“So, you’ve had 600 people take your innovation class, so what? What impact did that have on their ministry?” my leader asked me at our year-end review. I was confused. What impact was I creating? Over my 12-year career in global missions, I had painstakingly sought out, learned, and applied innovation best practices, tools, and skills. But what had I really accomplished? Was I really serving people? These questions haunted me because I did not have good answers.

I had made the mistake I so often taught against: I made assumptions that impact was self-evident, and innovation tools are inherently valuable. I did not have proof or measurements. I had only my personal experiences and some encouraging stories from ministry practitioners.

So, of course, the natural next step to tackle this uncertainty was to go back to school, get a doctorate, and rid myself of the unpleasant ignorance, once and for all, through painful years of study and research.

I had an amazing group to learn from: 628 incredible global leaders, learners, and brothers and sisters in Christ have taken the innovation course to date. They represent 64 nations and 53 different ministries and churches! I had originally designed the Innovation Launchpad¹ to onboard people to my innovation team, teaching them what would have saved me years of effort and thousands of dollars. But God had other plans. COVID-19 shut down the first cohort, so we opened it up to the broader network of partners OneHope serves. Instead of growing my team’s capacity to do innovation for them, we trained ourselves out of a job. We raised up innovators who were soon building their own prototypes, doing interviews, learning and doing better ministry for their context. The numbers were clear and momentum felt high. But now I found myself asking: Was all this resulting in more fruitful ministry?

For my doctoral research, we conducted interviews with Launchpad alumni and spent hundreds of hours analyzing the transcripts. What I found was both encouraging and discouraging in equal measure. Going into it, I really wanted my area of expertise to matter—to hold the keys to transformation and success for the Church. I wanted to find out that ministry innovation had the ability to adapt us to changes in the world and accomplish God’s purposes for his kingdom. But really, I think I wanted to feel essential and valuable. Innovation holds a core attraction of power and agency. If you do A, B, and C, you will be guaranteed successful ministry.

But what I learned was that if you have a high reliance on innovation tools and a low reliance on God, you are on the fastest path to failure and frustration. If you have a high reliance on God, it does not really matter if you use innovation tools or not; God will bring fruit and flourishing to your ministry. The research had demonstrated empirically the truth of these verses:

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain (Ps 127:1a).

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

It is not that we do not build our ministry and seek to improve. This verse is saying that when we build apart from God, the results are dismal at best. We cannot tap into ourselves, our techniques, and toolbox of innovation best practices and think those things will enable us to bear fruit. We quickly realize that they are not an adequate replacement for the true vine.

You could easily assume that everyone in ministry is, of course, remaining close to God in prayer and relying on him. But I realized I personally was quite far from him. I was increasingly comfortable relying on innovation tools and my own efforts to try to solve problems. As I wrestled with God, my pride, and the research findings, I spent a lot of time with the story of Martha and Mary hosting Jesus in Luke 10. Martha, who is described as “distracted with much serving,” scolds Jesus saying, “Aren’t you going to tell her to help me?” Martha was focused on Mary’s apparent laziness as she sat at Jesus’ feet listening to his teaching. But Jesus responds, “Only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen it.”

The phrase distracted with much serving hit me hard. I had found myself neglecting Christ while working really hard to serve him and his people. But notice this—just one chapter before Mary and Martha’s story, Jesus miraculously feeds thousands of people with a little bread and fish. Jesus did not need Martha’s help to make lunch. Sometimes, we deny ourselves a miraculous innovative breakthrough by working within the constructs of what we imagine to be possible in our own strength. What would happen if we instead looked to Christ and sat at his feet for a while?

One of the most amazing experiences I have had was when I arrived in Kyrgyzstan after flying all day and night. It was 3:00 a.m. A man I had never met before was waiting to pick me up at the airport. I apologized profusely for the inconvenience of the late hour. But in his broken English, he immediately and enthusiastically replied, “I’m happy to pick you up! You’re my brother! I love you!” That one earnest declaration spoke the gospel to me more clearly than a thousand long-forgotten sermons. A man with no innovation training showed me what innovation truly is.

Innovation is valuable. It gives us tools and language to structure our work, helps us learn intentionally, and allows us to communicate the gospel more clearly. But the tools and techniques themselves are only a weak stand-in for love. At their best, they point us back to the two greatest commandments: Love God and love your neighbor. Everything we do should be motivated by love.

Innovation is hard. Doing new things in new ways often means leaving behind the things you are best at. You might need to abandon the practices that once made you successful in response to a changing world. You must step out of your comfort zone and become a student again and again.

I think of the man who picked me up on that cold, early morning. He could have run a design sprint, interviewed weary travelers, and tested dozens of approaches to discover what made people feel most cared for when stepping off a long flight. That would be the innovation approach I learn and teach. Instead, he simply loved his neighbor as himself. He loved me. He came to pick me up and was joyful and kind about it. The shortcut to innovation is love. The most loving thing you can do will likely be the most innovative also.

At OneHope, we have dozens of stories of God miraculously opening doors for us in ways that completely defied our wildest dreams. I’m sure your ministry does, too. One of my favorites is how we were invited into post-Soviet Russia just as the Iron Curtain came down. We were given permission to distribute our Book of Hope in public schools across the country. That was a miracle. But God had even more in mind. As teams of Americans went from school to school to minister to the children, we caused chaos in the community. Parents were so eager to see Americans for the first time that they were leaving work to get a look at us.

The government officials called us in and told us we had to do some sort of event in the evenings for the adults. But where would we host it? They had a solution: They would give us access to use sports stadiums. When we asked, “How will we get the word out?” they offered to promote it on national television! The message went out, “Don’t go to the schools, go to the stadium, the Americans will be there.” And we were there with God’s Word and a message of hope. As he has done so many times across history, God used atheist human rulers to spread the good news. Through this, we witnessed massive revival and unthinkable open doors. Today, Russia has a strong church-planting movement that grew from the seeds planted in those stadiums and schools. I can tell you ssssssssconfidently that no innovation technique could accomplish anything close to what we experienced there.

The beating heart of ministry innovation is reliance on God so that every word, every thought, every step we take, is in him. My best advice on innovation is this: If you want a breakthrough, take your walk with Jesus ten times more seriously than you are today. If you feel stressed, weary, or burned out, it is a sign that you are not fully relying on him. We are all vulnerable to carrying pride, seeking power, and becoming distracted with much serving. While busyness is inevitable, fight to not forget the “one thing” that matters.