LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
How Parents Pass Religious Faith to their Children
CLED 700
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Ministry Department of Christian Leadership and Church Ministries
By
Henry Edwin Shikuku
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
How Parents Pass Religious Faith to their Children
Innovation must take root in a church’s culture.
A church’s efforts to innovate in any ministry area, say the youth ministry, never unfold in a
vacuum. The church’s wider culture has everything to do with whether an innovative ministry
idea can take root in the youth ministry, let alone flourish within the broader congregation.
The impact of culture on innovation is a major focus of the Innovation Laboratory at the
Center for Youth Ministry Training, a non-profit based in Nashville. In spring 2021, the
Innovation Lab conducted research with ministry leaders around the country. The Lab wanted
to learn about the joys and challenges facing leaders and their communities and aspects of
ministry in need of innovation. One prominent research theme is highlighted in a reflection
from a Nazarene pastor in California about innovating amidst the pandemic.
We’ve been given this opportunity to reshape and reimagine our ministry, and it feels like
there are certain members of our staff and congregation that are slipping back into “Let’s just
go back to how it was,” when some of us are, like, “This is a time when we can discard the
things that aren’t working for us and renovate and innovate what we could be doing.
As illustrated, even when some members of a church staff see the need for change, the
temptation to “go back to how it was” is strong. This observation epitomizes one way a
church’s cultural mindset can unwittingly block efforts to innovate.
Cultivating the soil in which the seeds of change grow
To borrow a metaphor from Jesus and farming, a church’s culture constitutes the soil into
which an innovative seed is planted. Healthy, fruitful plants cannot grow in depleted or
neglected soil. A church’s culture is a living ecosystem that sustains innovation to varying
degrees. Healthy cultural soil nourishes innovative ministries that engage people’s assets and
needs so the community can experience the love and grace of Christ in profound ways.
The good news is that, like soil, a church’s culture can be nurtured and modified. How can
you tend your church’s cultural soil for greater innovative potential?
1. Conduct a soil assessment.
Taking time to assess the church’s current culture helps provide a snapshot of what is going
on and identifies areas in need of modification so that innovation becomes increasingly
possible. The Innovation Lab developed a tool called the Innovation Culture Index (ICI) to help
congregations self-assess their culture and its impact on innovation. Drawing from empirical
research and the wisdom of leaders in innovation design, we identified characteristics that are
strongly associated with a church’s ability to foster innovative activity. We grouped
characteristics into nine distinct indicators that examine the church’s mindset, structure,
relationships, and habits. Click to download the Lab’s free ICI resource to learn more.
2. Understand that your church’s soil differs from the church next door.
No two beds of soil are identical, and the cultures of churches are just as unique. Leaders
must recognize that even if your church’s culture appears similar to another church at the
surface, it has its own assets, neglected areas, and growing edges. It is tempting to focus
primarily on church demographics and fail to consider the peculiarities of the church’s
organizational culture or the specific context in which ministry takes place. We must remember
that innovative ministry is contextual ministry, and innovation is constantly impacted by church
culture. Consequently, an innovation that flourishes in a similar church may not take root in
your congregation.
3. Recognize that soil health shifts over time.
Because a church’s culture is created by the people within a given congregation, the
culture’s health naturally ebbs and flows. Changes in leadership or membership, personal
challenges facing people within the congregation (like a pandemic), and myriad other factors
impact culture. This is why attention to culture must be an ongoing practice. Doing so allows
ministry leaders to understand and anticipate potential barriers to innovation as they occur in
real time. Too often a ministry preemptively abandons seeds (great ideas) because they fail to
take root immediately. It could be that a church’s cultural soil needs attention before the
community tries to plant that innovative seed, or another, again.
4. Make changes to impact your soil’s health.
Through the Lab’s work with churches around the country, we learned that attention to
culture is just as important as the process through which innovation actually happens. Anyone
from any position within an organization — whether a paid staff person, volunteer, or
congregant — has the power to shift culture in meaningful ways over time. Returning to the
Nazarene church’s example above, the desire for a ministry to “just go back to how it was” is an
indication that the culture’s risk response is in need of attention.
One way to shift from a mindset of fear to a mindset of hope is to normalize routinely
talking about failure. Perhaps in a meeting among church staff members, avoid framing failure
as “that idea didn’t work so it was a waste of time/money/energy,” and instead articulate
failure as tangible evidence of trying something new. Encourage the staff to be on the lookout
for ministries that are trying new things, perhaps failing, learning, and trying again. Name these
when you see them and celebrate the courage required to innovate! Doing so builds a culture’s
tolerance for perceived failure when taking risks and experimenting.
As your church seeks to innovate to meet the needs of those present within your
congregation and wider community, considering the cultural soil is a fruitful place to begin.
Digging beneath the surface by cultivating curiosity will foster new potential for innovation as
you minister alongside your community. Along the way, what you learn will guide your church
toward greater innovation in the future.
