When I first launched Loving Catholicism, my goal was to provide free catechetical instruction to Directors of Religious Education programs so that they wouldn’t feel the need to charge for such instruction. I did this when someone I’d developed a relationship with was told it would cost them $120 to join the Church’s RCIA program.

I understood that Church’s financial challenges and I didn’t blame them for needing to fund the program, but I wanted to give them a better alternative. So I spent a few weeks developing a simple training program to explain the Catholic faith and then I submitted my work to two different priests and over 100 Directors of Religious Education programs across the country.

The Challenges My Program Faced

The priests stated they didn’t see any problems with the program, but they also didn’t see a need for it in their parish. They didn’t help me when I asked them to refer the program to the Bishop. Perhaps they didn’t have time.

I wrote to the Bishop, but his office never responded. I got back one rather snarky reply from a Director of Religious Education in which I was asked what my credentials were before they would even look at the program, stating I could be just “some random Catholic with a lot of knowledge.”

Which, to be fair, is an apt description of who I am. Just a random Catholic with a lot of knowledge. But that doesn’t stop me from being given the same Great Commission that much more learned individuals than I received at our baptism.

The Challenge for a Lay Catholic

The problem is that, without approval from a Bishop, it’s an ex-communicable offense to publish anything that proposes to teach on matters of Catholic faith or morals. My content could not get past the gatekeepers, and so it languished, unable to be of use to anyone.

I understand the logic of the policy. There’s a real need to safeguard Catholic teaching, which is why we have the Magisterium and the Papacy. We want to be sure that what we’re handing on to others is authentic and true to the teachings of Christ and the Apostles.

The challenge: What could I do to fulfill the mission that God laid on me to teach people how to evangelize by teaching them entrepreneurship skills without going against the Church’s teachings?

Focusing on What I Can Do, Rather Than What I Can’t

It took time for God to help me work through this and realize that I didn’t need to teach the Catholic faith to be able to teach people the skills for evangelization. They’re going to face the same hurdle I do: they’re not degreed theologians, priests, deacons, or religious. They’re just “random Catholics with a lot of knowledge” trying to pass on their faith to those around them.

And they don’t need to be. They can refer their prospects to the nearest Catholic Church for proper catechesis while they focus on building the relationship and answering what questions they can about living for Christ in a post-Christian world.

Every Business and Ministry Faces Pivot Points

Sometimes the strategy you choose doesn’t work. You step out into the market place of ideas for how to solve certain problems you see and you meet resistance to your initial concept. People you expected to buy don’t. They pass your offer by like it’s nothing.

Sometimes the rules change or the technology changes and you must make a decision about how to adjust to the new environment in which your business or ministry exists.

At that point in time, you have three options:

1. Quit and abandon your mission.
2. Keep pushing forward and allow your progress to be delayed by the obstacles.
3. Alter your strategy.

I chose to alter my strategy, so I could move forward with the work God asked me to do for him without violating the Church’s teachings to do so.

How to Formulate a Pivot Strategy

These are the steps I’ve found work best for creating a pivot strategy:

1. Check your alignment. Is what you’re doing in line with your assignment from Christ? If not, get in alignment with His assignment.
2. Listen to your critics. They’ll tell you what the weaknesses are with your current strategy. How can you either strengthen your position or create a strategy where your weakness is an asset instead of a liability?
3. Evaluate your current obstacles. What can you do to eliminate those or work around them?
4. Don’t overcomplicate things. When you add too many steps to the process or make things too complex, you’re going to find your brain stalls out trying to figure out how to get it all done. Every extra thing you add to the process adds a new place where things can break down and go wrong. Remember this: Complexity makes people S.T.U.P.I.D. (Slow to Understand, Process, Implement, and Digest). You fix S.T.U.P.I.D. with S.I.M.P.L.E.
5. Use a S.I.M.P.L.E. strategy: Show implementation with measurable, practical, and literal examples. In other words – find a way to use your story to show how things can be implemented and the measurable, practical outcomes that can be achieved with the literal examples you provide.

Once you’ve gotten your pivot strategy created, it’s time to implement. Test it in the marketplace.

You may need to go through this process several times before you find one that works, but pray over it and keep going. Remember: If God is with you, no one can stand against you.

Get Help Formulating a Pivot Strategy in Our Prophet Makers Community

If you need help formulating a pivot strategy that capitalizes on your strengths, minimizes your weaknesses, and allows you to move forward with the the assignment God’s given you, sign up for our Prophet Makers free membership and become part of our Prophet Makers community.