The Future Belongs to the Underdogs and Innovators
This headline is a quote from a post in the Marketing Agency Insider. The post discusses how traditional marketing firms are doomed if they don’t learn to adapt to the new world and offer a hybrid approach to helping companies reach new people with their products and services.
The article’s advice and analysis may be applied to the emerging church and its outreach efforts.
Things happen slowly in the church. Church structure is designed that way. Stability and normalcy are rewarded. Innovation is something to applaud and forget. It seems like every promising innovation is derailed by reverting to the old ways — the structure. Successful churches are those that are still doing things the same way with membership that can still support the old way, even if both membership and offerings are in steady, long-term decline.
Applauding survival has created a crisis among mainline religions that has been growing unchecked for decades. Still, church leaders talk about change but implement very little.
The article we quoted talks about five things that will cause a major shift in the way things are being done in the marketing world. Each can be applied to church and mission.
- The emerging church will find alternative funding streams. They will no longer rely on the offering plate as the sole support for mission.
- The emerging church must integrate its services and use every technology available.
- The emerging church must concentrate on efficiency in delivering services and that includes creating new, cost-effective leadership structures.
- The emerging church must find ways to lower operating costs. We cannot continue to support budgets that are top-heavy in management and real estate with very little money left for mission, education and service.
- The emerging church will find new ways to measure its successes and be accountable for its mission dollars.
The article concludes that it is the risk takers who are going to emerge from current turmoil. It concludes (slightly paraphrased to apply to “church”) that a new prominence will be afforded to the risk takers who fight to remain nimble, always thinking like startups and acting like underdogs. Their presence will be a disruptive force for years to come, shifting the balance of power and raising the bar for what’s possible when seeking new partnerships in mission.
2×2 has been saying all of this for a while!
Denominations should be concentrating on helping every congregation tool up for change that bears these five points in mind. Instead, congregations hear about “drafting mission statements” and “stewardship” and preparing to “call a pastor” and maintaining existing church budgets — which have the status quo as their foundation.