Intersectional Innovation

Last year I felt a call to do something innovative in ministry. I threw all sorts of ideas on the wall such as expanding our CrossFit Bible Study, opening a coffee shop run by teens and adults with special needs, Dinner Church, online church, and church on tap to name a few. All great ideas. All done before. Few done in my area.

All of my ideation led me to a point where I needed to pick one. Nothing was jumping out so I put it on hold to let the ideas marinate and I took it to God through prayer.

Two things then happened at the same time. 1) My church had a crisis that wasn’t going to resolve quickly and I needed to spend my time in areas I hadn’t before and 2) I got an answer to my prayers.

Here was the answer. “Your church needs you now. There will be time to innovate later. But you’re not thinking big enough. You’re not thinking innovatively enough.”

That message has been stuck in my gut for months now. The issue at my church has resolved and its time to start dreaming again.

One thing I realized is that all the innovations I thought of before were directional innovations. Ideas that other people had done that were new to me and that I could improve upon. What I really need to do is intersectional innovation. I need to find the place where the church and the world can meet and mix up tow things that haven’t gone together before.

The place where the church and the world meet is the call of an ordained deacon in the UMC. And the place where heaven and earth meet is the embodiment of Jesus.

It won’t be easy but God doesn’t call us to easy. He calls us to be faithful and fruitful. I pray that everyone can find where God intersects with their life and live into it in faithful ways.

Until Everyone Hears,