My definition of Guerilla Ministry is, “Enabling the body of Christ to quickly, nimbly, and fearlessly try new ideas to reach the people around them. Being empowered with the knowledge that failure can happen, the church members understand that failure will not hinder future support and new efforts by leadership.”

How can we create a culture of innovation, effort and fearlessness? I believe there are three keys to create a guerilla ministry culture.

1. Ideas should be welcomed and acted on quickly.

We all  know an idea person. They love to share ideas. In an organization where the leadership makes all decisions and actions, this person may seem like an annoyance; like a busy body who never follows through.

What if the organization welcomed the ideas and collaborated with that person quickly changing the idea into an action? You have just taken this annoyance and turned them into a producing follower of Christ.

2. Instead of sales pitches, institute creative meetings.

Sales pitches are a crap shoot. The person being sold the idea will catch the vision, feign interest, or dismiss it and redirect the conversation to something about which they are passionate.

Let’s imagine that there is a monthly scheduled event on the calendar for a creative meeting. In this meeting outlandish ideas could be expected. What if the only thing you were expected to bring is a problem and some crazy ideas? Instead of trying to sell an idea that you alone thought up the entire group could collaborate on a God-sized idea!

3. When failure occurs, the response is, “What’s next?

Failure is going to happen. What should an organization say in response to a failed idea? Should that originator of the idea be an outcast? No! Chances are, the person who came up with an idea will have another ready to go. Let the ideas flow and guerrilla ministry happen.

Let’s encourage innovation, not by doing the work by ourselves, but enabling people to dream and implement crazy, God-sized ideas.

Do you have any crazy ideas?