“You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.” –Henry Ford
Henry Ford changed the world with the Model T. His innovations in engineering, development, and distribution revolutionized how people live. He was a legend in his own time. But he became so obsessed with his invention that it nearly ruined his company. He really did say that quote about having any color you want, as long as it was black.
Ford was fiercely tenacious about clinging to his ideas. On one occasion, his engineers completely updated the Model T into a low-slung, shiny red model while he was on vacation. When he returned, they proudly showed it to him. Without saying a word, Ford ripped it apart, piece by piece, and utterly destroyed it—with his bare hands. The message was clear: “There will be no innovation. We will always do things this way.”
Pause for a moment and consider whether your campus ministry is built like a Ford. What are your Model T’s in ministry? Where do we pay lip-service to innovation, “as long as it’s black”?
At certain crucial moments in Church history, ministry for and by college students has led the Church in prayerfully re-envisioning ministry for the world. It’s my conviction that campus ministry must again become an incubator for reaching our post-Christian world. It ought to serve as a laboratory for ministry, experimenting in how to reach an ever-shifting culture with the eternal Gospel. Campus ministry is uniquely positioned to shape the future, because we work with those who are the future.
In this moment, our moment, the world is rapidly changing all around us. Technologies that we didn’t dream of only a few years ago are now taken for granted. The only constant is change.
But is campus ministry keeping pace? It should. We work with the generation that is living the future, right now. They’re already living 10 years in the future, and if we’re living 10 years in the past, we’ve missed them. We dare not become stale, predictable, or cliché.
It’s easy to become like Henry Ford in campus ministry. Though we start off full of fire and with a willingness to take risks, eventually we “figure it out.” We find things that work, and stick with them. Before we know it, we’re blindly ripping apart the changes we need in order to thrive in the future.
We don’t know what the future will hold, though I’ve taken some stabs at predicting what it could look like in a previous post. http://faithoncampus.com/four-disruptions-that-could-shake-up-college-ministry/ But we do know we need to be open to the future. Openness is a missional imperative simply because people and culture keep changing.
Here are some ways we can avoid puttering around in our Model Ts while the rest of the world zooms past us:
Be an Active Learner. I’m probably preaching to the choir here, since you’re not on this blog and reading this far unless you’re interested in “sharpening your saw.” (2 points if you know what book I just referenced). Quick: what’s the last thing you read, besides this blog, to sharpen your campus ministry saw?
Be Open. In at least three senses:
- Open to new ideas. Leave open time and space for innovation and experimentation. What if ministries instituted our own versions of Google’s 20% rule? Be flexible. Give people permission to try new things, and permission to fail.
- Open in the sense of transparency. Don’t be secretive. Share the good stuff. Let people see your cards, whether or not you’re holding a strong hand. They’ll respect you more for it.
- Open in the sense of open-sourcing. Everything is going this way. It’s not about simply consuming, but about users CREATING the value of that content through their organizing, and doing it collectively. (These blogathons are a great example of sharing insight and wisdom across organizational and denomination lines).
Work as a Team. Sharing, Teamwork, Peering—these are all essential for the right kinds of change to occur. Get people talking to one another. Waste less time in meetings not relevant to you, and get more involved in stuff you’re skilled & passionate about. All alone in your ministry? That’s no excuse. Share across traditional boundaries, both within your organization and without.
Embrace the Speed of Change. Stop trying to build a static institution, and start trying to build a fluid, dynamic movement. Students change, schools change, cultures change—so should we. Don’t build a treehouse—pitch a tent. That way, when your tree is being chopped down, you can move on quickly and easily.
Don’t Fear the Future. We don’t know what will happen in the future, but we know Who is in charge of it! While the western world has passed from Christendom, Christianity will never pass from the world (Matthew 16). Jesus isn’t afraid of it. And he wants us to try new things. In fact, he loves new things. “Behold, I am making EVERYTHING NEW!” (Rev. 21:5). All our genuine innovation is really renovation, and flows from Jesus’ renewing Kingdom work.
So let’s embrace the future and make something new for the Kingdom!
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8 thoughts on “Model T Ministry and Openness to the Future”
Steve,
What a fantastic post on our need to remain pliable as our ministry context changes all around us. My wife was just talking to me this morning about the need of organizations to become new wineskins. As God works in new ways our organizations will burst (and not in a good way) if we don’t remain flexible.
Your call for us letting college students lead the ways in innovation really is a call for us to give away the ministry to them. If we stay in control then we’ll keep churning out black model t’s year after year.
Why do you think that we become so resistant to change over time? I know you mentioned how we figure out a “formula” and stick to it. Are there other factors that you have identified?
Thanks again for a great post. As someone who works with Latino college students (the future of the college ministry in so many locations in the US) I appreciate your manifesto on our need for openness to the future.
Thanks for the comment Eric! Yes, this is very much in the same vein as the need for new wineskins.
You’re right to note that being open to change will mean giving away control in certain ways.
One of the challenges of our field of ministry is the constant turnover. What does it mean to give away control, when you and I are the ones who will still be there in a few years, and our students won’t? Part of it is using our authority and leadership wisely, in creating systems and environments that allow people to thrive.
Closed systems are predetermined, and plug people into the roles that WE think they need to fill; open systems are more flexible, and work with their leaders to create roles that fit them and their God-given strengths and calling. Think of how some organizations hire a position, while others hire a person. Open systems should be more of the latter.
Much of what underlies being closed to the future is pride. We think we’ve arrived and figured it out, or that everything was better “back in the day.” The Gospel should humble us, and remind us that we have much to learn. Just reading the other posts here today has been an enriching experience for me, even seeing how Brad Baker talked about a very similar topic as I did, in a different and helpful way.
Thanks for your work with Latinos. When I was at Temple U, I felt like they were an under-reached and overlooked people group (often lost in the black-white dichotomy).
Don’t fear the future: I love that you included this. I was recently reading a book about leading future generations, but I had to stop because of how tired I got from the authors use of scare tactics. It was like the Y generation was going to cause the end of the world.
Hey Steve,
Excellent post and excellent principles… Using knowledge from across disciplines can really help us see issues and potentials in a new light. For example I’ve used the “black” illustration before but when you applied it to campus ministry it got me thinking. Surely the man who brought the auto to the masses was not completely innovation-less, what can we learn in the positive from Mr. Ford?
1) His primary goal was putting the automobile in the hands everyone. So he made it…
a) cheap
b) simple (easy to drive)
c) simple (easy to fix)
2) He brought a number of innovations to the auto industry, innovations that shaped the industry for generations…but the innovations were in service of those three goals. Not innovation for innovation’s sake, but for a purpose. Everything from vanadium steel, to the fly wheel magneto to the left hand steering column to the two speed transmission. Cheap to build, simple to drive, easy to fix.
3) He made the Model T easy to modify. In other words, he made it simple enough that other people could modify according to their context and taste. With a few tools and a little time, the Model T could be transformed into a camper, a portable sawmill, a grain thresher, or a sporty racer. Auto historians credit the Model T with today’s multi-billion dollar aftermarket industry.
So make it simple enough that anyone can run it or fix it. Innovate for the goal of getting it into everyone’s hands. At the very least innovate for the goal. And make it easy for people to contextualize it (open source).
Oh yeah, the “black” thing… no one is completely sure Ford said it. But before 1913, you couldn’t even get a black one. When they settled on black it was because it was cheaper. Then in 1926 (I think) they went back to colors to try to increase sales.
Great thoughts Steve, glad you are on the team!
Steve!
Kuddos for a great post! The illustration of the Model-T perfectly describes what I’ve seen for years in, what’s sad, many areas of ministry including collegiate ministry. I love your description of how “campus ministry must again become an incubator for reaching our post-Christian world. It ought to serve as a laboratory for ministry…” I totally believe that!
On our campus, our ministry is only 4 years old, so we’ve made sure never to hold on to ‘sacred cows’. If we understand our missional campus community, we’ll know that each year brings a new generation with different challenges from the previous year. Therefore we must continually be moving forward. I find it extremly interesting that you and Brad has touched on the same vein.
And I’m looking forward to reading your new book!
Jim Whaley
Collegiate Pastor
Tiffin University
Tiffin, Ohio
Steve,
Great article–and oh so true. Our world is changing so fast on every front–financial, relational, technological–that we must remain nimble and ready to change…..not to mention, the Spirit of God is always beckoning…
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