Creativity
[Edit: I forgot to include the sources that inspired this post...go check them out! Let's Play Follow The Leader, by Chet Swearingen, and Three Beliefs, by Nathan Diehl.]
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard pastors admit to and encourage copying other churches. This drives me up the wall!
I get tired of seeing rehashed Subway logos that have been adapted to have a Christian theme. I get tired of seeing all the small and medium-sized churches emulate and copy the bigger churches logos, websites, and programs. I get tired of hearing pastors preach someone else’s message. Did you know that you can actually download sermons off of the internet? Did you know that some larger churches actually sell their materials so that you can replicate them?
We don’t need replication. We don’t need duplication. We need reproduction. If you are involved in the creative team or department at a church, I’d like to throw a few tips out there. I work in the secular marketing industry, and I go into churches and teach them how to effectively market, so I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned doing this.
- Be original!!! - When you see something that is successful, don’t copy it. Study it. Find out what makes it successful. Ask why they do it the way they do it. And then take the “why” back to your church and apply it. For instance, I could copy the “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” ads Apple is currently running. But, not only is that poor ethics, it’s also somewhat tasteless and lacking in creativity. And, just because they are successful for Apple, doesn’t mean they will be successful for me. What I need to do is figure out why those ads work. Once I understand why they work, I can apply that why to my project. Not only will my project be original, but it will be significantly more ethical.
- Rely on God for inspiration - God is the creator. The first job he gave Adam, before Eve was ever created, was to come up with names for all of the animals. God passed His creativity on to us. Admittedly, we are all uniquely gifted, but we are all creative inside that gifting. So, when you need to create artwork, don’t start by looking at what others have done, start by asking God to give you direction and inspiration. He will.
- Do your research - You must rely on God for inspiration. But don’t let that make you lazy. Get out there and find out what attracts people, and what they respond to. Figure out who you want to talk to and then learn how they communicate and interact. Spend time around them. However, you cannot ever let research or common knowledge stand in the way of God’s direction (the Wisdom of Crowds only goes so far). Do the research, but if God leads you in a direction that doesn’t fit the research, trust Him. He knows what He’s doing.
That’s all I have on this topic for now. I might come back to it later. It’s one of my pet peeves.
January 25th, 2007 |
@Pastor Chet: Amen!
And I think there has to be a line between being inspired and taking someone else’s idea. I am a writer and have written a few books (none of which are published… yet) and I would be pretty mad if someone took one of my books, changed the name and a few other details (just enough to make it legal,) then slapped their name on it. I would be thrilled if my book inspired someone to write their own… with their own storyline, characters, and development, that might share some thematic elements with my book. It’s always a pleasure to be an inspiration and always painful to have someone steal from you.
In Churches, we should learn from what other churches are doing… but always be inspired by God. I don’t think God would inspire us to “borrow” ideas from other churches.
January 25th, 2007 |
I forgot to include the sources that inspired this post…go check them out! Let’s Play Follow The Leader, by Chet Swearingen, and Three Beliefs, by Nathan Diehl.
January 25th, 2007 |
I completely agree with you Joe. Why “borrow” someone else’s work when you can create you’re very own. Each church is unique and their theme should be unique.
@ Pastor Chet- I love your comment: “If a sermon isn’t birthed from a kneeling position, it isn’t worth listening to — because more than likely, there will be no Holy Spirit anointing behind it.”
January 24th, 2007 |
@pastor chet: Thanks for the compliment! I’m still working on it, so it will improve as time goes on. I will find better ways to organize and clean the interface up.
January 24th, 2007 |
@nathan: I agree with Perry completely! I actually did this post several weeks ago and scheduled it because I had a lot of other stuff planned, but things haven’t gone as planned…
Let me clarify a little bit. I think that we should be a community, and we should be willing to share ideas. But, I don’t think that we should be stealing each others ideas, or, as Todd put it, “cookie cutter” them. I think we should let them inspire us.
I think we should allow God to speak to us through what others say (provided that it lines up with scripture). I think if God shows me something in another persons sermon, I shouldn’t be afraid to quote it, but I should have enough decency to credit the person.
And I totally agree with Pastor Chet…I don’t want to hear something canned, I want to hear something birthed by the Holy Spirit.
I hope that helps clarify this a little bit.
January 24th, 2007 |
Jeremiah,
It shocked me when I opened it up. When you use a newsreader you don’t always see the changes people make to their pages.
Your new design looks quite unique, and creative! I didn’t see any golden arches or monotonous starbuck stuff
“Peachers buying sermons”
If a sermon isn’t birthed from a kneeling position, it isn’t worth listening to — because more than likely, there will be no Holy Spirit anointing behind it.
January 24th, 2007 |
@Nathan: I read Perry’s blog…I don’t think Joe is saying that you can’t look at other churches and pastors for ideas and quotes, I think his point is that you shouldn’t “cookie cutter” it, if you take my meaning. I think Joe and Perry have pretty much the same points. IMAO
January 24th, 2007 |
Good post, Joe.
January 24th, 2007 |
i would have sworn you used to link to Perry Noble’s blog.
But anyway, Perry blogged on a related topic this morning, and had a different view of things.