Spiritually Driven Innovation
Are we baptizing innovation in Bible-speak or innovating spiritually?
A few weeks ago, I spoke in North Africa about innovation and ministry. It was a great group doing wonderful work across the continent of Africa and with African diaspora peoples. As I read through the short evaluations, a question came up that I had asked before.
How can innovation be spiritually driven?
It is a rich, deep question.
When I first wrote The Innovation Crisis, I was challenged by several people who were making the case that innovation is a business concept. I countered that Jesus was perhaps the most innovative person in human history. I also noted that many people conflate technological innovation with religious or spiritual innovation, which was an error. I continue to believe that innovation is found throughout the Bible and in church history.
But this question of how we might drive our innovation through a spiritual dynamic remains.
I came across a little book by Lanny Vincent titled, A Primer on Innovation Theology. He writes about growth as a driver for much of industry innovation and why this can be problematic for spiritually oriented enterprises. There is what he called the “idolatry of growth.” I would say we also suffer from a parallel in Evangelicalism: pragmatism. He frames innovation and change together and describes theological assumptions in our innovating. An example is an argument that I have also made, that God is a creator. These foundations should drive spiritually infused innovation (another example is, “Jesus was an innovator”).
In design thinking there is much emphasis on empathetic listening. There is a concurrent need for “theothetic” listening when taking on innovation projects. We should listen not just to potential customers and their needs, but also to the Spirit. If innovation is not preceded by prayer and listening, it stands a good chance of being devoid of spirituality.
Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together has been very popular in ministry leadership circles. It was at the top of the list of books missions CEOs recommend when we surveyed them in numerous years. In my view, it gets this warm welcome because of her emphasis on spiritual discernment in community. In her approach, spiritual discernment becomes a community-wide practice. This is also true for spiritually infused innovation. People who discern together innovate in collaborative ways that honor community engagement. This is a stark contrast to the innovator-in-the-garage storyline that we tend to tell.
Spiritual foundations, theothetic listening, and spiritual discernment in community with others are at least a few ideas for spiritually infused innovation. I am sure that there are others, and I would love to hear from you about ways that innovation can have a stronger spiritual base.
Funny that innovation could be considered a "business concept" when the entire Western missionary enterprise (carefully chosen word) is awash with and in many ways has already sold out to - business concepts! Pragmatism, efficiency, ROI, we are consumed with "getting things done," doing things well, etc. Beginning with William Carey adopting the trading company model (which he never said explicitly but seems strongly implied), we are always looking around us for "concepts" that will help us. I guess at the same time we are suspicious of these concepts, where they come from, what their assumptions might be, etc. And we should be. For instance, a focus on the needs of the consumer could be related to a theology to "love thy neighbor" or it could be related to prioritizing people's felt needs over deeper "needs" of a person such as life in Christ. And while Jesus was incredibly innovative, most people thought he was a heretic. In being innovative, he wasn't following principles of design thinking. All to say that whenever we take words from one context and apply them to another where that word (and worldview) didn't exist, we need to be careful. I'm all for a theology of innovation, because that forces issues like these to the forefront.
I've lived in this Midwestern suburban area for about 5 months now, and the church shopping process has revealed a Christian community that is made up of two distinct molds. Churches on the one hand are typically smaller, typically Reformed, and though some have attracted younger crowds, are almost entirely made of post-Catholic Polish, Irish and Germans of the older generations who built this city. One the other hand, it's today's majority Hispanic population that fills those old Catholic churches - seemingly daily busloads on Guatemalans, Colombians, and Venezuelans are challenging the now-established Mexican families who have driven a rapid demographic rise to majority status over the last 30 years.
Our families interestingly represent both of these communities. Her folks are Mexican immigrants and staunchly Catholic, while mine are the product of at least 4 generations of the Wesleyan Holiness movement (though not of the Charismatic variety!) What's clear is that, by and large, our families don't really understand each other for the reasons you'd expect: culturally, religiously, linguistically...
But perhaps our experience is indicative of ministry in our city. It's almost as if neither side engages with each other in meaningful ways to bring the Gospel to the mass influx of Hispanic and Asian immigrants, literal busloads, of the last few years. All while the majority makeup of these two branches seem comfortable filling their niche and nothing more, spiritual fruit city-wide is observably waning.
How can my church be a part of spirit-led innovation in a space like this? I can't imagine my city is unique in this way. Eager to know what other churches in similar contexts have found successful.