Exploring The Creative Process of a Church Plant

Before I get into the article, I think it's important to note a few things:

1. This process will look different for everyone at every church plant, but hopefully there are general tips to make the process a bit smoother.

2. A relationship with the other planters is paramount. To be able to implement any creative process, you first need the trust of the people who are co-laboring with you to both speak in to the process, and to help course correct where needed.

3. You will only be able to put out what you are bringing in. What I mean by this is that you have to be steeped in God's Word to be able to make any kind of impact in a community - but you have to be steeped in God's Word not so that you can make an impact. You have to desire to be close to the Father, and trust that He will do whatever He wants through this process.

Things To Consider:

As I was considering creative elements to implement in my church plant (for reference, this plant is just over a year old, so I was effectively building something from the ground up. I had to start from scratch.) here were the things that were most important to me to consider:

1. WHY do we need to be creative?

2. WHERE do we need to be creative?

3. HOW do we need to be creative?

I think it's important to consider the 30,000 foot view questions, because you have to be clear on your vision so that you can lead others to a place you've actually gone yourself.

WHY?

Why do we need to be creative?

1. First and most importantly, God is creative. With His breath, the world was created, and He continues to sustain that world in a creative and intimate way.

2. We are commanded to be creative in the Psalms - "Sing to the LORD a NEW song...". 

3. For our church plant, we are in a city where creativity runs rampant - New Orleans, LA. To have any hope of being winsome, we have to care (at least a little) about what the culture around us cares about.

WHERE?

This is a vital question to ask. Believe it or not, not every part of a church plant needs creativity. For instance, let's look at the microcosm of the service for a moment to flesh out what parts need creativity and what parts do not.

Let's start with the parts that do NOT need creativity.

1. The Teaching of God's Word

• Yes, there needs to be an engaging and captivating way that your pastor is preaching the Word of God, but creativity in the way this happens does not need to exist. We must preach from the Word of God, with Scripturally sound truth, in a way that is clear, encouraging, and convicting.

2. The Lord's Supper

• Yes, there are different ways we can partake in the Lord's Supper depending on what we are using it to observe (Eucharist, etc.) and there are conversations around what the elements should be and how they should be taken, but the practice of the Lord's Supper should not be subject to creativity. The meaning, the practice, and the implementation into our services should not change to fit a cultural norm.

3. The Worship of God in His Triune Nature, Father, Son, and Spirit.

• We must sing to God (however your church does this). We must offer our God praise that He is so worthy of. We will talk about song arrangements and considerations, but the practice of singing to God does not need creativity, it just needs obedience.

Now, here are some things that ABSOLUTELY need creativity.

1. Song Arrangements

- This is probably the place in a service where the MOST creativity can take place. Depending on the size of your band and your congregation, the instrumentation will play a huge part in this. For me, my church is fifteen people large and I have one female vocalist and someone playing a hand drum. This means that when I do a song like, "I Know A Name" by Elevation Worship, I immediately have to think about how I can rearrange the song to be winsome with the band that I have. Another thing to consider - especially if you have a full band and you pretty strictly do newer modern worship songs - is a lot of songs have pretty similar structures (start low, octave jump somewhere in the second verse, drop for the bridge, build up through the bridge, big chorus). Because of this, our songs can become pretty predictable. We should be taking time on a weekly basis to combat this because a fresh arrangement of a song can help to re-capture our people's attention and breathe fresh life into a song that has great truth, but may feel overdone. 

2. Corporate Response Elements

- What are Corporate Response Elements? These are elements in a service AFTER the teaching of the Word that help your congregation to slow down, consider the teaching, and respond in a tangible way. While thinking through these, consult with your lead pastor, because it is important to truly know your people as you plan these. Done well, these can be a place for great creativity to help your congregation respond to the teaching of God's Word in a tangible way.

Examples could be:

1. Turn and Talks
2. Re-reading through the Scripture taught as music is played underneath 3. Praying for someone around them
3. The Lord's Supper (remember, this does not need creativity)

Other places to be creative OUTSIDE of a service

1. Social Media
2. Website Development
3. Evangelistic Efforts (specifically how you are reaching people in your community with the information that your church exists)
4. Worship Space/Church Layout

HOW?

Again, this question is incredibly important to consider. We cannot just be creative for creativity's sake, we have to also be winsome.

Ask yourself these questions as you think through different spaces to be creative:

1. What do MY people need?

• We first must ask ourselves what do the people that God has brought to our congregation need. The primary goal of the local church is to edify believers, so we must first turn our attention to our own house and make sure that anything we implement is with them in mind first.

2. What is the cultural consideration?

• The next immediate question we must ask is what culture am I in? For me, I live and do ministry in New Orleans. That means, some of my worship elements will be influenced by things like Spirituals and jazz music, because that is what is winsome in my community. You have to be knowledgeable of the context in which you do ministry if you hope to reach people. 

If your primary question is, "What God honored in this service?" then I am positive that creativity will flow.