Back from Innovate 2007 Inspired

Spent a big chunk of last week at the Innovate 2007 conference at Granger Community Church in Granger Indiana.

First off, I was pleased to discover that GCC is a United Methodist church. I was not surprised to find that they don't make the denomination a part of their name. We're in an age where Community is much more likely to engage someone and "United Methodist" is much more likely to disengage someone within their target demographic. Understand, they don't want (or need, for that matter) me to come to their church (though I want to, I really do). Their target on Sunday mornings is, you guessed it, the Seeker (tm) ** (see note below) either has never gone to church or who has become disenfranchised by organized religion.

Okay, fair enough. I came to a realization that every church has a target demographic. We have a very formal and traditional service at 11:00 here at First. We should not be surprised that we tend to attract folks who like formal and traditional worship to that service. EVERY worship service communicates the same thing: "This is how we worship, come do it our way. If you like it, come back."

Now, changing to lights and video and smoke machines and rock bands is going to change your target demographic - but just because you "build it" it doesn't necessarily mean "they will come." Innovation happens in the context of a worship service not by simply overlaying different elements (electric guitars for the pipe organ, for example) but, usually, by extending the existing context.

Here's my example of Church (I just used this yesterday in my adult class):

Church Pez

Church is like Pez dispensers. Let's face it, Pez candy hasn't changed all that much in the past, what, 60 years or whatever. But we keep buying those stupid little tilt-head things like, well, candy...heh... Why? Because Pez keeps changing. If they were still producing ONLY the Flintstones Pez dispensers, or those original "headless" Pez dispensers, well, who would keep buying them? But I HATE Pez candy and I've got the Star Wars Pez dispensers on my desk (well, four of them, I...um...gave away a bunch of them...what was I thinking?). So they continue to be true to their mission and vision (get lots of yukky candy in the hands of people, especially kids) while continuing to "innovate" within the context of what they do.

Church is like that. We've had the same message for two millenia, but we continue to present it in different ways. We innovate.

Innovation isn't just about revamping the worship service. It's about connecting with the culture around you. Whether you'r Toby church (which I've already talked about) or Granger Community Church, it's about making sure that the message, the Grace of God in Jesus Christ, isn't lost in the packaging.

** NOTE

Seeker has got to be a registered trademark of Willow Creek Community Church (tm)or at least by Bill Hybels (tm). I mean, really...