How to Get New Ideas Accepted

After serving on church boards for fifteen years, I’ve learned a few things:

Flat roofs always leek—but never over the baptistery.
Don’t plan a “Seal the Parking Lot” workday on Saturday—unless you want a “Clean the Carpet” day on Monday.
The furnace breaks down only on weekends.
Agendas that look the shortest take the longest time.
Committees choose beige.

But the greatest of these is:

Church boards don’t like surprises!

Surprise, Surprise

My first experience with the no-surprises rule of church politics occurred when I was leading the youth group. We had planned an outdoor concert on the front lawn of the church. Unfortunately, we hadn’t told the board that “Amazing Grace” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” weren’t in the band’s repertoire. Instead, the huge speakers blasted Christian rock music into the next Zip Code.

Suddenly a board member appeared and made a determined run for the electrical outlets. He was intercepted by an understanding pastor. I’m not exactly sure what was said, but the plug wasn’t pulled, and afterward about fifty teens indicated they wanted to follow Christ.

That was fifteen years ago, and people still talk about “that rock concert.” It is a lesson I vividly remember.

I’ve learned that to get new ideas accepted, one needs to be as “shrewd as a snake and harmless as a dove.” This doesn’t mean to be manipulative or unethical, but there are some prudent ways to institute new ministries or programs. Here’s what needs to be done before you present a new proposal to the board.

Test the Soundness of the Idea

I’ve found it helpful to ask myself some questions, and come up with solid answers, before I recommend an idea. This process helps me present a persuasive case.

Is the idea spiritually and doctrinally sound? While our denomination’s book of rules and regulations may never be canonized as the inspired Word of God, we do need to respect the doctrines and policies of the church we have chosen to associate with. So, while “Bingo Night” might lead to an exciting senior citizen’s ministry, in the churches I’ve been involved with, the stand on gambling would guarantee a “no” vote—for the idea and perhaps for you in the next election of church officers.
Is the idea well researched, the implications thought through? One board member thought it would be great to have farmers donate hogs for a charity luau. After the “yeas” died down, committees were assigned to turn the fellowship hall into a tropical paradise, to publicize the event, to sell tickets, and even to dig a pit in the back lawn—until the health department sent a rather stern letter to the pastor noting that local health codes prohibited such an event. (Now what do we do with five 600-pound hogs?!)
Is the idea in good taste? One of the highlights of a youth ministry I worked with several years ago was the annual October haunted house. Our director and his staff went all out to provide enough theatrical blood and guts to make even Stephen King squeamish. Then one year, October passed without a mention of “Scream in the Dark.” The organization’s leaders had decided that mutilated, decapitated bodies were not the best publicity for a Christian organization. Over the years the idea had attracted huge crowds, but perhaps at the expense of good taste.
Is the idea ethical? A friend of mine ran a local teen “night club.” Every Saturday night he had music groups perform. I suggested to him the name of a great group—I just didn’t mention that it was a Christian group that specialized in concerts for secular crowds. My entire youth board was thrilled with the idea and promised to bring all their friends. No mention was made in the publicity on the local rock station that this was a Christian group. Sure enough, more than five hundred teens jammed the small club—until they found out it was a Christian group. Within thirty minutes, all that was left was their red-faced youth leader and his youth group. A great idea, but it may have been deceptive—or at least not totally honest.
Will the idea have wide-based support? Every youth group I have ever worked with inevitably asks to have a dance, “with Christian music, of course.” While there is nothing in our church’s written policies to forbid it, most of our members are not open to it. A Christian rock concert on the front lawn, maybe. But not a dance. In other churches, the issue might be rummage sales, Las Vegas nights, or selling pizzas door to door. When considering such ideas, I have to weigh whether the idea would be harmful to the unity of our church.

Do Your Market Research

Once we’re convinced the idea is spiritually, doctririally, legally, ethically and socially sound, we can move to the next step: establishing the need.

Nearly half of most advertising campaign costs is for market research. Before we can sell our idea, we need to know the felt needs of the members of our board.

Is evangelism a high priority? Is discipleship the focus of the church’s ministry? Or is fellowship the main thrust?

If you can show how your idea will meet the perceived needs of the board, you’ll have more “yeas” than “nays” when it comes time to vote.

At times, there may be programs that need to be developed, but the board isn’t aware—or chooses not to be aware—of the need. In that case, we must document the need.

Such was the case with my proposal for a sex education program at one church where I attended. Several parents had spoken to me about their discomfort in discussing sexuality with their young people and felt that the youth group would be the ideal forum. From this informal sample group, I contacted other parents and mentioned the possibiity. They also said they’d appreciate this type of program. Armed with their backing, the need was well established, but I still wasn’t ready to go to the board.

I knew I needed to anticipate and answer objections before they could be voiced. I knew that the unspoken assumption of many would be: “Sex education has no place in church!” “The church should stick to preaching the gospel.” “We never had sex education when I was a kid, and I turned out okay!” “Talking about sex will make kids want to experiment with it!” “I’m not comfortable talking about the subject.” “Who’s going to teach it?”

I worked through each objection and tried to answer each fairly and honestly.

Test the Idea

I knew the importance of testing any product before gearing up for full-scale production. So I took these steps.

Talk to the pastor and board members individually about your idea. Make it as casual as possible. You’re not selling vacuum cleaners, so don’t make it a hard sell. Think of it as sowing seeds that, at the next meeting, may begin to germinate. In some cases, another board member will “steal” your idea and present it to the board. I’m happy when that happens. I often intentionally sow idea seeds hoping they’ll germinate and someone else will develop them to maturity. I have a lot more ideas than I have time to develop fully.
Wait for the seeds to take root before you actually present your idea. Probably the number one reason that ideas don’t receive a positive response is that there has not been sufficient preparation before the idea is put on the table. Until you sense that the pastor or the majority of the board is behind it, keep working the previous steps.

Package Your Idea Appropriately

Finally, in making a more formal presentation, packaging is a key element.

Here’s what I did in preparing my presentation for the proposed sessions on sexuality.

Collect materials needed for the idea. In my case, I went to the local Christian bookstore and cleaned out their section on love and sexuality. I told the manager that I was collecting proposed study materials and asked to take them out for review. She was happy to let me have them free for two weeks.
Establish objectives and format. From the stacks of books, I developed a list of specific objectives for the sex education course. As illustration, here were my three objectives: 1. To provide sound medical information on sexual development at appropriate age levels. 2. To provide biblical principles relating to sexual behavior at appropriate age levels. 3. To help parents provide their children with a healthy appreciation for their sexual makeup, and to assist their children in making biblical choices in sexual behavior. I also determined the format—six meetings after evening church services for both parents and young people. Now that I had some definite objectives, and had planned for the objections, I was ready for the next step.
Don’t expect your idea to go unchallenged or unamended. It has taken nearly fifteen years, but I am gradually becoming less intimidated by objections, “concerns,” or bad votes concerning my ideas. A thick skin is a necessary attribute, but so is the ability to recognize a valid criticism and adjust your proposal along the way.

Because of the feedback I got, the sex education proposal promptly went from six meetings to one, and from a meeting with parents and young people to a meeting with just parents.

But through the meeting, parents did receive some practical tools to open up the discussion with their children about love and sex.

And since that meeting went well, the next year the young people were invited. In five more years I’ll probably get what I originally intended, but for now something, at least, is being done.

At tonight’s board meeting, our youth director is bringing up the idea of an outdoor Christian rock concert.

I hope he’s read this article!

James Watkins is active in Laotto (Indiana) Wesleyan Church.