We’re all looking for a fresh perspective in our jobs, ministries, and organizations. Some may say we’re always looking for innovative ways to do what has been done.

Innovators enhance existing products, systems, or ideas. It’s been said that “innovation is at the core of sustainability, but turning that abstract idea into action isn’t always easy.” It takes a unique individual to be able to turn ideas that exist into actions that become beneficial for growth and development.

Bill O’Connor, the CEO of AutoDesk, and his team studied what they called “the 1,000 greatest innovations of all time”. They set out to uncover best practices and strategic patterns of the greatest innovations and innovators. It was their desire to help the average person learn the secrets that could help impact their daily approaches to creativity and innovation. Through their research and studies, this team uncovered six questions that became consistent between innovators. When these questions were asked and answered, it helped lead to innovate momentum. Here are the questions followed with some practical ways we can apply these to ministry:

• What could I look at in a new way? // What have we fallen in love with that stopped working? It’s important to fall in love with our mission, not our method. We should always being willing to adjust method and find new and better ways to achieve our mission.
• What could I use in a new way? // Are there tools, technology, methods, formulas or systems that are working in other fields or spaces that could make our ministry or church better?
• What could I recontextualize in space or time? // Are we maximizing our resources? Is there something more effective we could be doing with said resources?
• What could I connect in a new way? // Have we allowed silos to form? Are we asking the right questions? Have we created the most synergy possible between our ministries, departments, and how they interface with those in our communities?
• What could I change, in terms of design or performance? // How is our end user – lost people – feeling about our church or ministry? Are we making it easy for them to connect and experience life change, or are we building inside of a cultural bubble?
• What could I create that is truly new? // Is there anything that we could do that no one else is doing that would allow us to meet our mission and the needs of those we are trying to reach?

Finding ways to innovate in ministry is paramount to our longevity, but even more than that, it’s crucial when it comes to us being able to reach more lost people. As creative leaders, it’s our jobs to push our organizations and ministries to be thinking about these six important questions and then implementing our findings to enhance and breed innovation in our organizations.