You can't take a mediocre idea and make it viral. There's not enough marketing savvy in the world to help a bad idea work.
Stretch with me on this... think of your new church as an idea for the community. Don't think about the mission and theology for a minute, yadda, yadda, yadda. Just focus on ~ the idea ~ of your church.
Is it a good idea for the community... or a bad idea?
How do you know? Ask yourself... is the idea spreading?
And if it's not, you may not have a marketing problem. You may have an idea problem. Maybe your church's purpose is not distinguishable enough. Maybe you're not meeting a need in the community. Maybe you're answering questions nobody's asking.
This is a cool thought! Very challenging. Any examples of churches you think have "good ideas"?
Posted by: Chris | April 13, 2009 at 08:22 AM
I love the last statement you make here.
"Maybe your answering questions nobody is asking."
I think that statement alone could lead to a lot of great discussions. Especially in the area of teaching. Does the series that you are teaching on Sunday morning really have an impact on the questions people are asking in their lives?
I may have to follow that up with a blog. Great insight and question for us to wrestle with on a Monday as we lead our teams.
Posted by: David Mehrle | April 13, 2009 at 09:52 AM
Interesting way to think this through... thank you!
Posted by: Faye Bryant | April 13, 2009 at 10:00 AM
To add to your list... Maybe you are answering a question they are asking, but your answer is boring, unappealing, or worse, wrong.
Good stuff Ben.
Posted by: Rob | April 13, 2009 at 10:25 AM
I think all of our missions should be relatively similar. Some form of 'making and mobilizing followers of Jesus'... Probably. Peripheral missions-talk can wait, but that first one should probably be in the pocket...
And on the theology front, we should probably get our 'theology essentials' in line before we start dabbling in 'idea-talk', just in case our 'idea-talk' starts to influence our 'theology-talk'. Ala 'Feminist Theology', 'Liberation Theology', 'Emerging Theology', etc.
Just some healthy push-back...
Posted by: ryan | April 13, 2009 at 10:50 AM
http://www.thegatewaychurch.com
I get 2 - 3 phone calls a week from people who have found our website and want to hear more about our "idea" for church.
This thing is going to EXPLODE!!!! (I am being overly dramatic in anticipation of your next post)
Posted by: Paul | April 13, 2009 at 12:19 PM
I'd flip back on the "Maybe your answering questions nobody's asking" with "Maybe your not asking questions at all because you think you already have the answers."
Talking about the idea, not the gospel.
I've seen far too many leaders plow down into something but fail to ask questions along the way. As if asking is a sign of not having the answers but in reality asking is a way to bring engagement, to move someone to the next level, and to make sure your on pace with serving their needs.
Posted by: Daniel Decker | April 13, 2009 at 03:39 PM
What if you couldn't meet your community's biggest need - like rich kids who have too many toys or poor kids who don't have enough clothes, but still had the gospel to offer them, what would you do?
Close, start a new campaign, or something else?
Posted by: david | April 13, 2009 at 09:15 PM
This just got emailed to our staff.
--Terrace Crawford
http://www.terracecrawford.com
http://www.twitter.com/terracecrawford
Posted by: Terrace Crawford | April 14, 2009 at 11:34 AM
I'm writing a series of posts about Design Thinking and Ministry. It kinda addresses the same issue: http://leofrombrazil.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/design-thinking-and-ministry-1/
Posted by: Leo | April 15, 2009 at 06:00 PM