Traditioned Innovation

By Larry Hovis CBFNC Executive Coordinator

The past 20 years have held tremendous change for our culture in general, and our churches in particular. The global pandemic, now in its third year, has accelerated that process of change. There is little clarity and even less agreement on how to adapt to the changes we are facing.

Some counsel on staying the course. After all, God is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:18).

Others encourage abandoning existing forms and practices in favor of new ones since we worship and serve a God who “makes all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

A better path, I believe, is to steer a middle path between old and new, utilizing what Greg Jones calls “traditioned innovation.” Jones is the president of Belmont University and former dean of Duke Divinity School. Faith and Leadership, the online publication of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, contains several articles on this concept.

Jones describes traditioned innovation as “a pattern of thinking, bearing witness to the Holy Spirit who is conforming us to Christ.” He states, “Transformative change, rooted in tradition and the preservation of wisdom, cultivates the adaptive work that is crucial to the ongoing vitality and growth of any organism, Christian institutions included.”

We Baptists should be well-practiced at traditioned innovation. We were birthed from the concept that in order to return the church to a posture more faithful to the New Testament, we must develop new structures more conducive to the movement of the Spirit.

Traditioned innovation is not a “one size fits all” solution for every congregation but in my travels to churches around our state, I see some common challenges that could benefit from new approaches based on traditioned innovation. Here are three examples. Pastoral Leadership

A growing number of churches, especially in rural communities, are finding it increasingly difficult to attract full-time seminary-educated residential pastors to serve their congregations. There are numerous reasons for this trend. What are they to do?

They could look to their tradition for guidance. Many of these churches only became “full-time churches” in the mid-20th century. Prior to that they had part-time or bi-vocational pastors, or were part of a “church field” in which they shared a pastor with one or more neighboring churches.

Traditioned innovation is not a “one size fits all” solution for every congregation but in my travels to churches around our state, I see some common challenges that could benefit from new approaches based on traditioned innovation.

What might they learn from their tradition to adapt to the modern challenge of securing pastoral leadership? How can our fellowship support this effort?

Youth Ministry

While in a meeting with fellow CBF state coordinators, one of my colleagues commented that available youth ministers “are as scarce as hen’s teeth!” We all concurred. The same is true for children’s ministers. Even large churches with good compensation packages for these positions are finding few prospects when faced with vacancies.

The shortage of youth ministers shouldn’t stop a church from ministering to young people. As I explained recently to a church lay leader, youth ministry as a vocation didn’t emerge until the 1970s. Prior to that, lay people conducted very effective faith formation with youth and children through Sunday School, Training Union, RAs, GAs and graded choirs.

Recent studies have shown that if young people have significant relationships with multiple adults in the church, they are more likely to remain in church as adults than if their primary faith formation came from a single, charismatic youth minister.