Creativity in Worship

Next week many people from Redeemer and others around the country will head to Green Lake, Wisconsin for the annual Holy Spirit conference. It's such a beautiful place. God always shows up and it's a great time spent with my church family. You really get to know each other well when you share a bathroom for a week!

This week I'll be teaching a workshop on creativity in worship. I love doing this. I teach 3 trimesters in Redeemer Ministry School on worship. I break these trimesters up like this:
#1  Intimacy and Identity: Knowing God and knowing yourself.
#2  Biblical Lifestyle of Worship: How to daily live out intimacy and idenitity.
#3  Creativity: Partnering with the Creator to reveal Him to others.

The first thing God wants us to know about Himself in Scripture is that He is the Creator (Genesis 1:1). Think of the multiple facets and characteristics that could have been the 1st thing revealed about Him: all-powerful, redeemer, father, bridegroom, comforter, sovereign, love, judge, etc. When I go to a bookstore to browse, I often read the first few pages of a book to see if it grabs me. It's the first few pages that give a preview of what that book is about. I do not take it lightly that God reveals Himself first as Creator. Why???

Statistics say that before a child reaches the age of 6, they are using 80% of their creative potential. Think of a young child's world...it's play, play, play. Their imagination runs wild 24/7. They are uninhibited creative creatures, filled with curiosity and new experiences every day. Once a child reaches the age of 6, they are only using 20% of their creative potential. What happens? They enter school where they are taught to conform to rules and coloring in the lines. They begin to learn that what they produce isn't good enough in comparison to other children and standards. We live in a culture of hierarchy where everything we do is measured and critiqued. As a child learns that what he produces on this earth isn't good enough or excepted or out-of-the-box, fears of what people think about them form. Rather than letting who they are be seen, they conform to the status quo and latest trends. These fears and conformity travel into adulthood.

I believe this is a method of the enemy to steal from God's children. The first thing God wants us to know about Himself is that He is Creator. The first thing God wants us to know about ourselves is that we're made in His image (Genesis 1:27). If we are made in the image of the Creator, than it is in our very make-up to be creative. Creativity is not limited to communicative arts (dancing, painting, music, writing, etc.), although it definitely includes those things. Creativity is simply (my definition) taking who I am and partnering with the Creator to reveal who He is to others. No one can produce who you are on this planet, but you. God has gifted you with specific words, talents, abilities, ideas, and breakthroughs that no one else can create.

To me, creativity in worship is Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." So much of what we see in the artistic world is self-serving and self-glorifying. Think of the music playing on the radio right now. It's all about how I can "get mine". Anything that we produce is meant to bring glory and fame to God. There are songs to be sung, books yet unwritten, movies yet filmed, medical breakthroughs yet to be discovered, solutions for problems yet to be found, people yet to be loved. All of these require creativity. All of these are meant to declare the glories and wonders of Him on this earth. Who will produce them, but you? You are a creative being made in the image of your Creator Father. Ask God how you can partner with Him today to make Him famous.