Everything is an Experiment
Just wrote an article for an upcoming issue of Ministry Today. I love what Matt Green has done with the magazine. Great resource!
Here's an excerpt from the article:
Everything is an experiment.
That is one of our core values at National Community Church. We aren't afraid of making mistakes at NCC. We're afraid of not making mistakes because it means we aren't stretching ourselves! That experimental approach to ministry not only inspires us to try new things. It gives us the freedom to fail.
We view every sermon series as a teaching experiment. Every outreach is an evangelism experiment. Every small group is a discipleship experiment. Building the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill and meeting in movie theaters @ metro stops throughout the metro DC area is an experiment in doing church in the middle of the marketplace.
The beauty of this approach to ministry is that it gives you leadership latitude. People are resistant to change, but it's tough to argue with an experiment. After all, it's just an experiment. If it doesn't work, we'll stop doing it. And if it does work, we'll continue improving it. Approaching everything as an experiment not only reduces the tension of opposition. It reduces the pressure to succeed. Some experiments fail and that's ok.
FYI--I share about some of our outreach experiments, sermon experiments, and discipleship experiments in the full article. I'll post a link when the article comes out.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
Everything is an experiment.
That is one of our core values at National Community Church. We aren't afraid of making mistakes at NCC. We're afraid of not making mistakes because it means we aren't stretching ourselves! That experimental approach to ministry not only inspires us to try new things. It gives us the freedom to fail.
We view every sermon series as a teaching experiment. Every outreach is an evangelism experiment. Every small group is a discipleship experiment. Building the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill and meeting in movie theaters @ metro stops throughout the metro DC area is an experiment in doing church in the middle of the marketplace.
The beauty of this approach to ministry is that it gives you leadership latitude. People are resistant to change, but it's tough to argue with an experiment. After all, it's just an experiment. If it doesn't work, we'll stop doing it. And if it does work, we'll continue improving it. Approaching everything as an experiment not only reduces the tension of opposition. It reduces the pressure to succeed. Some experiments fail and that's ok.
FYI--I share about some of our outreach experiments, sermon experiments, and discipleship experiments in the full article. I'll post a link when the article comes out.
2 Comments:
Great post Mark. I have linked it to my site at http://www.passionaustralia.org/blog/2006/11/07/evotionalcom/. Hopefully some people will drop in and be blessed by your site.
God Bless,
Dave
I've found this to also be the case in the business world. I work in organizational development for a Fortune 500 company and helping our employees adapt to change is a constant challenge. Your suggestion of being up front and revealing that many things are an experiment and to treat it as such is on target. The problem lies in acting as if everything is great, permanent, and set in stone in the first place. Organizations, churches or businesses have to remain fluid and adaptable in order to stay relevant and current.
PS. Thanks for the book. I'm loving it.
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