Adaptive Church: This One Thing In 2020

Mark Tidsworth, Pinnacle Team Leader

Adaptive change and leadership….the buzz words of our times in industry, education, and in the church world. Why? Because only those organizations who can learn quickly, adapting to this quickly changing context in which we live will survive. We all realize this, and when we look at the cultures of established churches, many grow concerned. Becoming innovative or adaptive culture organizations seems quite a stretch.

Before despairing, remember who we follow. Remember that Jesus handed us off to the Holy Spirit who knows how to guide us when we are open to Holy Spirit nudges. So, in addition to concerted prayer and a willingness to follow, how do we lead our churches to become innovative and adaptive culture organizations?

Your church may be ready to engage one of our transformation processes designed for cultivating innovation (see our TCIs https://www.pinnlead.com/initiatives). Contact us to explore that option. In the meantime, here’s one very specific way to influence your church culture. There’s one key phrase to know; one which unfreezes systems and sets our people free:

Holy Experimenting

Holy Experiment = An innovative move, possibly inspired by the Holy Spirit, which helps us participate in God’s kingdom movement.

Back when the Making The Shift material was being developed, this phrase came to me, appearing to pull together strands of adaptive change which empower churches. Since then, it’s sparked the spiritual imaginations of many pastors, staff, and churches. So since 2020 is right around the corner, we are inviting you to consider making 2020 the year for Holy Experimenting. We know of several churches who choose a word or phrase as their theme for each year. Here are suggestions for use, cultivating a church culture which values Holy Spirit nudges, becoming an innovative and adaptive church over the course of this coming year.

Identify your goal for how many Holy Experiments your church will do in 2020

Holy Experiments can be done by:

  • The Entire Church: Large-scale collective efforts, changes, adjustments, or initiatives

  • Small Groups: Bible study groups, small groups, teams, or informal groups

  • Individuals: Personal initiatives wherein we step up and live into God’s mission

Start a list at the year’s beginning. Identify a point person(s) to collect them. The point is to try as many Holy Experiments as possible in one year’s time, teaching and training your church to value innovation. This year you are not worried about the outcomes of specific Holy Experiments, knowing the combined effect is jump-starting your church toward innovation. Without this kind of intentional focus on adaptation, most people in established churches default to the status quo.

Sprinkle your language with Holy Experimenting

If you are a preacher or teacher, you have the perfect opportunity to define and describe Holy Experimenting. You know how a phrase enters common usage….when we hear it enough, it finds its way to our lips. Say it, print it, and generally update your language to include Holy Experimenting as often as possible. This seems like a small move, yet remember you are shaping culture and culture is directly shaped by the language which carries it from one person to another.

Become Holy Experiment scouts

The kingdom of God will be perceived by those who have the eyes to see and ears to hear. Train yourselves and your church overall to look for Holy Experiments. Sometimes disciples will engage in Holy Experimenting intuitively, not recognizing their actions as such. This is where the community of faith is helpful, lifting up the Holy Experimenting they see in each other. Pastors, church staff, and lay leaders can lead the way in modeling Holy Experimenting scouting.

Affirm every holy experiment, no matter what

“Thank you.” Powerful words of affirmation when you’ve stepped out on a limb, risking for the sake of the kingdom. The culture of far too many established churches discourages innovation and adaptation, with the disciples learning not to step out of established norms and boundaries. The Holy Spirit chafes in these kinds of settings. Instead we want to create church cultures wherein tending to the Spirit’s nudges is reinforced. When we lift up Holy Experiments, affirming the willingness to risk for God’s sake, our church learns it’s OK to be this way (so refreshing). The “no matter what” part is about the scale and “success” of Holy Experiments. At this point we don’t care how effective they are; we care that we are giving ourselves permission to even do them, learning to value innovation as churches.

Ask every ministry team, committee, or established group to identify their next Holy Experiment

Can you imagine this; the leadership of your church asking its people to identify their next Holy Experiment and share it with the leadership? “But some may stumble around, unsure how to proceed.” Yes! Resist the urge to write policies and procedures for how to do Holy Experiments. Instead trust the learning and growth process. God knows how to lead your people as they trust God.

These are a sampling of Holy Experimenting moves. We would love to hear about others you create as you move ahead. Some churches will engage the entire Making The Shift Transformation Process, yet we encourage you to so this one thing regardless….Holy Spirit inspired Holy Experimenting.

Helen Renew