By Anne Bosarge
Have you ever thought about the process involved in doing something new? We often have the desire to do something new, but in practice the “new” thing we want to do ends up looking a lot like the old thing we did last time. And that old thing often didn’t have the impact we wanted it to have in the first place. In a world where innovation and creativity in the church is necessary, how do we change our actions and become truly innovative? We renew our minds.
Scripture has a lot to say about renewing our minds:
- Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- Ephesians 4:23 - And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.
- 1 Peter 1:13 - Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
- Colossians 3:2 - Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
- Philippians 2:5 -Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
How do we determine what thoughts need to be renewed? We must look at our mindsets and evaluate our thinking. True change and innovation is only possible with a renewed, Christ-focused, and outwardly turned perspective on ministry. We can only force ourselves to act and behave for so long if our thinking doesn’t match our actions. Mere self-control isn’t enough to create lasting change in our lives and in our churches. We need renewed thinking!
With that in mind, we have started something new in SGAUMC! We now have a TikTok account and our first posts are short Ministry Mindset videos that will also be featured each Monday on our Instagram and Facebook pages. These short videos will help you and your congregation renew your mind and determine whether faulty and outdated mindsets might be the cause of a lack of innovation and change happening in your church. If you have had some false starts and are wondering why, check out our ministry mindsets series. What we need in every SGAUMC church is new thinking that breaks old paradigms to reach new people with the Gospel. Let’s renew our minds!
See the Ministry Mindsets videos and share them to your social media pages!
TikTok:
www.tiktok.com/@sgaumc
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/sgaumc
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/sgaumc/
Anne Bosarge serves as the Director of Leadership Strategies and Local Church Resources for the South Georgia Conference. Email her at abosarge@sgaumc.com.
