Innovation

Six-Month Cohorts for Practical, Faithful Innovation

Innovation Labs are immersive, six-month cohorts designed to equip church leaders with the skills, tools, and confidence to lead meaningful, faithful innovation in their ministry contexts. These Labs are not theoretical trainings—they are hands-on, action-oriented experiences where participants actively experiment, reflect, and apply new approaches in real time.

There is no cost to participate.

What to Expect

Each month, participants gather for a virtual Innovation Lab session, supported by flexible, practical work between sessions. The design is intentional: meaningful engagement without overwhelming busy ministry schedules.

Estimated time commitment:
1–2 hours per month outside of the cohort session

Between-Session Engagement

Pre-Session Preparation (30–45 minutes)

• Short, focused readings
• Reflective journaling or guiding questions
• Brief videos or case study review

Practical Application & Experimentation (30–60 minutes)

• Testing innovation tools in your ministry setting
• Conversations with leadership teams or congregations
• Observing and gathering insights from your context

Peer Connection (Optional, 15–30 minutes)

• Light engagement in an online discussion space
• Informal connection with fellow cohort members

This work is designed to integrate into your existing ministry—not add another layer of burden.

Your Innovation Toolkit

By the end of the Lab, participants leave with a robust, practical toolkit—not just ideas, but implementable strategies.

You will develop:

A Playbook for Innovation
A clear framework for identifying challenges, generating ideas, and testing solutions in your ministry context.

Practical Exercises & Activities
Step-by-step methods grounded in human-centered design, experimentation, and adaptive leadership.

Innovation Conversation Starters
Tools to help leaders and congregations engage in meaningful, creative dialogue.

Case Studies & Real-World Examples
Stories and models from churches actively practicing innovation.

A Personalized Innovation Roadmap
Concrete next steps tailored to your ministry setting.

Peer Network & Ongoing Support
Relationships with other leaders committed to innovation, offering collaboration and shared learning beyond the Lab.

This is formation for action—equipping you to lead change, not just imagine it.

Who Should Participate?

Each cohort includes 12-15, creating space for meaningful dialogue while ensuring every voice is heard.

The strongest cohorts bring together a diverse mix of leaders, including:

• Pastors & Clergy – grounding innovation in theology and congregational life
• Ruling Elders – offering governance insight and decision-making leadership
• Church Staff & Administrators – connecting ideas to operational realities
• Emerging Leaders – bringing fresh perspective and future-focused imagination

This diversity ensures innovation is not siloed, but shared across the leadership ecosystem of the church.

How to Apply

Participation in an Innovation Lab Cohort is by application.

Interested leaders are invited to submit a brief application via email to [email protected] outlining:

• Their ministry context
• A challenge or opportunity they are currently navigating
• Their hopes for engaging in the Lab

Cohorts are formed with intentional diversity in role, experience, and context to foster rich learning and collaboration.

Labs open periodically throughout the year.

Innovative partnerships between a mid council and a curated team from PCUSA national agencies inspire imagination and tackle challenges head-on. These partnerships are marked by negotiated objectives and key results to pursue. They are designed to help mid councils make specific and focused evolutions in their vision, mission, culture, and operations that they discern as important to their future — bringing together the best of that mid council’s self-knowledge and understanding of their context with resources and ideas from around the country and world.

EXAMPLES

Innovating Your Way into God’s New Vision for Grace Presbytery. 

Grace Presbytery in Texas was introducing a fresh vision, mission, and direction during a transition period before calling a new presbytery leader.  As part of introducing the fresh direction, they called on Corey to preach and teach about embracing an iterative process of living into a new direction, developing innovative habits, and letting go of habits that didn’t serve them well anymore.  

From Inspiration to Incarnation: Vision and the Presbytery of Western Reserve.  

Presbytery of Western Reserve was seeking to incarnate the next steps in its freshly articulated vision and called on Corey for a “shot in the arm.” This zoomified engagement stimulated what it meant for the presbytery to become a 21^st Century church and cultivate a renewed understanding of themselves for a new day.   

COM/CPM Summit in Synod of Lincoln Trails (SOLT).  Multi-day learning events focused on “Innovation.”  

Synod of Lincoln Trails (SOLT) coalesces presbytery leaders, COM, and CPM leaders from all their presbyteries and neighboring presbyteries each year.  Synod leaders seeking to catalyze innovation and generate energy invited us to lead plenary sessions and help design these multi-day events to accomplish those objectives.