8.11.2008

Creators or Connoisseurs?

Over the past couple years in ministry I have noticed a growing trend: most churches and ministries are simply copying innovation and creativity. If you look at churches that are considered "cutting edge" the vast majority of them are simply copying their "creativity" from a very limited, few sources. Whether it's teaching series ideas, outreach events, or overall programming, it seems that there is a lot of copycat ministry that exists in the church today.

And here's my take on it. Innovation and creativity are hard work. Even for those who are naturally creative, innovation doesn't happen without work, time, and vision. That's why it's so easy to simply copy what someone else has done. And if all of our innovation and creativy are "borrowed" then it's not really innovative at all. After all, by definition, innovation is the creation of something new.

For the church, this ought to be alarming. After all, God is the ultimate Creator. He is the author and beginning of all things innovative and creative. It is from His being that all creativity flows. Unfortunatley, far too many times we settle for being connoisseurs of innovation, rather than creators of something new. It's a whole lot easier to copy someone else's new idea than to work hard enough and pray hard enough for God to give us something new.

In short, we've settled for being consumers of innovation instead of creators. I think that the author of creativity demands more from us than that.

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