Notice a problem. Launch a program. Watch attendance shrink over a year. Quietly retire it. Repeat next fall.
If that pattern sounds familiar, your church isn’t failing at innovation. It’s starting in the wrong place.
The Great Commission isn’t a program. It’s a command: Go and make disciples. Every method your church has ever used was one generation’s best attempt at obeying that command in their moment. So before your team reaches for a new initiative, reach for the question underneath it. Who, specifically, within reach of your congregation hasn’t heard? Who used to come and stopped, and why? Who has decided church isn’t for them, and what convinced them of that?
Name the problem in concrete terms before you consider a single solution. Name who’s actually affected, inside your walls and well beyond them. Ask what you’d try if a public flop wasn’t embarrassing. Fear of looking foolish shrinks more good ideas than bad theology ever has.
You don’t need a longer list of ideas. You need the right questions, asked about the right people, in the right order. Get started and let’s work through yours.
Dr. Tracee J. Swank serves as a nonprofit ministry coach, consultant, author, and speaker. With a Doctor of Ministry in Kingdom entrepreneurship, she coaches pastors, church leaders, and ministry entrepreneurs toward missional clarity, innovative strategy, and Kingdom impact. She brings over 25 years of experience guiding leaders and congregations through renewal, revitalization, and reimagined mission. Connect with her at tracee@churchdoctor.org.