You just read the latest and greatest how to ministry leadership guide and are excited about all of the wonderful things this book is going to bring to your church or organization. There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything, including implementing ideas that are not your own. Here is the right way.
What are you trying to accomplish?
The golden rule of leadership: you need to see where you’re going before you can take others there. Don’t start changing things around until you have asked yourself, “What can this idea or system bring to our ministry?” Is there a specific problem you are hoping to solve? Is there a ministry you are trying to improve? What results will the successful adaptation of this idea produce? Be specific.
If you get to this point and realize you are excited about the idea because it produced tremendous results for someone else, but it does not solve or improve anything at your church, then let it go! Celebrate that leader’s success and move on. Change for the sake of change is a ridiculous waste of time, energy, and resources.
Are you the right person?
Adaptation is about taking a good idea from a field you understand and making it better. Just because you are the leader does not make you the expert at everything, nor does it mean you need to be the one to develop the plan. So you read the book and you think, “Wow, this is a great small group model that I believe has merit at our church.” Who is in charge of the small groups at your church? That is the person you need to equip to adapt this change. They understand all the specific issues and will be able to take what is good about the idea or system and apply it specifically to the culture of your church.
As a leader if you see a deficit or room for growth in the ministries you oversee it ‘s your job to train and equip those leaders. Explain to them what you liked about this book and “encourage” them to bring these types of solutions or systems to their ministry.
Making it better
The next most important thing is to make the idea better. Stealing ideas is lazy leadership, and doesn’t work. Great success comes from leaders who meet the specific needs and solve the specific problems of the organization they work in. Ask yourself how we can make this work at our church. What can we change about this idea so it translates to our ministry culture? Develop a plan that will work at your church. Make the idea a better by making it your own idea.
Image via flickr user royblumenthal.
Great post! Using other’s ideas in ministry helps keep us fresh but we’ve got to remember that ideas are not blue prints for our own ministries.