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10 Questions Church Leaders Should Be Asking (but Probably Aren’t)

Where is your church investing in research and development?

All of our churches need to have an R&D department or an area where we’re trying new things—things that we’re not sure are going to work. Maybe you’ll try:

  • An innovative new way to do announcements
  • New ways of inviting people in your community
  • A new social media platform
  • Experimenting with getting more people connected into groups

As we’re learning to take steps and try out things that may potentially fail, we’ll learn how to become more flexible as an organization. It has the potential to lead us to innovations that could change the world. When we look around at other church leaders who have gone before us, we see that we were able to benefit from their innovations. They were willing to try new things and make mistakes along the way of the trying process.

Bonus: Where are we looking for new inspiration?

Finally, being the kind of leader that’s open to questions is important for you as we go into the future. Ninety-four percent of all churches in our country are losing ground against the growth of the communities they’re in. We need to stop looking at the models in front of us and instead look around for the new things that are happening.

It all comes down to putting yourself in contact with people who maybe aren’t from your immediate tribe or denomination. Look at the various approaches that God seems to be using; ask yourself what is it that is working there and how you could apply those lessons.

That’s a part of the reason why we do our weekly podcasts at unSeminary because we want to expose you to leaders in prevailing ministries. In so doing, we’re hoping it will provoke you to think differently about what you do and to take actions in a new direction.

Finally, bringing in an outside coach or outside voices to help your team get some perspective on ministry can be a vitally important function in painting a clearer picture of what’s happening within your church. Taking time to listen to people who are a bit farther down the road can give you clarity. Finding places and people who are willing to ask you questions that no one else is asking will ultimately help you and your church be stronger. What questions are you asking these days?

This article originally appeared here.