Excellence & Creativity
Excellence and creativity are great and important assets for church services, however, it's not vitally important. It definitely (and as a creative introvert who utilizes my skills almost primarily for ministry, I understand) feels like it is of the utmost importance to many of us, and the justification typically rests in the idea of doing everything possible to get people into the Kingdom - it comes from a good intention absolutely. The problem tho, is that entire church foundations are built upon it - and without it, would be nothing. Excellence and creativity ought to never be the number one priority that our church services rest upon. The only vitally important thing for our church services to be truly, eternally successful is the Holy Spirit!
Ultimately, it's not helping the Kingdom if what God wants isn't the absolute priority. Catering to self-interested people with entertainment of the age and staying away from the Biblical truths that conflict with a self-centered lifestyle will ultimately lead those people down a path whereby they think they're saved, but have never actually, truly repented of their current sins before a Holy God, but rather they've repeated an easy prayer about sin and repentance, get a guaranteed ticket to heaven from Starbucks Jesus, and then turn around and life a life of sin with a view that the church and Jesus are in existence for completely self-serving ways...the same self that Christ tells us to die to will enslave people if the men that carry the power of priorities are not careful to do church rightly.
So three things:
Be creative - I would NEVER speak against that. It's who I am.
-AND-
Make things as great as they can be - Always. Dream! Chase. Plan. Write. Execute. To the glory of God.
-AND-
NEVER compromise on why and how we are to have church (based on the truth in the Word) and just recognize creativity's profitable, yet proper place in line. If we don't have it at all, can God still be properly worshiped and the gospel spread? If the answer you arrive at is, "no", let's talk! :)
And - I haven't arrived. Would love to hear your thoughts. Here's to always growing. :)
