At the heart of every creative is a drive to make things better. We look at the world around us and don’t accept things as they are. With a critical eye, we spot out areas that need more life, more fun, more pizazz, and imagine the possibilities. It’s this drive that allows us to create and design for what we believe is a more beautiful world.
There is one area, though, that our creative personality tends to neglect when searching for things to improve. We rarely enjoy looking at ourselves so critically. We have no problem imagining other people, places, or things better, but we often act as though we already have it all together. There’s no time for all that, right?
We can be better. You can be better.
If you’ll accept the challenge to redirect some of that creative energy inward, I truly believe that you’ll be better equipped to create in every other area. Especially as we serve the Church, there is a need to examine ourselves to ensure that we’re not just good designers or good dreamers, but good people.
I took a hard, honest look at myself and the bad habits that I’ve lugged around for far too long. I’ve written these four goals not only to help you grow as a church creative, but to remind myself of areas to improve. See if any of these goals resonate with you.
1. Stop Blaming Your Lack of Resources
We all know the struggle. It’s difficult when you don’t have enough time, people, or money to pull off your ideas for your latest project. We have to be careful with this, though. Part of being creative is figuring out how to make great things despite your shortage of resources. Don’t let your lack determine your ability to create; take inventory of the tools God’s given you and make it happen!
2. Build A Creative Team Around You
Creativity is best in numbers. I spent a long time trying to do everything for my church alone. I would design every graphic, make every video, and plan every event. It wasn’t until a few years later that I truly began to understand that not only would it be a lot less stressful to get others involved, my product would be much better. Loosen the reins a little and allow others to join in on the creativity.
3. Serve Your Leaders Wholeheartedly
Following the direction of others doesn’t come easy for creatives. We’re already overflowing with a million of our own ideas, so having to create within the parameters of someone else’s vision can be tough. Remember that honoring your leaders is important to your faith. Have open ears and an open mind to hear their ideas and help bring them to life with your creativity. Your willingness to serve will often determine how much creative freedom you’re given in an organization.
4. Spend Less Time Dreaming And More Time Doing
When I first started serving in ministry, there was a man in our congregation that would come up to me nearly every Sunday with an idea of how we could make things better. Some of his ideas were pretty good, but this guy never wanted to get involved to actually make these ideas happen. Like a lot of creatives, he was trapped in dreamland. I’ve learned that you may have a ton of great ideas, but if you never put your hand to the plow and make them happen, you’ll never accomplish anything.
What Do You Think?
Could you improve in any of these areas?
Let us know by leaving a comment below!
Hey Kendall, love you, love your blog. This was a great article because I am at this very introspective moment in my “church career” as a creative and these points hit home for me. I’ve just begun to feel the burn as I have my hand in everything that gets produced church-wide and I have turned to others for help. I am learning now to reach out to the congregation to build our Creative Team, and although we have yet to accomplish much, I know this is just the beginning and it may take a while to get rolling. If you have any specific tips or templates in this area of administratively leading a ‘creative team ministry think-and -work tank’ – that would be awesome! The little tips and treasures you have here are great. Thanks bud, God bless you.
This came at the perfect time for me. Shared it in my churches media team fb page.
Great to hear! :)
To follow up about my previous comment in regards to point number 2, how did you approach people about joining this creative team? what were some of the goals and guidelines you set for the team? Is it best to start with a person from every ministry so everyone knows what’s going on?
Great advice!
Love the article! If only I had a real creative team to share it with….
Could be a sign I need to listen to this article!
Thanks Kandall. Great article and very true. We also need to better ourselves and change! I just starting to build our creative team and although there are already people doing certain things, there’s no true structure and a lack of true creatives. I second what Kirby above me has mentioned. I’m asking the Lord to guide me in this process of searching, but administratively, how did you go about it? I’m using Trello and a few other tools, but advice is always welcomed =)
We don’t have everything perfect on the admin side. We’ve just started using Slack and it’s helped some.
I know this is an old post, but your goals are still spot on! Embracing simple truths and taking action leads to great things.
Thanks for sharing.