Imagine a church where creativity, imagination and a ‘what if?’ attitude ruled? 11 years ago serial inventor Doug Pagitt set about dreaming up a new way to ‘do’ church that can teach us plenty.
Solomon’s Porch bills itself as a ‘holistic, missional Christian community’ that goes to great lengths to value and include everybody, for example its dialogical preaching and Pop-Up announcements (explained in the interview). Doug’s entrepreneurialism, forward thinking, and deep love for the Gospel spoke to me about my church, and may speak to you about yours.
Watch the Full Program:
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Synopsis
How well does your church do at getting everyone active in ministry? Can churches create the context for every member’s gifts to come forward? That’s a goal for Doug Pagitt and his innovative Minneapolis congregation. Doug does this by constantly asking questions about why and how his church does things – even annually, asking if the church should be around for another year. Here are my notes from the interview:
Everybody Preaches
Doug invites his 300-member congregation to come on Tuesdays to put together the sermon, then on Sunday nights (their usual meeting time) the preaching is done in a dialogical style that lets anyone chip in. Shy people can submit comment cards – the point is to recognize everyone as the preacher. No voice is unimportant.
Be Who You Are
Many congregations maintain formality in a dressed-down world. That’s fine, says Doug, but when was the last time we named that? Doug is all about talking to and with the congregation about the most obvious things so that we are all on board with why we’re doing what we do so that we can be, authentically, who we are.
About Doug Pagitt:
Doug’s professional endeavors include being the founding pastor of Solomon’s Porch - a Holistic Missional Christian Community (www.solomonsporch.com) – speaking, writing (www.DougPagitt.com) and co-owner of Social Phonics (www.SocialPhonics.com).
Doug seeks to find creative, entrepreneurial, generative ways to join in the hopes, dreams and desires God has for the world. Doug has a theology degree from Bethel Seminary and was one of the founders of the social network Emergent Village. Doug has written several books, his latest is called Church in the Inventive Age. Doug is married to Shelley, they live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and are parents of 4 young-adult children.
Sponsors I Mentioned:
Church Post – If you are looking to improve your church’s communications you’ve got to check out this great email platform. I’ve found it easy-to-use, reliable, and John, Debra and Kim are great to work with.
Wistia- If you’re still hosting your videos at YouTube or another ‘free’ video sharing site you know the drawbacks. Wistia helps me put out great looking videos and see who’s watching for how long. The Wistia staff is easy to work with and very professional.
