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Cultivating Creativity
The inexact but essential art of bringing freshness to ministry.
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Several years ago, a generous church member invited me to go with him to watch a heavyweight fight in Las Vegas. I couldn't help but notice the signs. They're everywhere: big signs, little signs, blinking, flashing, moving signs, even talking signs. It was dazzling. They don't have a lot to say, but they definitely know how to say it, I thought. It's just the opposite in the church. We have everything to say, but we don't always know how to say it. We fail to communicate God's truth in a way that is both biblically based and culturally compelling. Consequently, many people view church as a dry, yawn-filled environment. And too many Christians, even church leaders, are just droning through life—doing the same thing the same way and expecting a unique result. As a young person, I remember saying to myself, "If that's what being a Christian leader is all about, then no thanks." Ten years ago I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to begin a church. We started with core group that shared the same vision: to keep God's unchanging truth the same, while communicating it in a radically different style. As we reached out to the people around us in creative ways, people we could never have dreamed of touching began attending. We wholeheartedly believe that, more than any other venue, creativity should be at its best when Christians are together within the context of the local church. Creativity is biblical. In fact, it's the fifth word in the Bible: "In the beginning, God created." God invented creativity. He thought it up. Jesus modeled it, always changing his approach. "He did not say anything to them without using a parable" (Matt. 13:34). He spoke from hillsides, boats, and beaches. He drew in the sand, turned over tables, picked up a coin, pointed to a sower, and set a child on his lap. Ultimately, he used the cross to communicate his love for us. For us, it's so tempting to fall into sameness. We ignore Christ's example and do the same thing week after week, and people grow tired of it. How can we claim to follow an innovative God and be so boring? The church must be creative because people need it. How will Christians grow and mature if the church is stuck in a rut? Stoking the creative engineHere's an example of how the process works in our church. In our community, lots of families go out of town for spring break, but the singles tend to stay home. And half our weekend attenders are single and in their twenties and thirties. So when I asked during a staff meeting, "What would be a good series topic for March?" someone suggested doing a series on spouse selection. As we talked about it, someone pointed out that who you marry is the second most important decision of your life. Another person added that the series would be just as important to married couples who need to prepare their children. Everyone contributed, from the preschool department to business administration. In fact, I've realized that the most creative ideas often come from those who are not even remotely connected to the ministry we're discussing. |             | |||||||||||||||||||
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