| What Is "The Box," and How Did We Get Trapped In It?
"Thinking outside the box" is about the oldest creative cliche' going. It's interesting to me that when someone says, "We need to think outside the box," seldom is the response, "What box are you talking about?" Why just assume that whatever "the box" identifies is a negative that we have to get beyond in order to be "really creative." In fact, let me suggest that we can be more original if we first spend a little more time "in the box."
The box defines who we are. "The box" for an organization is set of characteristics that first defines who they are. Within its sidewalls is the makeup. I'm stunned to find that many organizational and church leaders don't know basic information about their organization--average age, how many married couples there are, how many single adults attend, what geographic areas they are drawing from, what the overriding strengths of the organization are, etc. What are your church's makeup, strengths and weaknesses, and how do they affect the direction and makeup of your ministries?
The box often defines what we are about. An organization, ministry, church--whatever--needs to have a well defined purpose. That "box" is really foundational. Many organizations have a purpose or mission statment. For the church, I think this can be strictly scripture, or at most a simple sentence.
Most people can't tell you what their box looks like. Change is a good thing. Expansion is a good thing. Experimentation is a good thing. All these are "outside the box" mentalities. Unfortunately, most leaders can't give you a true picture of their "box." Often when we talk about getting out of the box, it is out of frustration that we are not accomplishing this core mission or purpose. The danger is, should we not have this well defined and understood by the leadership, we risk abandoning our vision in search of successful strategy. Be sure your "vision box" stays well sealed against the ebb and flow of original ideas.
How can you effectively change something if you only know you are changing to something, but don't know the from? It's no different than saying you desire to become "new and improved." Improved how? What's going to be different than before? Just being "new" isn't enough. Why is new necessarily better?
Preserving at least a part of the box is important. Never forget that your organization began from nothing and became "the box." The "box" didn't appear one day around you and now you're trapped inside it. It built up slowly over time and was shaped and formed for various reasons and purposes. Many of these purposes may be dated or no longer significant--but others may be just as crucial and applicable today as the day your organization began. So in any change or experiment, preserving at least a part of "the box" is going to be important--even vital--to the health of the organization.
The box is what we use to judge everything outside the box. If you want to know if something is "outside the box," then you obviously have to know what the box is. And if you want to evaluate an experiment outside the box, you have to compare it to something inside the box. Doing something new does not necessarily mean you are improving. And doing something different is not necessarily doing something better. Evaluating change and growth is dependent on a baseline--the box--from which to measure success or failure.
What are we looking for outside the box? Thinking outside the box means looking for changes and growth possibilities that cannot be accomplished by the organization as it exists right now. For instance, if your worship is not connecting with a majority of your attenders or guests, you may look outside the box.
When you venture outside the box, you may not be looking for something "new," but rather for something that is more effective or closer to a biblical foundation. You may not be looking for something "different," but rather for something directed, or God-inspired. Never venture outside the box just for the sake of change. Go there for challenge. Go there because God called you. Go outside because there is a genuine need to transform the inside.
The box is not (necessarily) a bad thing. When we see a need in our organization for change, we can quickly adopt a mentality that we're stuck in something and need to get out of it. Creative risk has benefits, but it needs a foundation to stand on. "The box," for lack of a better word, is important. It's an understanding of who you are and what your organization is about. Sometimes those four walls may be holding you back from a needed improvement. But other times, those walls may be securing you from an unwanted and unneeded change. The next time you hear the phrase, "Think outside the box," your first challenge should be, "Tell me everything you know about that box."
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About the Author. Eugene Mason has more than two decades of experience in ministry communications and technologies. More...
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