Starting Something New

When was the last time you started something new at your church?  New creates interest, and piques curiosity.  New is fun.  Even God loves to take what is old, dead, and stale – and make all things new!  We want to talk with you about starting something new.

Starting something from scratch is a scary and exhilarating experience. Whether it’s as simple as starting a new habit or as complex as starting a new service at your church, there are both unbelievable highs and inevitable pitfalls waiting for us along the way.

Here at 200churches, we’re focused on helping the leaders of small churches maximize their giftedness and passion for the Kingdom of God. We’ve found, from our own experience that, while it’s easier to sustain the status quo, starting new projects is a great way to get people involved, create a buzz, and continue to move forward as a church.

New is scary for everyone

 I once met with the elders at a 200church that was stuck between the status quo and the future. The pastor felt that if the church wasn’t able to do some new things soon, it would quickly die out. While I felt for his situation, it was clear that many on his elder board struggled with the idea of “new.”

New is scary because it takes resources and energy to create something, and the payoff isn’t guaranteed. For some of the elders, no guarantee was terrifying. It takes extra time, energy, and grace to work with people in a situation like that, but when the vision catches, it can be great for a congregation.

New creates excitement

It’s always fun to watch TV in the early fall when shows are first getting started up. Networks must eat millions of dollars in advertising money by taking commercial time for their own projects. Why? Because they know that you can always build excitement around something new.

The buildup to a new event, group, or program in your church is an opportunity to build some excitement about where your congregation is moving. Larger churches understand this and take advantage by running promotional videos for upcoming sermon series. In 200churches, we have a unique opportunity to not only promote during services, but also one on one! Find the connected people in your church and promote to them. They’ll do the rest.

New gives us a chance to deliver

As leaders of 200churches, there’s a good chance that the planning and execution of a new project will fall on our shoulders. This is scary, but also comes with a big payoff. As we promote and prepare our new project, it’s important to over-deliver with our finished product.

Nothing can kill a buzz faster than our new project not living up to expectations, and nothing will make it harder to do something new in the future than not delivering in the past. The best way to build confidence in your leadership and acceptance in “new” is to consistently over deliver in a way that is both helpful and encouraging.

While it may take more time and energy than maintaining the status quo, “new” is an incredible chance for leaders to involve voices and personalities that might not usually be heard, and “new” provides us with the opportunity to move forward as churches. So what are some new projects/ideas you have for your church? What would your answer be if someone asked “What’s new?”

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