There are people in your church ? creative innovators ??who have something to offer. Unfortunately, they might not be the ones who would run sound, control the lights, or operate a camera. They might have no desire to run ProPresenter or join the worship team. Yet they?re brilliant minds.
Imagine if the next Steve Jobs or Elon Musk were sitting in your church. They felt the desire to use their gifts to help the church, but where would they fit? I mean, what do those brilliant minds even do anyways? They don?t design. They aren?t necessarily good with tech. They’re just… brilliant.
So how would you get them involved at your church? Creative minds want to share their skill, but how?[quote]Creative minds want to share their skill.[/quote]
Many churches, when trying to accomplish something like this, might hold a brainstorming session for a big event like Easter or Christmas. ?We need your ideas! What should we do for this special service? Go!?
Unfortunately, those creative minds don?t work for the church. They don?t necessarily know the heartbeat of the church?s creative process. So while they throw out some amazing ideas, they don?t work for your church. So you either shoot down the ideas immediately, or you just never use them. When the big service comes around, the people who were in?that meeting all wait to see their ideas part of the service, but never do. So there?s discouragement. You can bet those creative minds won?t show up to the next brainstorming meeting, because they felt that it was a waste of their time.
So how do you tap into those creative minds without just sticking them behind a soundboard or camera? How do you value what they have to add to the conversation while also getting what you need for your church?s creative process?
I believe there are a few different ways to do it. But I?d like to propose an idea to you that I?ve seen. It?s an event I?ve seen Catalyst hold before they do a conference in a city. Here?s what it looked like.
They gathered as many creative minds from the community that they could find in a cool environment. They had food and delicious coffee. There were tables spread throughout the room, covered in butcher paper and little toys ? things you could fidget with.
They split the groups up and had us all brainstorm around our tables about certain topics. The topics were things like:
- What the most creative thing you?ve seen?
- Who are some up and coming voices/bands we need to know about?
- How have you seen people bring an experience out into the parking lot?
The questions were open-ended. But instead of asking us for specific ideas for a particular event, they asked us about our perspective and experiences. At the end of each brainstorming session, we presented our ideas and then switched tables. The moderator took a few notes here and there ? probably actionable ideas that he hadn?t heard before.
And that was it. No inspirational thought. No worship. Just a chance for creative people to get together and share their perspective. It was awesome.
I felt like I offered my best and that I was useful to their creative process. I also was excited to get to connect with other creative people in the community.
To be honest, I didn?t even go to the Catalyst event that year. But I was still happy to be part. How much more would the people who are part of your congregation, who actually attend your church services, be excited to give their best in a meeting like this.
Plus, you get a few benefits from this. You can walk around during the event and see which?people tend to have the most consistently good ideas; you might want to tap them for future staff positions. But you can also call out the gift you see inside the people at your church. You can acknowledge that they have a gift for innovation. That?s an exciting thing for someone in your church to hear, to know someone else sees the potential in them.[quote]Call out the gift you see inside the people at your church.[/quote]
I want to encourage you. Find a way to tap the talent in your church that doesn?t necessarily perform a function. Give them a place to share their voice and their perspective.
If you?ve been able to do this successfully in your church, I?d love to hear how you accomplished it. Share in a comment below what you did to tap into the creative, innovative minds in your congregation.
