Why innovation is a joke in the church

My iPhone has opened pandora's box for me in the world of podcasting. It turns every car ride into a church service; every trip to the DMV into a conference session...

One thing I can't get over is how flippantly the Church throws around the world "innovation." Big difference between the innovation I'm hearing about in podcasts from the New Yorker conference and the TED talks... and what the church is calling innovation.

Innovation in the church has almost become formulaic.... "We have the greatest story in the world!" we cry, and then "innovatively" insert pop songs and cultural references into our services, proving that... well... look who's borrowing from who.

These days, innovation isn't recognized or rewarded in the Church until it's no longer innovation... it's commonplace. But true innovation will always leave the masses of men scratching their Selsun Blue, wondering, "Whaaa?" or "Can we really do that?" or "What's the connection?"

True innovation is completely unrecognizable while it's innovating.

Comments

[bill Streger]

Yes, yes, and yes. Listening to TED talks has completely blown me away, and humbled me more than I care to admit. Listening to them talk about our world and then taking in most of what the church is talking about makes me realize how marginalized we actually are. (And the scary part is, I think we're okay with that. We're pretty contenet to talk about how FREAKIN' AWESOME next Sunday will be because our band is going to play a Def Leopard tune and we'll have three screens mith motion backgrounds.) *end rant*

[Jim Henry]

Excellent point...Seems to me this has been the issue all along...especially artistically. Christian music, as an example, used to be a decade or more behind, then it caught up for a while...now, it all sounds the same. We're doing the whole media "shabang" at our church and it's great, but I find myself wondering if we've really climbed out of the box or did we just jump to a new one? If innovation is truly about new ideas, then we better start brainstorming...thanks Ben!

[daniel d]

Ben this is a stellar observation. Loving it. I was reading a book "Mavericks at Work" the other day and it dawned on me how many of these guys who are now considered "Mavericks" were initially considered crazy. But these guys stuck with it. They weren't scared by others calling them crazy or thinking their ideas were far fetched. Sort of the same with the church in some cases I guess. Seems like we trade in safety for true innovation.

BTW... I read another pretty cool book called "The Five Faces of Innovation" that you may enjoy. Shoot me your mailing address and I'll gift ya a copy. :)

[jumaine]

Wow. Great stuff, Ben. I'll place a link on my blog to this entry. Your right. We only call things innovative when they are no longer innovative!

[Marty]

Wondering if you would be willing to share a couple podcasts you subscribe to.

[Ben Arment]

my top podcasts... garrison keillor, bill hybels' messages at willow, this american life, ted conference, new yorker conference, perry noble, rob wegner's messages at granger...