Faster horses

This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”

A few years ago when IDEO was working with the Mayo Clinic on innovation, we had a small office in their Department of Medicine. I happened to visit the space one day and was struck by a Henry Ford quote the team had posted on the wall. "If I had asked my customers what they wanted," said the inventive Mr. Ford, "they'd have said a faster horse." (Tom Kelley, The Ten Faces of Innovation)

We think in categories that already exist. That's why a lot of us have been searching for the church equivalent of faster horses: better programs, more polished preachers. One could argue that we are doing "church" better than ever before, with diminishing results.

The alternative is to look in a completely different category. Cars overtook horses, and DVDs overtook VHS tapes. Perhaps the Kingdom will overtake the church.

I'm finding it freeing to stop asking, "How can I do church better?" and ask more of this question "How can we participate in what God is doing in His Kingdom better?" It's not about building a better church in the conventional sense. It's about participating in what God is doing.