2. You’ll create an incompatible hybrid
When you mix church models, as described above, you can easily end up with a hybrid model that just doesn’t work.
Each effective church you’re studying (be it well-known or not) is the product of years of development, prayer, trial and error, and fine-tuning until it finally all worked together powerfully.
If you strip a part off one model, borrow another from a second church, randomly select something you like from a third and THEN try to combine into something effective at your church, you’re headed for almost certain failure. Why? Because there’s a good chance the components you borrowed don’t work well together.
Think of it this way: You can’t easily fix your Android phone with iPhone parts, or your iPhone with Android parts. They’re both phones, but they’re not the same. If you put most Ford truck parts into a Tesla, it won’t run. They’re both vehicles, but they’re not the same.
In the same way, all the churches you study are churches, but they’re not drawing from the same church models. You want a compatible system.
Naturally, once you see that certain parts will fit into your system beautifully because you understand the ‘part’ and you understand your system, you can adapt them.
3. You won’t own it
This one’s huge. It’s easier than ever to attend conferences, read books, skim blogs, follow leaders and borrow a bucketful of ideas.
The challenge, though, is two-fold.
First, the idea you’re borrowing from the leaders in question was a hard-fought idea. They developed it, revised it, changed it again and reworked it until it finally became an idea worth sharing. It was a part of them before they shared it with anyone. They owned it.
