As promised, here comes part 3 of my creativity rant
(see part 1 here) (
part 2 here).
Somehow someway there is a very unfortunate stereotype out there that Christians are boring. Hey, maybe I am wrong, but I am a Christian, and great deal of my friends are Christians, and we are for sure not boring. (Religiosity, now that is boring.) If any Christians out there wanna disagree with me and declare that they are, in fact, very boring please leave me a comment.
It is also popularly believed that Church is boring. Again, maybe yours is. But I know that
my church is anything but. My church (and youth group,
Merge Ahead!) is amazingly awesome. We are passionate. Our worship is vibrant. And believe it or not IT'S FUN! We're crazy about God and crazy about life. No boring to be found. (If you're church is boring it might be because well...you're boring. God is never boring. But people sometimes are...)
"Ok hold up" you're saying.
"I thought we were talking about creativity and now your just endorsing church."
Listen, just follow this rabbit and I on this trail and we'll get back to the point I am trying to make. Stay with me, people.
Why do people think church is boring? Why do people assume Christians are boring?
Because unfortunately some are. I'm not downing any type of denomination or music or anything. I love the body of Christ as displayed by His church. But sometimes we (me, you, any Christian) can be boring. Stagnant. Routine. Religious. Which doesn't really appeal to the rest of the world. When church becomes about rituals and routines instead of the presence and love of God people lose interest. That's just the truth...
We live in a modern, technology and media driven world. Our generation is so highly ENTERTAINED it is just ridiculous. Everyone needs constant stimulating input. Entertainment. This comes from music, movies, the internet, video games, technology, you name it. If it doesn't catch there attention and keep it there they move on mighty fast to something else.
"Whooooaaa Bella, are you saying the church needs to be entertaining? No. I am not. Stop arguing. Just stay with me here.
What would you say is the purpose of church?
I'd say the purpose of the local/global church is to expand the Kingdom of God. Grow the body of Christ. Reach the lost.
But the lost aren't going to want to come in if it is boring. Reasonable, I'd say. So this is where we need to get creative. Not so we can entertain people and give them a good time in church, but so that something not so important can catch their attention and then they can experience the love of God, taste and see that His goodness, and they can be so captivated that God keeps their attention.
I'm going to use Merge (my youth group) as an example here. When setting up each week we try and make the building LOOK really cool. We get pretty creative when we do this (see! see!)We set up the lobby with crazy art work. We roll out rugs, put out couches and set up cafe tables. All of our first time visitors ("guests") get freshly baked cooks and a warm welcome. Music, sometimes a DJ, plays in the background. In the sanctuary we hook up all sorts of lights and lasers and blast our instruments through amps. When we worship we jump around ("mosh"), dance, and get undignified.
Why? Because rugs really help to invite the presence of God? Because cookies are very spiritual? Because the Bible says to make sure you set up a couple couches before meeting with each other and God? Because God needs a fog machine and laser lights in order for Him to show up? NO! not at all! ( Trust me, the God of the universe who created the stars in the sky is not impressed with our Scorpion Laser Beam machine.)
We do it because it gets peoples attention. Youth come in and like what they see. And then they get blown away in worship and the word, not because there is so much fog their lives are changed, but because they encounter the love of God! THAT IS WHAT IS ALL ABOUT!
If crazy lights and loud music get people saved then we wouldn't need a church. We could just go to a club and be fine. Were that the case our whole generation of youth would pretty much be saved already if it was about lights and music. But that is not the case.
We try and make it appealing on the exterior so we can catch their eyes. Then we expect that our amazing God who loves us, the lost, and the whole world so much, to catch their hearts. That is why we do what we do!
I think this concluded my creativity series. Maybe. (do you guys have any more thoughts on the subject? Comment and let me know!) Obviously I have a lot to say about the topic. It's my passion. God created me and I love to be creative because of it. How about you? Go do, think, or make something that has never been done, thought, or made before. Go bring God glory. Go change the world.
Create.
