I was thinking the other day. I know, you’re impressed, so was I. But back to my story. I was thinking about innovation in the church. I was in attendance at the WillowCreek Global Leadership Summit. I was in a near dream state induced by sitting in a dark room listening to people talk about leadership. I don’t remember much but I heard some people talk about innovation, I think. This dream/lecture inspired me to innovate.
I began to think about innovation in my field, the church. The options were endless. I thought about how I could innovate speaking techniques, technology, audio/visual aids, music, going green, or even the worship experience. Those all seemed WAAAY overdone, and I bet it would be a lot of work. Then it struck me. I would innovate something that hadn’t been improved much in 100’s of years. I’m a genius.
I would innovate church seating! Let’s face it, we spend most of our time in church sitting around. Whether we are listening to a sermon, watching something great on the screens, or having a meeting, we are sitting. This should be easy, right. I’m thinking the only innovation made to church seating in the last 500-600 years is switching from pews to chairs. Wow, that was a big a step Neil Armstrong…
Having recently helped purchase new church seating, the options are fairly limited. What kind of chair do you want? (Really, who wants pews… no one that’s who) What color do you want? What kind of padding do you want. Those are basically your only options.
The chair salesman (you know your life didn’t turn out how you planned when that is your title) balks at questions like, “how will this chair benefit me?” He will half-heartedly rattle off some warranty or stain resistance issues, but never answer your question.
This is where my innovation comes into play. If we have to sit in church and do nothing, we might as well be doing something. (that makes sense, right?) Replace our old boring old chairs with healthier chair alternatives.
I will be launching a company soon call Feasible Alternatives Replacing Tired Seating. (note: name may need tweaking) We will offer seating alternatives with healthy benefits for the congregation.
Our first offering will be the Gaiam Ball Chair. This chair is proven to help strengthen the core and align the spinal column. Just imagine your whole congregation sitting in this getting strong abs and core. As a bonus the youth ministry has built in recreation after the service.
Act fast, these chairs are going fast. You can also purchase these on amazon.
Our other seating alternative is even healthier and less ridiculous! I introduce to you the Hawaii Chair! The manufacturer describes this chair as, “This chair does the Hula, with you in it! Exercises the whole body, especially the lower back. Invigorates, stimulates body awareness and massages inner organs.Helps in maintaining flexibility of the hips and belly & Improves Elimination!” Let’s face it, who couldn’t use some help with elimination? Just imagine getting a full body workout as your faith is working out listening to the sermon. The video below makes us thinks you can’t go wrong by outfitting your whole church with these Hawaii chairs.
You can pick these up at Amazon as well!
Well, there you have it. MAJOR church innovation. I hope you can place your order soon. It will show that you support your congregation’s health as well as innovation in the church!
I like it! Maybe we could dig up the floor and replace the carpet with trampolines. I guarantee nobody would fall asleep during service. And the charismatic folks would be extra fun to watch. We could add flips to their dancing and flag waving.
That is the kind of innovation we need in churches today. For too long we’ve been fixated on a 2000 year old message, time to step it up… 🙂