Here at the Innovation Lab, our Innovation Culture Index (ICI) assesses a faith community’s culture by revealing its strengths and areas that need to improve so innovation can take root effectively. The ICI measures what we call the Nine Indicators of Innovative Potential, which are essential cultural characteristics for enacting change and embracing creativity in ministry. These include indicators like a church’s perspective on taking risks, mindset related to vision, strength of relationships, and tendencies toward experimentation.
As the Lab coaches faith communities around the country using the ICI, a common trend among scores has emerged. In the majority of faith communities, the lowest-scoring indicator is risk response, which is measured on a spectrum from “fearful” to “hopeful.”
Having a fearful perspective on taking risks is logical given the narrative of decline that’s common in the Church, and the triple traumas of a global pandemic, nationwide mental health crisis, and denominational turmoil in recent years.
So it makes sense that many faith communities adopt an ostrich, head-in-the-sand mentality when it comes to taking risks and trying something new in their ministries.
Hopeful Signs Within Faith Communities’ Cultures
Despite low risk response scores, a more hopeful trend among ICI scores also emerged in recent years. The highest-scoring indicator in the majority of faith communities is bonds, which measures the strength of relationships among the staff and congregation on a spectrum from “suspicious” to “trusting.”
Anecdotal evidence suggests this is because going through a collective trauma can be a bonding experience that forces people to rely on and relate to each other in deeper ways. This reality is especially evident in a faith community like Collierville United Methodist Church in Tennessee.
In recent years, CUMC has weathered a tremendously difficult season involving the death of a beloved pastor and conflict among church members. They are not the same church they were in 2021, but the bonds among people who remain committed to their particular expression of the body of Christ are extremely strong.
Consistent with CUMC’s experience, the Innovation Lab often observes that bonds are strong even in many faith communities with low risk response scores. Low risk response is characterized by a fearful perspective on taking risks, which points to a critical question for many churches today.
How can a faith community capitalize on the strength of the relationships among people in the community to take more risks in ministry, trusting that strong relationships can tolerate it?
Culture is Today’s “Old Wineskin”
Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:17 (NRSVUE) have something instructive to say about a faith community’s culture. “Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are ruined, but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
In perhaps every faith community, one of the greatest barriers to enacting change or trying something new in ministry is the “old wineskin” of the community’s culture.
As a church tries to embrace the new wine of creative ministry ideas, the current culture’s “old wineskin” often bursts. Trust wears thin, people are skeptical or downright critical, and the temptation to avoid risk is high.
That’s because the current culture might not be ready to hold new, innovative ideas. It simply might not be able to stretch enough to accommodate fresh understandings of ministry and what it means to be “church.”
The good news is, unlike an old wineskin that Jesus says is “ruined” by new wine, a faith community’s culture is an organic, evolving reality that’s capable of shifting and stretching.
Every person who is part of the community – pastors, staff, new attendees, longtime members, teenagers in the youth ministry, volunteers, etc. – co-creates the culture together as it becomes increasingly capable of holding new wine over time. That’s why the most fruitful place to start innovating isn’t a focus on the “new wine” of shiny, new ministry ideas, but a deep exploration of the faith community’s culture.
If you’re ready to explore your faith community’s culture to make room for “new wine,” check out our Innovation Culture Index, a resource that will uncover cultural strengths and areas that need to shift.
About the Author: Meghan is the director of the Innovation Laboratory. She has served diverse faith communities through pastoral leadership, youth ministry, new church development, community engagement, and ministry innovation. Meghan has a Bachelor of Journalism, a Master of Science in Sustainable Development and Applied Sociology, and a Master of Divinity.