Be Innovative AND “In Touch”
Orginally published on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 7:57 AM
by Todd Rhoades
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once said, “We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either.”
According to Ballmer, we must be both ‘innovative’ and ‘in-touch’ or else our conclusions will become irrelevant.
Innovation is a big topic in the church today. Every year there are lists of the ‘most innovative’ churches. Some pastors and churches are known for their extreme innovation. And I’m very excited that today’s church has some of the best and brightest minds when it comes to innovative thinking.
But here’s what so often happens in the church world: We see a cool and shiny idea that some church in a town much bigger than ours half way across the country is doing. We’re so enthralled with the idea, the coolness factor, or the concept that we can’t wait to give it a whirl in our own church…
So… we turn the wheels and make it happen. We copy the idea. Sure, we might scale it down a little for our church, but we do it because it’s cool, or because it’s the new innovative trend. The problem is… in the process, we’ve become out of touch. We’ve tried something cool or innovative, not realizing that that’s not what our church was wanting or needing. We took somebody else’s absolutely brilliant idea and transformed it into a classic example of a hip, yet uneffective church program.
Many times, innovative ideas DO translate. And many innovative trends are working all across the country in all kinds and styles of churches and helping churches everywhere to have an increased Kingdom effectiveness. But in order for anything to be effective in our own church, we must, as Ballmer puts it, ‘stay in touch with our customers’. That means we need to know what the needs are of the people we’re serving.
What are the needs in your church? How can you better serve your community? What are the problems that you have right now that you don’t have an answer for? Those are the areas, as you listen and watch and stay ‘in-touch’, that will foster the greatest innovative ministry ideas in your local setting.
If you just cut and paste, you’ll find that your reality will be skewed. After all, ‘there is no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either,”