Innovation Killers
Why Faith Based Organizations are Slow to Innovate
I’ve seen it happen too many times. I’m not saying that I have seen it this week… but I have seen it this week (and this was written on a Monday).
A passionate team has what I usually call… a crazy idea. It’s a bold idea—something that could multiply impact, engage new people, or even sometimes solve a big hairy problem. There’s energy. There’s clarity. There’s momentum. There’s excitement.
And then...
The idea dies.
Not because it was unbiblical.
Not because it lacked strategy.
Not even because God wasn’t in it.
But because it got quietly suffocated—often unintentionally—by the very structures meant to support innovation in the first place.
Let me say something upfront: I love the Church. I’ve given my life to it. But I’ve also spent enough time in mission organizations, colleges, seminaries, churches, and non-profits to know we’re not always the most hospitable place for new ideas. Sometimes, we don't even realize how good ideas die. We just notice they’re gone.
Why is it so hard to innovate in faith based organizations? Innovation is hard to begin with, but in faith based organizations, it’s even harder.
Innovation isn’t optional. It’s Missional!
Innovation isn't a just tech buzzword. It’s not some crazy new fad that will go away. Innovation is what happens when faith meets reality with imagination. We see it all over Scripture—burning bushes, people with an unorthodox diet (pass the locust please), somewhat unorthodox battle plans, unexpected leaders, and then there is the issue of new wineskins. Make no mistake about it, God has always worked through people who were willing to ask: What if?
But too often, with faith based organizations, especially those that have been around for a while, innovation feels like a luxury. Or worse—a threat.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to unpack some of the biggest innovation killers I’ve observed (and admittedly, sometimes all too often, participated in). Here’s a preview of what’s coming:
The Tyranny of the Urgent
How constant busyness is crowding out creative space.Measuring the Wrong Things
If we only track what’s easy to count, we miss what’s worth celebrating.Fear of Failure Masquerading as Stewardship
We under-risk—and call it wisdom.Legacy Idolatry
When “we’ve always done it this way” becomes the enemy of innovation.Insecure Leadership
Why great ideas get filtered through power dynamics before they’re tested in the field.Over-Professionalization of Ministry
When only the professionals get a voice, innovation dies at the grassroots.
That’s what I am planning for now… I reserve the right to innovate that list! Each post will be a somewhat deep dive into the Innovation Killer. I’m sort of opening myself up here because I have already admitted that I have been guilty of all of these. I write this, not because I have it all figured out, but because I believe this matters. I believe that the world is changing rapidly and sometimes the church has focused so much on resisting change, we miss the transformation from scrolls of parchment to scrolls on an iphone (and everything that happened in between).
If we want to see fresh approaches to modern problems, we can’t keep doing everything the same way.
We need to build cultures where failure isn’t fatal, where front line worker voices rise to the top, and where faithful experimentation is seen as an act of obedience. Why? Because the stakes are too high to keep playing it safe.
If any of this hits a nerve—or sounds like a conversation you’ve needed someone to start—stick around.
More coming soon.
Let’s kill the innovation killers together.