New horizons for faith: Mapping Spiritual Innovation report released

Over the past year, innoFaith collaborated with Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, Glean Network, Faith Matters Network, and other allies and advisors, to conduct a national field study on spiritual innovation. Thanks to the hard work of the research team at CIL, we’re pleased to announce that the initial report has just been released. With a rapidly shifting religious landscape in the U.S., we hope that this report is just the beginning of much more attention to this growing dynamic of innovation happening under the radar in the faith sector.

When we started this project, we and our partners posed two questions as we looked at the statistics around closing congregations and clergy stepping away from the pulpit:

• What if faith leadership isn’t growing scarce but rather exists in abundance beyond religion’s current field of vision?

• And what if the biggest challenge facing religion isn’t dwindling membership but rather dwindling imagination?

While limited in scope, this report starts to outline an emergent field where the wisdom of our religious traditions is finding new outlets, in some cases beyond traditional institutions, and in others, in partnership with those institutions. Spiritual innovation is by no means new, it has shaped the story of religion and spirituality throughout human history. But the current moment has created the conditions for a new awakening in the faith sector. Innovators are leaning into that moment. If we pay attention, they will expand our imagination and provide a glimpse of new horizons for religious wisdom and leadership.

Read the full report here, and stay tuned for more to come on this project.