Sometimes it’s easy to overlook one of the most profound gifts we have from God: the gift of creativity. Creativity is a spiritual gift that God intends to permeate every facet of our ministries and daily lives. Congregational leaders should seek out opportunities to nurture creativity on the personal and institutional level for many reasons.
Let’s start with the idea that we are created in the imago Dei and that God is our Creator. God’s creative work continues through us as we preach, teach, paint, play, write, build and plan to bring order, goodness and beauty to life. As we struggle to understand what it means for Christian leaders to embrace the use of artificial intelligence for ministry, for example, we don’t want to neglect the opportunity to lean into creativity. It reflects the mind of God and thus makes us truly human.
Creativity is also at play when we consider the adaptive challenges we all want to resolve. Whether we’re talking about affordable housing or reaching young adults, creativity is essential. The way we have always done things in church was already proving to be less effective before the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, it’s hard to escape the fact that many of the ministry strategies we once relied upon are no longer impacting the people we need to reach. Solutions will involve more than tweaking a few practices or resurrecting old programs that used to work. We need the Holy Spirit to inspire open minds to discover creative solutions that meet the needs of the present day.
Ultimately, creativity leads to growth. The more we encourage people to explore and use their gifts, the more we will see people participate in the good and redemptive work God is doing in the world.
