What the Mainline Church Can Learn from a Government Rollout Gone Wrong

Inspired by a recent episode of Freakonomics featuring Jennifer Pahlka

In a recent episode of Freakonomics, a guest made two striking observations about government decision-making that, to my ears, sounded uncomfortably familiar—not to politics, but to the Mainline church—and really, most any long-established church.

Six People Saying “Go,” Sixty Saying “No”

Speaking about the rollout of Healthcare.gov, Jennifer Pahlka—founder of Code for America and former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer—described a meeting where six people were ready to push forward while sixty others stood in the way, saying “No, we can’t.” The project was stuck in neutral not because of bad ideas, but because of institutional inertia.

Isn’t that the Mainline church?

We often see individuals or small groups of passionate leaders pushing for change—whether launching new ministries, reimagining worship, or shifting toward evangelism—only to be met with layers of committees, cautious culture, and attachment to tradition. Structures exist not to get things going, but instead slow them down or even shut them down.

Trying to Do Too Much in the Name of Equity

Pahlka also reflected on how Healthcare.gov failed in part because it tried to do everything for everyone from the outset. In the name of equity, they overreached—and in the end, served no one well.

Sound familiar?

In the Mainline church, our desire to be inclusive and equitable can sometimes lead to complexity, vagueness, or even paralysis. We hesitate to prioritize or make bold invitations, fearful of leaving anyone out. But instead of justice, we end up delivering confusion. Instead of inclusion, we deliver exhaustion. The system collapses under the weight of its own idealism.

There has to be a better way!?

Building Systems That Can Say “Yes”

To Pahlka’s point, it’s not just about individual initiative or bold ideas—it’s about having systems that allow good ideas to move forward. Too often in the Mainline church, we’ve built structures that excel at evaluating, delaying, and eventually declining. But what we lack are clear pathways to greenlight faithful risks. If our default posture is institutional caution, then we need to intentionally design processes that can say “yes”—not just protect us from bad decisions, but empower us to pursue good ones.

Minimum Viable Products

In the world of tech and entrepreneurship, there’s a concept called the minimum viable product (MVP)—a simple version of an idea that proves it can work before investing more time or resources. It’s not the final solution, but a starting point that gets something into the world. The church could learn from this. Not every program or initiative needs to serve everyone right away; sometimes it’s wiser to start small and iterate.

Not All Things to All people

Because here’s the hard truth: if a project never gets off the ground, it helps no one. Even imperfect efforts can meet real needs, build momentum, and serve as a witness. But ideas buried under the weight of complexity and good intentions? They remain just that—ideas.

We don’t need to be all things to all people all at once. What we do need is to start—imperfectly, humbly, faithfully. The gospel is still good news, but good news needs a vessel. If our structures are too cautious or our systems too complicated to let anything take flight, we risk missing the opportunity to embody that good news in the world. Sometimes, boldness and clarity are the most faithful choices we can make.