Get The Innovative Church: How Leaders And Their Congregations Can Adapt In An Ever-Changing World Authored By Scott Cormode Hardcover

Innovative Church” by Scott Cormode brings to question how the church should continue to innovate, while maintaining the core values, Many churches fear or fight change, but Cormode argues that innovation is inevitable, its up to leaders how the innovation goes,
Leaders are called to listen, Congregations are full of people who have longings and losses and if a church leader is listening, they will hear what these things are, If the church is called to serve its congregation, then these longings and losses should be the first things a church aims to heal, But often we miss the mark because we dont want to change beyond how weve always done things, Through stories, experiments, candor, and other techniques church leaders can find ways to innovate and thrive,
One of the biggest takeaways I had from this book is story telling, Humans deal with the world through stories, so its not surprising that the church is fluent in stories, But often we see the example of Jesus changing the story, Mental models are the things we use to make sense of the world, so the job of stories is to shift mental models into a new way of thinking.
This is what the church must do when they innovate, Take a common mental model and use storytelling to shift the old model to the new, The new idea may not initially take, but if the leader continues listening and trying new ideas, the innovation will come and serve the church well.

Overall, I found this book extremely interesting, Ive been in a variety of churches over the years and its true many churches can become rigid or unwilling to grow, It takes a leader to shift the story and create the direction, but it also takes a congregation who is willing to lose what is comfortable or what is common.
Innovation is necessary, but who is willing to innovate I gave this bookstars,
Thank you to NetGalley and Baker Academic amp Brazos Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! Cormode crafts memorable phrases and weaves them through principles and stories so that by the end I could recall all the main ideas effortlessly.
That's good content plus good writing, Through pointed questions and measured repetition, Cormode gives a process to innovate while answering some concerns raised, I read this book, together with other members of my church community, as part of an online seminar led by its author, There are some interesting ideas but they tend to be repeated far too much for my taste, It's kind of like the "rule for a good speaker" first, tell them what you're going to tell them then, tell them then, tell them what you told them carried to extremes.
Cormode argues that the church is not doing a good job today, “The church as we know it is calibrated for a world that no longer exists, ”/The way church is done is based on a model centuries old, “The world has changed, but the church has not, ”/In the past, the church has had decades to adapt to cultural change, That strategy will no longer work, Cormode writes, The church must be innovative while still being grounded in the gospel,

How the church can be innovative has been the focus of Cormode's study for years, He has tested and refined ideas he provides in this book, He writes about the mental models we have of how church should be and how they can be changed, He advocates listening to people and their needs and listening to God in expectant silence, “This listening precedes all action, ”/He advocates innovation within traditions, He says such innovation requires discernment, The best leaders let the people think for themselves and provide for them the tools needed, giving the work back to the people,

The good news is that Cormode has provided a great blueprint for churches to change and be effective in the current culture while maintaining an emphasis on the gospel and valuing traditions.
The bad news is that this book is way too much, I would usually recommend a book like this to board members but I doubt many would read a book this complicated and long, There is just too much philosophy of change and too many examples in this book, Did we really need to know all about the pitch for Finding Nemo/I would suggest a student of Cormode create a twenty page synopsis of this book that would be read and used by lay people.
The material in this book is too important to be relegated to seminary classrooms,

I've been through church changes, some effective and some painfully disastrous, Cormode has nailed many important issues like addressing the pain and feelings of loss from change, Another important point is that leaders must have the authority to inspire change, not by position but by earning the love and trust of people in the congregation.
Such valuable insights!

I highly recommend this book, It contains so many insights into how the church can be effective in an ever changing culture while maintaining the never changing gospel, Perhaps one person on the church board could wade through the The Innovative Church's material and present it more concisely to others, Cormode notes that “seminary education is calibrated for a world that no longer exists, . . ”/Likewise, this book is calibrated for a reading public that no longer exists, The material in it is so important, it needs to be represented in a different way to have an impact on the current Christian culture.


I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher, My comments are an independent and honest review, “The Innovative Church” by Scott Cormode brings to question how the church should continue to innovate, while maintaining the core values, Many churches fear or fight change, but Cormode argues that innovation is inevitable, its up to leaders how the innovation goes,

Leaders are called to listen, Congregations are full of people who have longings and losses and if a church leader is listening, they will hear what these things are, If the church is called to serve its congregation, then these longings and losses should be the first things a church aims to heal, But often we miss the mark because we dont want to change beyond how weve always done things, Through stories, experiments, candor, and other techniques church leaders can find ways to innovate and thrive,

One of the biggest takeaways I had from this book is story telling, Humans deal with the world through stories, so its not surprising that the church is fluent in stories, But often we see the example of Jesus changing the story, Mental models are the things we use to make sense of the world, so the job of stories is to shift mental models into a new way of thinking.
This is what the church must do when they innovate, Take a common mental model and use storytelling to shift the old model to the new, The new idea may not initially take, but if the leader continues listening and trying new ideas, the innovation will come and serve the church well.


Overall, I found this book extremely interesting, Ive been in a variety of churches over the years and its true many churches can become rigid or unwilling to grow, It takes a leader to shift the story and create the direction, but it also takes a congregation who is willing to lose what is comfortable or what is common.
Innovation is necessary, but who is willing to innovate I gave this bookstars, Good summary of change management learnings from business world helpfully adapted to church setting, The world is constantly changing, which means the church must adapt, In reality, the church has adapted over the centuries, though in recent decades the world has changed a lot faster than ever before, That makes adaption a lot more difficult, If you don't believe me, check out the effects of human development on nature,

many a book has been written on church leadership offering strategies to help adapt, They will continue to be written because what we learned a few decades back may not work today, Lyle Schaller had a lot to say about leadership and change back when I was in seminary, Most likely his advice will not work today, So a new crop of books emerges, Among those books is Scott Cormode's The Innovative Church, Scott is the Hugh De Pree Professor of Leadership Development at Fuller Theological Seminary, Before going to Fuller he taught leadership studies at Claremont School of Theology,

I've known Scott for over thirty years, I met him while I was working on my Ph, D. in church history. Scott was, at the time, an M, Div. a student with a keen interest in church history, he went on to earn a Ph, D. in Church History at Yale, That goes to show you that we church historians are very adaptable! I became a pastor and he became a professor of

Leadership Development,

Like many books on leadership and change, Scott suggests that the church, to use his words, is calibrated for a world that no longer exists" Therefore, the church needs to be innovative if it wants to be effective in its ministry in the world.
As a good historian, Scott doesn't discount the importance of what has gone before, We are dependent upon an inherited tradition, Innovation, therefore, doesn't mean throwing out that tradition, However, it requires that we recalibrate based on that original foundation,

As Scott moves forward he speaks of the meaning of innovation for Christians, He lays out a principle that he shares with all classes and groups he leads "leadership begins with Listening, " It's a principle that we should imbibe, but often forget! He speaks of making spiritual sense, to make it clear that this book is about spiritual things, even if he makes use of secular ideas and principles.
Form there he speaks of reinvented practices, processes for innovation, and organizing for innovation, Once he lays all of this out, he reminds us that innovation leads to change, even if churches aren't always aware of this, He speaks of next steps and then concludes by speaking to the emerging generations, which he refers to as the Smartphone Generation, I must admit that I struggle with some of this, but I'm of an older generation, I have advocated for and worked for change throughout my ministry, but that doesn't mean I'm always comfortable with it, Nevertheless, new generations emerge, and with it new ways of being the church,

I believe that many will find Scott's book helpful and perhaps even encouraging, He shares stories from his own life and ministry but also examples from the churches he has worked with, He introduces us to various principles and processes, I must admit that at this stage of my ministry nearing retirement, I have less invested in these processes than those who are in the thick of things.
Hopefully, they can learn valuable lessons, though sometimes, as we've learned during the COVID pandemic, reality is often the mother of innovation!
The church as we know it is calibrated for a world that no longer exists.
It needs to recalibrate in order to address the questions that animate today's congregants, Leading congregational researcher Scott Cormode explores the role of Christian practices in recalibrating the church for the twentyfirst century, offering church leaders innovative ways to express the neverchanging gospel to their everchanging congregations.
The book has been roadtested with over one hundred churches through the Fuller Youth Institute and includes five questions that guide Christian leaders who wish to innovate.
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