Awhile back our church had a capital campaign for a new children’s building. (Imagine that—a church trying to raise money!) Our technical team prepared a video to promote the building program. It was a great video—the camera angles, movement, and music were innovative and spectacular. But the narration was something I call a “doggie downer.”
Tired of overcrowded children’s rooms? Sick of waiting in lines to drop off your kids? Give to the Fellowship Church Building Fund …
Visually and artistically, the video was right on. But the script wasn’t. The person in charge of this project was new to us and didn’t understand that people give to vision, not need. (If people gave to need, then the neediest organizations would have the most money!) The video, though creative, didn’t support the positive message we were trying to get across. We cancelled it, and experienced creative tension.
If you’ve ever felt tension before—physical, emotional, or otherwise—you know the discomfort it brings. Muscles tighten, your mind jams, your body aches. You can get so constricted that you become immobilized.
The same thing happens when we face creative tension. We can tighten up, preventing us achieving our purpose. We’ve identified at least three of these creative struggles that will inevitably come your way. But if handled wisely, you can maintain vibrant and healthy.
1. Excellence vs. Expense
One common belief is that creativity means spending more money. But that’s a fallacy.
In today’s technology-crazed world, it’s tempting to keep buying the hottest equipment. But does that purchase serve a higher purpose, helping reach people more effectively, or is it just a cool toy for your team to play with? You don’t have to buy high-end gear to be cutting edge. Yes, you may have to spend some money for technology. But you can be creative without being a large, wealthy church.
Recently, in a message about tithing, we handed out packages of Skittles to everyone to communicate the fact that everything we have is from God. I told the story about the time I bought my daughter a bag of Skittles, which she then refused to share with me.
She didn’t understand three things: I bought them for her; I could take them away from her; and conversely, I could take my credit card and buy so many Skittles for her she wouldn’t know what to do with them.
It’s the same with God. He entrusts all of us with some “Skittles”—some a small pile, some a medium pile, some a big pile—and he merely asks that we give back to him a portion to help finance his work in the local church. Any size church can use an illustration like that.
One of the most powerful visual aids I ever used was a fly. Yes, a fly. I love salt-water fly fishing, so as I spoke, I tied a custom fly on stage. I discussed the fact that Satan customizes temptation to each and every one of us. The fly represented that temptation. Visuals don’t get much smaller than that! But, bigger and more expensive is not always better.
Technology is either a tool or a tail. It has incredible potential as a tool to communicate aspects of God’s Kingdom. But it also has the disastrous potential to be the tail that wags the dog. A dog that quickly turns into a pit bull!
2. Spontaneity vs. Structure
Seeking creative excellence can lead to one of two extremes.
On one end is the keep-it-real crowd that tries so hard to be spontaneous, unstructured, and free-flowing that it can segue into laziness. Under the umbrella of “authenticity,” it’s easy to forget that hard work and strategic planning are important to creative communication.
One man told me that before he became a Christ-follower, he attended a church that was very open and sincere but never provided any answers. It just created more questions. Instead of bringing him to Christ, it drove him away.
Passion and authenticity are important but, as leaders, we are guiding people on a journey that should take them somewhere. It takes effort to simply and effectively communicate the complexities of the Bible so that lives are ultimately and irrevocably changed by that truth.
On the other end of the spectrum, some people are tempted to over-script every area of the service. They are so regimented and production-crazed that they don’t allow for any freedom. They’re so structured that even the audience’s applause is timed into the service script!
The problem with this is that while the performance and production aspects are down pat, the passion for people usually disappears.
Herein lies the tension. In order to connect with people, we’ve got to find the sweet spot that incorporates passion, personality, and performance. Plan what you want to say, how you are going to say it, and where you want to lead your audience. But then be flexible enough to make changes if it’s not working.
At Fellowship Church, we realized over the past year or so that we’d been focusing more on performance and less on passion. While our music, dramas, and visuals were creative, the services felt overly produced and a little cold.
One of the ladies on our worship team said if our music were a color it would be red. In other words, our music had two volumes, loud and louder. And, because of that, we were losing personal touch with the audience. Our people were getting into a rock concert mentality. So we made a change.
We brought in a worship leader who came from a smaller environment, where he led from the keyboard with a more free-flowing style. He was able to help us blend the best of both worlds: the production orientation of the large church with the intimate feel of a small church. Our ability to create a variety of moods has definitely broadened.
This same balance is needed in message preparation. Recently I realized that I may actually be over-complicating the title and main points of my messages with creative overkill.
A publisher told me that the best book titles give people a positive promise, and then the subtitle, if there is one, explains specifically what need the book will address. A great example is The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
Creative? Yes. But direct and to the point.
I now use that same principle when planning sermons. I want people to clearly know what the promise is in the next sermon series or individual message.
3. Consistency vs. Change
Criticism inevitably surfaces in the presence of creativity. Don’t let it discourage you. If you cower from criticism, you will never have a church marked by creativity. Sometimes that criticism comes from unexpected sources.
A friend who creatively pastors in Florida told me about a young man who, after attending his church for a while, stepped over the line of faith. This young man grew in his walk for several years. Then one day he announced to my friend that he was leaving the church.
Why? “It’s changed too much. It’s not the same church it was when I became a Christ follower.”
My friend looked unbelievingly at this man and said, “You know, we changed a lot in order to reach you. And now you’re telling me you’re not willing to change in order to reach the next group?”
One of the realities of leading with creativity is that some will not like the innovations. It’s especially hard when those innovations don’t suit the founders or charter members, or those who came to Christ a few years earlier.
We’ve made clear at Fellowship that things will constantly change. It’s what I call being consistently inconsistent. The message will not change, but how we communicate it will, so we can reach a variety of people in a variety of ways. Every time you talk about the vision of your church, which should be often, reinforce this idea of change.
The constant question of people who attend a creatively focused church should be, “What are they going to do next?”
Creativity produces tension. Don’t let these tensions deter you from creatively communicating the word of God. A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission demands great creativity.
Ed Young is pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas. fellowshipchurch.com
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