Posture of Innovation: The Church as a Laboratory for the Kingdom
This article was originally published by Exponential Next Ventures.
I will never forget the first time I visited the Tampa Underground. I boarded a flight to Tampa with very little understanding of what we would encounter. My twenty-five years in ministry had all been invested in the prevailing model church growth world.
The point of the trip was to expose a young multiplier (and her husband) I was coaching to the Tampa Underground. She was dreaming of something similar for her hometown in Northern Indiana. She was asking questions that I did not have a playbook for and very few resources to point her to. So, we decided a look under the hood at Tampa Underground made logical sense as a clear next step for us.
There was so much about that trip that was memorable. We were given the opportunity to interact with the Tampa Underground team, visit several of their micro-churches, and engage in conversation with micro-church leaders. For a couple of days, we embedded ourselves in one of the most challenging neighborhoods in Tampa.
I was completely awestruck with the innovation of all. I remember being even more impressed with the posture of every leader we engaged in conversation that week. One thing was clear: innovation was deeply embedded in their leadership posture.
The Need
I talk with a lot of church leaders these days—and almost all of them feel a similar tension.
They long to be faithful. Faithful to God’s Word. Faithful to the Gospel that transformed their lives. Faithful to the people God has entrusted to their leadership. Simultaneously, they can feel the ground shifting beneath them. Their communities are changing. Culture is morphing. People’s willingness to engage with the Church is not the same as it was a generation ago.
The need for innovation in the Church in America has never been greater.
For some leaders, that word sparks hope. For others, it creates anxiety and even maybe fear. Innovation can feel like a threat—leaving tradition behind, chasing the latest trends, or experimenting with things that are too sacred to get wrong.
Bring this up in most churches, and there will be pushback of some form. You can count on a headwind the further outside the box the ideas become.
What If?
I love to play the what-if game, so let’s give it a go.
What if innovation isn’t the issue?
What if the real issue is how we understand innovation and the posture we bring to it?
What if the local church was never meant to be a museum to preserve sacred traditions, but was a laboratory where the Kingdom of God is practiced in real time?
As I type that question, I hear the prophetic words of Isaiah, “I am doing a new thing, can you not see it?” I also hear Jesus saying, “You will do even greater things than me.” I recall the words of Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus, “Now to Him…who can do immeasurably more than we can dream or imagine.”
What might it look like for the Church to lean into a more innovative posture of leadership? Let me take a shot at answering that.
Innovation Starts with Posture
Before the church and its leadership need new strategies, it needs a new posture.
Posture is deeper than strategic planning. It is not about just another whiteboard full of new ideas. It also is not about simply the next big idea. It is way more than simply thinking outside “the box.”
It is who we are as leaders. It is seen through the convictions we hold and the curiosity we bring to the table. It is about what we have been called to, who we have been called to. A posture of innovation is about way more than being clever or cutting-edge.
It is about being awakened.
Awakened to a new depth of relationship with God’s Spirit.
Awakened to the needs of others in a fresh way.
Awakened to where God is already at work in our neighborhoods, communities, and city.
A posture of innovation is humble enough to admit we do not have it all figured out, and confident enough to trust that God is already at work where He is leading us. It is not about defending what has worked in the past. It is about discerning what might work in the future.
Innovation that flows from posture doesn’t feel chaotic. It feels grounded. It is grounded in prayer, deep listening for Father’s voice, and likely the willingness to fail forward.
The Church as a Laboratory for the Kingdom
When I talk about the church as a laboratory, I’m not talking about reckless experimentation or new for the sake of new.
A laboratory is a serious place. There are structure and rules that guide any experiment. It is a place where questions are taken seriously, learning is valued, and “failed” attempts are welcome.
That’s a powerful image for the local church.
In a Kingdom laboratory, experimenting with theology is off the table. God’s truth and the Gospel are not up for debate. What we are testing is methods. We are searching for a new cup that will encourage someone far from Jesus to be curious enough to want to take a drink.
We’re asking questions like:
What does following Jesus look like in this neighborhood?
How do people encounter Jesus today in real time, relationally?
What kinds of spaces would help people grow as disciples in the places where they work, live, and play?
In that sense, experimentation isn’t unfaithful—it’s incarnational. It’s our attempt to live out the way of Jesus in real places, with real people.
Any chance the inspiration is stirring to create a kingdom lab in the church where you are planted? It is possible, maybe even necessary. Keep reading!
Two Kinds of Innovation Every Church Needs
One of the reasons innovation creates tension in churches is that we often talk about it as if it’s one thing. It’s not.
Healthy churches lead in at least two lanes of innovation at the same time.
Sustaining focuses on strengthening what already exists. It improves current ministries, clarifies systems, and helps churches serve people better within their established structures.
Disruptive, on the other hand, creates space for new expressions—new ways of gathering, discipling people, and forming community that may not fit neatly into existing forms of ministry.
Both matter. Both are faithful. And both need leadership, innovative leadership.
When we fail to clarify these two lanes, it often increases the potential for conflict. When we bless both, creativity can emerge and trust can flourish.
Many churches are pretty good at sustaining innovation. They usually have systems in place that help them adapt and improve over time. What is missing for most is the disruptive.
Creating these lanes can empower a whole new pathway for new things to emerge. It will also likely surface a new level of leadership for someone who is currently parking cars or holding open a door and providing a smiling face at your weekend worship gathering. Building a kingdom lab will be accompanied by a whole new way to empower and mobilize leaders who can build new expressions of church in new places and spaces.
How a Kingdom Laboratory Works
The good news is that faithful innovation doesn’t require massive budgets or complex strategies. It requires a learning rhythm.
Kingdom laboratories operate with a simple model:
Discern—Pay attention to where God is already at work or calling you to join Him in a new place or space.
Dream—Ask what faithfulness might look like here, and now.
Experiment—Try something new. Give a new approach a try. Feel free to even call it an experiment.
Notice—Watch what happens. Listen for stories. Observe resistance. Look for traction.
Learn—Reflect on what this revealed about people and the mission.
Adapt—Decide whether to refine, expand, or let it go.
This approach replaces fear of failure with a commitment to discernment. It is learning your way into a greater level of impact and effective as you innovate as you go. It reminds us that outcomes are not fully in our control, but obedience still matters. Trust the process until God shows up; the fruit will follow.
Measuring in a Kingdom Lab
If the local church is a laboratory for the Kingdom, impact has to be measured differently. We need a new scorecard, or at least an updated one.
Nickels and noses are no longer effective. A reimagined scorecard needs to include more meaningful signs of transformation. Here are a few possible adds:
New relationships emerging with people who are far from God.
People growing in obedience to Jesus through discipleship relationships that are seeing reproduction to multiple generations (See 2 Timothy 2:2).
New leaders being identified, developed, and mobilized for mission.
New expressions of church getting launched.
These kinds of fruit often grow slowly. They don’t always show up on a dashboard when the journey begins for something new. They are deeply aligned with the heart of God and a great start to updating how we know if we are winning.
Courage Required
Let’s be honest: a posture of innovation around the local church isn’t easy.
It asks leaders to live with uncertainty. To release control. To say, “We’re learning,” instead of pretending we are sure.
But it also aligns us with the story of Scripture—a story where God consistently calls people into new territory without giving them the full map.
Innovation isn’t a distraction from pastoral leadership. In this cultural moment, it might just be part of our calling.
This article was never intended to answer all your questions or give you everything needed to build a kingdom laboratory. My hope was that you would become curious enough to lean into the idea of what it might take to do build something to mobilize leaders in a new way in your current setting.
Practicing the Future Now
The Church should be the most creative and innovative organization on the planet. Making a statement like that and then not backing it with some framework might seem lazy. If you have read this far, you know there is not the space to double-click on that idea here.
I am going to ask you to just trust me that it is true. Therefore, it should be normative that the local church should be a constant flurry of activity as new Kingdom ventures reach into new corners of our world.
The future of the Church won’t be found by waiting for clarity. It will be built by leaders who are willing to practice the Kingdom of God now—through faithful, prayerful experiments.
When the Church adopts a posture of innovation, it becomes more than an institution reacting to change. It becomes a living witness—a place where God’s future is rehearsed in the present.
In the words of Ted Lasso from the closing scene from Season 1 Episode 10, “Onward. Forward!”