Christensen & Innovation

There are many who think that all innovation in Christianity is essentially heresy. They are like the proverbial man who gets married hoping that his wife will not change.

I am of the opinion, however, that innovation is not only a good thing, but it is inevitable. What appears to be “holding the line” is innovation in disguise.

I don’t want to take the time or the space to make a detailed argument. Besides, it would all be a waste of effort. Those who are opposed to all innovation will not be persuaded by anything I might say.

So I will address those who see innovation as good and even inevitable.

Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School, has written several books on innovation in business, The Innovator’s Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution & Seeing What’s Next. These are primarily focused on why some new products were successful and why others were not.

While I have been quite vocal that the church should not be operated like a business, I do believe that we can use insights from all fields of learning within the church.

All truth is God’s truth, after all.

Christensen is not concerned with the process of coming up with ideas. He wants to know how to develop ideas into successful products or services.

Template for shaping disruptive ideas:
Target nonconsumption. Look for a set of consumers who are trying to get a job done, but because they lack the money or skill, a simple, inexpensive solution has been beyond reach.

Leverage the low performance hurdle. Since these new customers compare the disruptive product to having nothing at all, they are delighted to buy it even though it may not be as good as other products available.

Make it “foolproof.” Deploy technology not to make the product more sophisticated, but rather to make it as “foolproof” as possible so that customers with less money and little training on the product can begin using it.

Lock in and take over. As a new value network forms around the new consumer market, certain channel partners will come to depend on your product to fuel their own need for disruptive growth. In addition, consumers will begin to use the product in new venues. Over time, the disruptive product will improve in quality, attract more customers, and take over the leadership position in that category.

Here are a few other quotations from his books:

“When searching for ideas with disruptive potential, look for ways to help customers get done more conveniently and inexpensively what they are already trying to do. Don’t invent new problems for customers to solve—they won’t reprioritize what’s important in their lives just because your product is available.”

“The resources, processes, and values that allow your core business to thrive may well prevent great new ideas from succeeding.”

“Don’t assume that your initial strategy is the 'right' strategy for a potential disruption.”

“Be impatient for profits, but patient for growth. Demanding early profitability will save years of losses that come from pursuing the wrong strategy for a long time—and help your team hit upon a truly viable strategy more quickly.”

Those of you with a missional mindset will see applications right away. In fact, there are so many different ways to use these findings in pursuit of a missional agenda that I cannot even begin to list them all. Let me make just a few observations.

“Target nonconsumption.” Too many churches are trying to compete with other churches. They are trying to produce better and more diverse programs. In this situation the mega churches will always “win.” But our real competition is not other churches but the activities that people do instead of “church.” (I know this is over simplified. But those of you who "get it" understand my point. I don't have the space to explain it precisely to those who don't.)

“Don’t invent new problems for customers to solve.” People are already trying to get “jobs” done. The strategy for the church is to show people that Jesus is the solution for “problems” they are already trying to solve. Traditionally, churches have tried to convince people that they needed “church.” Most people do not think that they have a “lack of church” problem.

“Leverage the low performance hurdle.” If we truly target nonconsumption, then people will be comparing our “product” to nothing at all. The typical seeker-church strategy is to try to convince people that we are “just as good.” But what if the church becomes the channel through which people receive something they were unable to get before? What if the church becomes the agent through which God transforms their lives?

“Make it foolproof.” This has an obvious application to church planting. Neil Cole advocates planting churches with as little structural, financial and leadership overhead as possible. Most attempts to start new churches require enormous investments of money and other resources. But that doesn’t seem to be the strategy that was used in the early church.

“Lock in and take over.” This is essentially what the early church did. It was very much a new market disruption. It was composed of the marginalized and ostracized. These people often became respectable. Then church became legalized in the Roman Empire. And before long we have Christendom. Now “the church” is the establishment.

Success kills off innovation. The very things that make an established church attractive to its members will prevent it from taking the risks that a start-up church is forced to take.

Strategy evolves. One of the important findings of Christensen’s research is that new businesses almost never get their strategy right in the beginning. But because they don’t have unlimited resources, the successful innovators are forced to test and refine their strategy. In the church we often confuse theology and methodology. Because our message is timeless, we assume that our methods will be as well.

“Be impatient for profits, but patient for growth.” This again applies to church planting. Most strategies try to build a big church right away. Instead we should seek to quickly establish a vital, self-sustaining church. Because the investment is low, we can afford to make more attempts. Because the resources are limited, the church planting team is forced to test all their assumptions quickly.

Christensen points out that established companies try to force innovations into their existing markets. In other words, they try to fashion the new idea to make it attractive to their existing customers. Ditto for the church. Pastors are pressured to “serve” their existing members. New ideas are evaluated on how well they will meet the needs of current members.

I hope that your brain is starting to spin with the implications of these ideas. I don’t have the luxury of spelling them all out in detail. I suspect it would require a full-length book to pull that off.

Maybe we can develop this further in the comments. Let me know what you think.

Pastor Rod

“Helping you become the person God created you to be”

Update: Comparison of some of these ideas with the words and actions of Jesus.