Creativity and the Church: What is God Saying?

I understand caution, but much of what some credit as caution is mislabeled ignorance.

And I get this. Naturally, people are uneasy about new things, which isn’t totally bad. Caution is a part of our biology, it can help us survive or, on the downside, restrict us.

For example, written language wasn’t eagerly embraced by ancient societies. Surprisingly, one of its early opponents was Plato, proving that smart people can miss things too [1]. 

In The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, neuroscientist Daniel Levitin writes:

The appearance of writing some 5,000 years ago was not met with unbridled enthusiasm; many saw it as technology gone too far, a demonic invention that would rot the mind and needed to be stopped. [2]

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To think writing is demonic is extreme.

Then again, at some point, we’ve all zealously demonized creativity and innovation, preferring the comforts of what we know. When as a Christian, you should readily await the arrival of new things, because God has so much He wants to create with you!

I mean, why quote Isaiah 43:19 or 1 Corinthians 2:9, which talk about God revealing [creating] new things, if you refuse to perceive the new thing when it comes [as an answered prayer] or even worst, call it evil?

Out with the old and in with the new – seriously it’s time.

In Doug Addison’s How to Bring Revival Online webinar he records, “People in our culture are changing and most of our ways of communicating and expressing our faith [are] still based on older models or methods that worked decades ago.”

Beyond this statement being so obvious, the old models and methods used to appeal to past generations will not work for the emerging mass of influencers [Millennials] driving the media, the economy, and the policies of our today and tomorrow.

You need to embrace God’s creativity in yourself, in others, and in your organization.

Every faith-based organization needs a creative team to drive innovation and influence among believers and non-believers alike.

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Millennials matter.

According to Pew Research Center, as of April 2016 Millennials are America’s largest living generation [3]. Their influence is huge and it’s rapidly shaping everything.

Now, this doesn’t mean that Millennials are superior to other peer groups. What this does mean is that cross-generational partnerships in faith-based organizations are necessary for us to stay relevant and effectively influence the world around us.

Many millennials are creatives. And the creativity of God is being released to captivate them and to captivate you in a new way!

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Christians embrace your creativity and churches embrace your creatives. 

• Don’t stop your creatives.
• Do not deny God’s creative power.
• Don’t block your church’s influence with unbelievers because you can’t see these new expressions of innovation being God.

God wants to accelerate you in the area of creativity and innovation to position you to shape culture. You were created to be a cultural influencer [4]. And to fulfill this you must shift and change, and this change doesn’t mean compromise.

I’ll close with this – in 2016, Adela Just released a message on Welcoming the Artists, Lana Vawser shared several words involving creativity, and on January 12, 2017, Dr. Matthew Stevenson III delivered a fiery proclamation announcing “The Year for the Creative.”

Well, the year for the creative is almost over, but the demand isn’t so, if you haven’t caught the wave yet, you still have time!

Quoted from Prophetic Word of the Lord 2017: Dr. Matthew Stevenson on CookieTruth’s YouTube Channel [Listen Between 11:20-19:49 Minute Mark]

References

1. Plato was a famed Greek philosopher, a student of Socrates, mentor to Aristotle, and founder of The Academy – what some claim to be as the world’s first university.
2. Levitin, Daniel J. The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. Dutton, 2016.
3. Fry, Richard. “Millennials Overtake Baby Boomers as America’s Largest Generation.” Pew Research Center, Washington, DC, 25 Apr. 2016, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/.
4. Matthew 5:17