Week three of our pure, fresh and simple approach to church centered on the first three words of our vision statement, "Thru imaginative design create relational learning environments and strategic missional partnerships to move everyone toward their full potential in Christ." My approach was simple: support the idea from the Scriptures and tie it to our mission of loving God, loving others and living out loud.
We are imaginative because creativity is part of the Imago Dei (image of God) in each of us. Just as God named and then separated as part of the creation process, so Adam named and separated the animals. It was perhaps the first right brain, left brain activity. Right brain (creative) naming the animals and left brain (analytical) separating things like the 52,000 different beetles God created into categories.
The beautiful tie to our mission statement is that in the Great Commandment we are told to love God with all of our heart, our soul and our mind. The word Jesus used for mind is often translated imagination. It refers directly to the right side of our brain rather than the left side (a different word in the original language.
I'm interested in your reaction to what you heard? How do you respond to imaginative ministry design? Is it exciting to you, terrify you or something in between? How might it play into your desire to invest and invite people to join our faith journey?
7 comments:
I love it! But then I'm a musician and thus into all things creative! I wonder though if some might be intimidated by this because it blows up the whole idea of "one size fits all" ministry once and for all?
I think that in acknowledging this idea of imaginative design, everyone may eventually find, as Ron M. terms it, their "soul ergonomic".
Making imaginative design will create a sense of anticipation, maybe make it easier for some to be able to invite others.
The narrow "fit in the box" religious culture I grew up in did all it could to stamp out that beautiful creativity.
I'm just happy to find a place in the world that celebrates the role of imagination in Christianity.
So Cathy, how would you like to see creativity expressed in gatherings? I'm always curious to find out what other people are thinking.
I'm from the other side of the world...the khaki pants and blue shirt every day sounded DIVINE to me!! My experience in the religious culture of days gone by was never one-size-fits-all, or in-a-box, or squelched-creatively in any way, so I'm probably not the best responder in terms of "CrossPointe Church" being a new freedom of creative expression.
With that said, I've ADORED the style David brought to CrossPointe and that our team has nurtured and enhanced! It's like getting an HD TV when you're used to a little black and white! Making salads during the sermon to support each point, having the cool worship-focus videos that get your mind open to what God has to say that day, the prayer wall, and bottles of "P-F-S" water are all BOLD, REAL, COLOR experiences in a sea of commonly black and white.
Who wouldn't prefer to invite their friends to see their HDTV-style church instead of their 10" black and white with rabbit ears??
I'm from the other side of the world...the khaki pants and blue shirt every day sounded DIVINE to me!! My experience in the religious culture of days gone by was never one-size-fits-all, or in-a-box, or squelched-creatively in any way, so I'm probably not the best responder in terms of "CrossPointe Church" being a new freedom of creative expression.
Maybe the blue shirt and khakis every day was the professor's way of being creative...by being non-conformist?
I love your analogy of HDTV-church as opposed to black and white. That's a beautiful way of expressing it. See you're more creative than you thought! :)
the standard definition/ HD analogy is wonderful Nancy! The great thing is that there is room for right and left brain types at Crosspointe and any community/organization! We need a Khaki pants and blue button down to compliment the spiked hair, blue jeans and untucked shirts!
BTW, wait till this week! Relational Learning Environments - woo hoo!
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