Ideas from the Ideation

Sadly I have lost my notes from the conference. I have no clue what happened to them. But I do remember everything that we talked about, so here's some of the ideas that I liked the best:

• CityServe - I had the opportunity to work one-on-one with Reggie McNeal, one of the major players in the "missional church" movement. His newest idea, that he and I fleshed out at the conference, was that of city-wide development. What if a city could identify 1-2 issues that would make a substantial improvement in the city if solved? All of the altruism and actors in solving the problems are already in place, but they operate independently. What if there were an independent third-party to call everyone to the table to strategise together? I love this idea because it's great development - all of the assets are already in place, they just need to be empowered. Cooperation is one of my biggest values so I am desperate to see this idea implemented.
• IdeaFest - Don Wilcox, who works for Leadership Network in Colorado, had the idea that churches could host an annual event that would really level the playing field so that ideas for the direction of the church don't just flow top-down. Lots of churches have this as a value, but few really successfully implement it. Anything to reduce heirarchy and top-down control in the church seems like a good idea to me.
• 1% More - Jenni Catron, from CrossPoint Church in Nashville, has the plan that we could make a massive impact in the world if every Christian and every church gave just 1% more to international missions each year. Although throwing money at development and missions is not exactly a good idea, if NGOs and mission organizations can have good strategies and visions that will be successful, this would be a great way for them to find the funding that they all so desperately need.
• Outsourcing - Nicola James, from the European Church Planting Network in England, was proposing the idea of churches outsourcing their back offices - anything from accounting to graphic design. I've heard this idea before and it seems like a good one. Some churches do this to a certain degree, but there are many challenges and it would be great to see this idea fleshed out so that the inefficiencies in outsourcing these functions could be reduced.
• Commentary - Steve Lutz, campus minister from Penn State, has the idea of a wiki-style commentary website where people are adding Biblical analysis to a huge resource. As long as there is a clear system for differentiating different interpretations of the same passage and so that people aren't battling each other, this is a great idea. He also wants to incorporate an online store for Christian resources that functions like Toms Shoes - you buy a Christian resource, an underresourced pastor somewhere in the world receives a resource. BOGO - it's a great plan if it can be comparable in cost to other sources or have great marketing.
• 2x2 Church Planting - Troy McMahon, from Restore Community Church in Kansas City, MO, has a plan for church planting. Churches are created with a missional and reproducing DNA through a direct one-on-one discipleship relationship with funding that is terminated after 2 years. Church plant teams are 40 adults and take place when the church is up to 300-400 people in attendance. Nothing new about this idea, but if somebody could successfully implement it, huge numbers of people would come to Christ.
• Troy McMahon, Jim Sheppard (Generis Partners in Atlanta), and I put our heads together and came up with an idea for staff exchange toward the goal of greater church partnership. Not only are preachers switching occassionally, but pastors sometimes go to different church staff meetings - either exchange, lead, or attend. Goes along with the idea I was initially pitching of church leaders coming together geographially but across cultural and denominational lines for regular prayer meetings.

I hope that some of these great ideas get implemented, and I also hope that church leaders continue to think innovatively!