Worship Through Creativity

Creativity is one of our most basic expressions of the nature of God. I honestly believe that it is a great testimony to the fact that we have a Creator and that we were made in His image. It is my hope that one day the Church will be on the cutting edge of creativity as it relates to our worship of God.

I have spent the majority of my life in the Church. I grew up in a traditional Disciples of Christ Church but often went to fellowship with the Baptist in my hometown. Other than a few differences in worship practices, much of what we did in one was done in the other. In fact, I found this to be true in the majority of churches that I visited over the years as well.

Up until a few years ago I didn't understand how powerful creativity was as it relates to worship. I had never been exposed to dance, prophetic painting, or spontaneous worship. All I had ever encountered was routine, tradition, and normal practice. That being said, I have watched the church as a whole struggle to keep up with the times. The music seemed outdated and the environment seemed out of touch with the culture. I'm not trying to be critical, it's just an honest assessment of what I experienced.

While I recognize the need for some traditions and believe that the church alone gets to determine their practices...whatever happened to creative expression? When did we move away from spontaneity and embrace routine? Paul described the church in Corinth this way: "Well, my brothers and sisters, let's summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you." {1 Corinthians 14:26 NLT}

Some have chosen to view this section of Paul's letter as a complete rebuke. I don't. I think Paul recognized that when the Body of Christ gathered together that each of us would be able to flow in the nature of Christ. Whatever expression of Christ was in us needed to come out. It could come as a song of worship, a word of encouragement, a unique revelation from the Lord, and an exercise in the gifts of the Spirit. Of course, he talks about things being done decently and in order but that's to ensure that people are edified in the process. He didn't want chaos to rule their time together and so he put some boundaries in place to make sure brothers and sisters could share whatever God was doing in them.

Due to the negative approach most people take to the Corinthian letter, it's easy to understand how we have become liturgical even in the most contemporary environments. We have decided what was decent and in order. We have determined what was proper expression and what was not. Unfortunately, we have shut a lot of people down in the process. Dance in many church gatherings is forbidden. Spontaneous worship has been regulated to what happens on the stage. The Arts in general have been placed on a wall by the selective few rather than a normal expression within the Body of Christ. This needs to change.

It's my opinion that we are most like God when we are creative. There are poems and stories inside writers that could bring an incredible amount of worship to God. There are songs lying dormant in many singers & musicians because they have never been given an opportunity to share what God has shared in them. Paintings, sculptures, etc. that could minister to the people in our midst tend to be restricted to what we see in a museum rather than within the Body of Christ. And what happens as a result of such a closed environment is that many of these people look for a place to express their gifts which typically places them in the "world" rather than in our midst.

I honestly believe that every person has a song to sing
I believe every person has something unique to bring to the worship table
I believe it's up to the church to create the atmosphere that says we want to hear from you, we want to see what God is doing in you, and we want to experience the nature of Christ flowing from you

Why are we so surprised that the guys from Sherwood Baptist Church in GA are able to be successful in filmmaking?
Why are we shocked at the market for incredible artists within the Christian Music scene?
Why are we mesmerized by Christian writers who spend weeks on top of the best-sellers list?
Why are we not more amazed that this isn't the norm?

I have been blessed through the years to know some very creative people who just happened to be followers of Christ. They want nothing more than to use the gifts God placed inside of them to bring glory and honor to God. What they lack is the opportunity. What they need is an environment where their expression can be received. May we learn the art of worshiping God through creativity and may we embrace it as a natural expression of every follower of Christ.