How do we innovate in worship and community life to make an impact in our community for Christ?

We talked alot about trends, people, relationships, ideas, etc…but I came away with the realization that most pastors and church leaders have these conversations, but most people who are part of our communities don’t.  If they do, unfortunately, we’re not a part of their conversations…and vice versa.

A couple days ago, an article “Managing Innovation” appeared in the Wall Street Journal.  The subtitle, “How to get the most out of your company’s big ideas.”  While it is written for corporate America, the insights in the article apply to life as the church in America today.

The journalist interviewed a few top business leaders to answer the question of how to  get businesses to innovate.  Douglas Solomon, chief technology strategist at IDEO, an innovation and design consulting firm said, “Corporations inherently have antibodies that come out and try to envelop and kill any innovation.”  Mr Solomon, it’s not only true in corporatations, it’s also true in the church!

The business leaders finally got to the point that continued innovation with an organization comes from tapping into its collective intelligence.  Every person within the church needs the opportunity to share their innovative ideas for mission and ministry,  and leaders help create a culture where it’s ok to act (and sometimes fail) on those ideas…making them come to life.

How do you gain input and innovative ideas for ministry and mission from the folks in your church?  What “tools” have you used?  Where have you started?

It seems to me, that when a local congregation fails to innovate, the result is stagnation and eventually death of that community.    Churches, like businesses, will only be motivated to change and innovate new ideas when they are aware that change needs to occur.  Otherwise, people say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  Most people just want to leave the church alone because it “meets their needs.”

In a rapidly changing society, how do established churches move forward boldly?

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