After a successful acting career, Blaine Hogan attended and graduated from Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, WA. He currently works for Willow Creek Community Church as a Creative Producer creating contexts and spaces for people to experience God using multimedia, movement, and performance art. To learn more visit his blog, follow him on twitter, friend him on facebook, or watch his videos.
Recently, Hogan wrote about the important topic of failure:
Please, for the love of everything that is good, make mistakes . . .
You have a story to tell us that only you can tell. You have a story that we must hear. But we will only hear it if you fight.
Friend, I beg of you, please try. Make something. Make something awful. Make something spectacularly bad. Make the most terrible (fill in the blank) ever seen on the planet. Then, show it to everyone you know . . .
It is only through your failures that you will begin to find the sweet, and lovely, and rich, and treacherous path towards telling that story that only you can tell. . .
So, make mistakes. Please. Then make some more. We’re desperately waiting.
So What?
There are far too many churches that discourage failure. By placing a high premium on success and minimizing risk, these organizations often settle for the status quo and over time diminishing creativity and participation. For healthy congregations the way toward growth is one that encourages all of God’s people to use their gifts and passions in ministry and mission. By creating a congregational culture that encourages trying to bring to life new ideas, leadership gives people permission to fail big and to fail often.
How is your congregation doing when it comes to creating a culture that empowers all people to live out or bring to life creative new ideas for ministry and mission? Do the boards/committees/ministry teams tend to think first of reasons to say no or is seeking a way to say yes a part of their DNA?