The Church after Innovation – Questioning Our Obsession with Work, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship

The call for pastors and congregations to be innovative can have a dark side: an obsession with contemporary relevance and entrepreneurship that lacks theological depth and promises burnout and exhaustion. Leading practical theologian Andrew Root shines a light on the problem and offers a treatment.

Shining a Light on the Problem of Innovation

Churches and their leaders have innovation fever. Innovation seems exciting--a way to enliven tired institutions, embrace creativity, and be proactive--and is a superstar of the business world. But this focus on innovation may be caused by an obsession with contemporary relevance, creativity, and entrepreneurship that inflates the self, lacks theological depth, and promises burnout.

In this follow-up to Churches and the Crisis of Decline, leading practical theologian Andrew Root delves into the problems of innovation. He explores

● where innovation and entrepreneurship came from and how they break into church circles
● the "new imaginations" like neoliberalism and technology that hold the church captive to modernity
● the moral visions of the self that innovation and entrepreneurship deliver--which lead to significant faith-formation issues
● a healthier spiritual alternative: a return to mysticism and the poetry of Meister Eckhart