The church isn’t dying… it’s changing

This month I take over as the new director of our Ministry Incubators division at Ministry Architects. While I continue working with clients as a consultant, I also get to help a part of our company do something I really believe in.

It’s a unique piece of our company that is unlike any other company out there.  We like to say that, at Ministry Incubators, we conspire with would-be innovators to get their wild, faith-inspired projects clarified, launched, and sustainable, so that communities can be changed for the better.

Mark DeVries and Kenda Dean started Incubators as a separate company and we recently brought it under the Ministry Architects roof as a division that will focus on helping the Church innovate and change.  I’m taking over leadership this year and, God willing, helping our team lead the conversation for change in the church.

I was recently with Kenda as we presented to a group of clergy in Wisconsin where this was the topic of conversation for three days and Kenda said something that was really important, “The Church isn’t dying, it’s changing.”

It’s no secret that the church (as I’ve experienced it) is a bit allergic to change.  Although, it seems like we should be far more used to it than we are.

A HISTORY OF CHANGE

Phyllis Tickle missiologist talked about 500 year changes in the church. She argued that every 500 years, institutionalized Christianity undergoes a monumental upheaval or "giant rummage sale," where the church casts off outdated structures, rediscovers vital faith practices, and completely reorganizes itself to adapt to sweeping cultural changes. She names these as big markers of change:

1st Century - The Great Transformation: The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, marking the transition from First Temple Judaism to the birth of the early Christian church.

6th Century - The Time of Gregory the Great: The fall of Rome and the rise of the Monastic movement, which preserved literacy, faith, and culture during the Dark Ages.

11th Century - The Great Schism: The institutional church split into two geographic and theological halves: Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

16th Century - The Great Reformation: Martin Luther sparked a revolution that dismantled the absolute authority of the Pope and shifted authority toward sola scriptura (scripture alone).

And now… right on schedule, we’re in a time of new ideas emerging and old ideas coming apart in real-time. Denominations are shifting, changing, church attendance both online and in person is unrecognizable from 25 years ago, church property, church leaders, and discipleship strategies are all different as they used to be.  In fact, I’ve been working on twelve specific changes that we’re seeing emerge in the church right now.  (Check them out here!) There are definitely more changes happening beyond that, but, in the midst of this giant restructuring of the church, many view the church as dying. But, as I heard Kenda say to these Wisconsin pastors, the church isn’t dying… it’s changing.

GOING ON THE EXPEDITION

This is why the church needs Ministry Incubators. In the midst of this every-500-year yard sale, the church needs guides, cheerleaders, and champions of the change. We have some expertise, but we don’t have all the answers. We are committed to the mutual expedition where we experiment our way into our new reality.

And because the church needs ministry incubators, we’re going to do more than just help the idea people in your church launch their ideas (though we are doing that too!).  In the context of our company’s call, we help leaders ideate, launch, and sustain experiments that will shape the church’s future.

We do that in some unique and specific ways, but in all our work….

• We delight in the different: We champion the "brave and odd" and celebrate weirdness as a sign of true breakthrough.

• We take money seriously: Funding ministry is not an afterthought because the offering plate can’t be the only strategy for resourcing ministry.

• We believe tectonic change is afoot: We help ministries understand and non-anxiously navigate evolution in the church through innovative experimentation.

• We are on a mutual expedition: We bring experience without pretending we know the whole map, knowing that failure is part of the collaborative journey through unfamiliar terrain.

• We know expertise matters: We bring knowledge that can help many leaders who feel ill-equipped for the technical and often business-oriented nature of evolution.

We want to demystify change, innovation, and upheaval and see it for a great opportunity for the church. I think you can be part of that conversation with us. 

Check out our website or reach out to talk more about where God is inviting the next change!