Adaptation or Innovation. Which will it be?

One year ago our world was delivered a proverbial punch in the gut. Businesses, schools, public gathering places, and yes, churches, were closed. For a while it seemed as if everyone just climbed into a bunker, determined to wait it out. And those businesses, institutions, and churches that decided to simply wait it out (and do nothing more) have been, for the most part, crippled or even extinguished. Nothing evil happened. It was just that the mindset of waiting it out was not very sustainable.

Other businesses, schools, institutions, and churches decided to adapt. New ways to communicate were put in place. Cameras, computers, and other devices allowed for the changes needed in making things work in a way similar to what they once had. The truth is, most of the adaptations had been around for years; it was just that resources had to be redirected in order to make things happen. The even larger truth is that nothing groundbreaking occurred; we just adapted. Now, we are here…what is next?

Innovation. Creating new processes…new ideas…new mindsets. That is our next frontier. What will be the ideas that go beyond the adaptations we have made over the last several months? How may the church innovate in taking what we’ve learned – and what we are learning – and creating that which makes the biggest impact on this new time we are now entering? May we pray for the innovators to come our way.