Church Staff Values – Risk (Part Ten)
“I will try new and creative ways of ministry.”
“I will allow the Spirit to move me to places on faith.”
Risk equals experiment which equals new. We can’t try something new if we don’t risk the old. This means we try it, don’t have to keep it, but we’ll never know if we don’t try. If you aren’t risking something, you’re not moving on faith. If you aren’t risking something, you’re not trying something new. Risk keeps ministry from becoming stagnant. Risk does not always bring success, but those who risk will eventually find it.
We recently risked a few things at the church. We risked our Wednesday night programming. Last year we tried a talk show format that was a big success. This year we evaluated the old elective format, the new talk show format and asked if they complimented our mission. The leadership decided that the Wednesday night format was reduplication and a competitive strategy with our small groups. So, we moved our small groups into Wednesday night. This was a success, it allowed two new groups to form and moved previously non committed members into committed groups. This was a success. We failed when we tried doing Wednesday nights at the church without food – okay we don’t have to do that again.
Risk allows us to recreate our ministry in a way that is effective and glorifying to God. Risk can be dangerous and can be costly. If you never risk then you’re betting on constancy in culture and that maybe the biggest risk of all.-
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