Welcome to the fellowship of crazy ideas. Imagine being in the room when Jesus sent out the 12 and then the 72 - Gasps and shocked questions. "So we're going to go out and do what you've been doing?
Crazy idea.
Join Jesus as he steered the team toward Samaria, instead of around it, then shared his identity with an outcast woman who became the first evangelist.
Crazy Idea.
The list goes on and continues with the Apostles and the early church. The Gospel went places where it was illegal, impractical, and entirely unfunded.
In the wake of the resurrection and the initial missionary journeys people in the culture knew where those crazy ideas were coming from- they called the Jesus people the ones who were turning the world upside down (Acts 17:6).
Crazy ideas.
We all know there are places where we can share our creative direction, even our hopes and our dreams in safety. We also know there are places where that's not welcome.
To create new things, to go places where people haven't gone before, we all need places where it's safe to dream, and then work out our dreams.
When I talk with pastors and churches, some are places where crazy God-centered ideas are welcome, and some are clearly not. Some places have a 2-year process for anything new - others are pushing the envelope with regularity.
Where are the next big ideas being fostered and nurtured? Where is it safe to even have them?
Crazy ideas that are redemptive are centered around what God is doing on the earth. We learn in Ephesians that those who know Him are the first fruits of the big plan that he is working to renew all things and bring them together in Christ.
By definition, we're new creations- something the world has never seen before. And our thinking is supposed to be transformed in contrast to how the world wants us to conform.
Sounds like crazy ideas.
And we see Jesus setting up teams to take good news into all kinds of places, a job that gets passed on to the whole church.
We're called to take new ideas into new places to change the world. That requires, yes you guessed it
...more crazy ideas.
We’ve been working to create that space- we call it Imagination Lab, and the first group is nearing its completion. There are crazy ideas brewing- watch out, world.
As we talk with entrepreneurs and pastors, we're finding more places where communities of believers and entrepreneurs are working together to do things that are new, and have the capacity to renew others.
Here are some practical ideas about managing crazy ideas:
1) Don't be afraid to call things experiments. Joel Lowery at Crossroads Church in Frederickburg, VA does this often.
2) Keep margin in your organization for experiments.
3) Invite the voices that ask, "what if?" and "why do we do that?" and "what would happen if?"
4) Be suspicious of doing things the way that everyone else does. Hidden in there somewhere is the force that conforms us to the world.
4) Find people who can dream with you, and don't let those who push back stop you. They might have a point, but you'll only know if you try.