One of my personal Core Values is creativity. I express it as "You've got to go out on a limb because that's where the fruit is." Its hard to escape the fact that God is creative - sometimes excessively so. If you don't believe it, just meditate on His creation, where He expresses it in animals as disparate as the giraffe and the platypus.

The problem with most ministries is that they don't do anything risky. Keith Drury compiled a list of "killer phrases" that we church types use to kill creativity in the church. I wish I could say I had never heard these in church. For the record, I can't say that. You'll get details in my second book "Stories I Couldn't Tell when I Was Pastoring."

It wasn't that way at the beginning (read "First Century church"). they were always doing risky things, pushing the envelope. they didn't push the envelop for the sake of pushing the envelope, they did it for the sake of the Gospel. In Philippians Paul highlights Epaphroditus' ministry, commending the Philippians to "...honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me." Now THAT is risky business.

I once heard the story of an inexperienced pastor who held someone under too long during a baptism. The man came up sputtering and spitting water and shouted "A man could get killed doing this!" Isn't that the point of identifying with Him in baptism?

When was the last time you did something creative in the service of the Great Commission?

In case you need to get your creative juices flowing, check out what these people are doing with church planting. If that doesn't do it, take a look at what this church is doing with artists.

Signed,
"Out on a Limb" in NoVA