In a recent article for Pastors.com, Rick Warren writes: “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re probably not trying anything new. If you’re not trying anything new, then you’re not learning; and if you’re not learning, then you and your ministry will quickly be out-of-date, perhaps irrelevant.
“The secret to being innovative is not being afraid to fail. So, let me encourage you to take risks in your ministry. Don’t be afraid to try different methods or to think way out of the box. The great inventor, Thomas Edison, saw mistakes in a positive light, saying they taught you the things that won’t work, freeing you to discover what will succeed. Edison moved on from mistakes and failures, inventing, among many things, the light bulb.
“Few great things have ever been accomplished without risk-taking, and we need to teach our leaders, and our members, to take risks in their ministry for Christ. One reason this is so critical to your ministry is that it ties into faith-building. In other words, risk-taking is an expression of faith, and a godly risk-taker is being faithful in his service to God.
“Will we believe God for big things? If the answer is yes, then we automatically become godly risk-takers—men and women who trust God and live by faith and not by sight. When we teach our people to take risks, we are teaching them to develop faith in God.” (Click to read the full article.)