I was recently coaching a group of ministry leaders to help them unpack their faith community’s experience with the Innovation Lab’s Community Discovery Package. Guided by the resource, they’d completed community research, conducted in-depth interviews with people in their context, ...
Take 60 seconds to try this thought experiment: Close your eyes and imagine a successful and effective ministry program in your context. What do you imagine? How many people are present? What are they doing? What’s your role as a ...
by: Meghan Hatcher The kickoff of a new academic year represents a programmatic re-set in most churches. As kids return to school and fall activities ramp up, each September brings immense shifts in the dynamics, participants, and feel of a ...
by Meghan Hatcher Meghan is the director of the Innovation Laboratory at CYMT. She holds degrees in journalism; sustainable development and applied sociology; and a Master of Divinity. Meghan has served diverse faith communities through pastoral leadership, youth ministry, new ...
by: Lindsey Johnson In kindergarten, you learn about trees. My six-year-old son just wrapped up his first year of school and, on the last day, his backpack came home full of school projects that accumulated in his cubby over the ...
by Meghan Hatcher I've been where you are. One of the reasons I’m so compelled by the work we’re doing at the Innovation Lab is because I’ve personally sat where many of our Lab participants sit. When I was in ...
By Meghan Hatcher When I talk with ministry leaders who are applying to participate in the Lab’s cohorts, they often tell me about their innovative ministry ideas. I love hearing what they’re dreaming about, but I’m quick to tell leaders ...
By Meghan Hatcher Meghan is the director of the Innovation Laboratory at CYMT. She holds degrees in journalism; sustainable development and applied sociology; and a Master of Divinity. Meghan has served diverse faith communities through pastoral leadership, youth ministry, new ...
by Andrew Mochrie Andrew is the leader of the Theology Together Program at CYMT as well as a former Innovation Lab Cohort Participant. For more information on our Innovation Lab Cohort Program (which is registering new cohorts now) CLICK HERE. ...
by Rev. Stephanie Dodge Steph is a United Methodist Senior Pastor as well as a former Innovation Lab Cohort Participant. For more information on our Innovation Lab Cohort Program (which is registering new cohorts now) CLICK HERE. In 2016, Glendale ...
by Dr. Andrew Zirschky Starting in the 1990s, a focus on innovation and particularly disruptive innovation began to take hold in business schools and large companies worldwide. In the past decade, that interest has spread to the Church and to ...
By Meghan Hatcher The first step in product thinking, as Nikkel Blaase writes in an article for the Interaction Design Foundation, is to “determine the problem that your users are looking to solve.” When done well, determining a user’s problem ...
Prototyping Can Fundamentally Shift How Your Ministry Rebuilds By Meghan Hatcher I’ve heard countless stories lately from ministry colleagues, friends serving in local churches, and others working in non-profit organizations that this fall is a particularly challenging ministry season (after ...
“Not just a beloved program, but a way of being in all of our programs”: Reflections on a Lab cohort one year later By Meghan Hatcher We emphasize process over product and transformation over traditional ministry metrics at the ...
Whose needs is your Back-to-School Sunday really meeting? By Meghan Hatcher, Innovation Lab Director When I began a new ministry role as Community Engagement Pastor midway through the summer, my first major project was to plan and lead Back-to-School ...
By Andrew Davis Years ago I served at a small church and I’ll never forget when Madi and Mckenzie joined that youth group. Their presence brought a season of excitement and refreshment to a group that, if I am being ...
Setting Aside Assumptions to Listen to Your Context Throughout my years in ministry, I have seen faith communities (churches and religious non-profit organizations) create and implement well-intentioned and well-informed ministries that met the needs of their wider communities and ...
Innovation enacted with intention can transform people’s lives. Consider an example from the medical field: In the early 1990s laparoscopic surgery became commonplace and today accounts for the majority of abdominal surgeries, generally resulting in shorter recovery times, reduced pain, ...
To borrow a metaphor from Jesus and farming, a church’s organizational culture is like soil — a living ecosystem that sustains innovation to varying degrees. A church’s culture constitutes the soil into which innovative seeds are planted. Healthy cultural soil ...
Research Findings Drive Innovation Lab Forward Since the Innovation Lab launched in 2018, we’ve seen God transform individual faith journeys, ministries, and entire churches. We’ve hosted numerous training events with leaders around the country; created resources and curriculum on ...
