I am a church planter. I started my journey ten years ago with a simple goal in mind - to reach unchurched people. As our core team continued to increase in size, the goal or vision remained the same size. I would take every opportunity to share this simple vision again and again. In those days, it was so easy to remember and repeat. It was, let's say, crystal clear to all who attended WCC. In addition, when it came to teaching, I incorporated a very simple approach to speaking and made sure that the audience left each Sunday with a clear principle or application. The results were wonderful! We were able to watch many people come to Christ as well as participate in many baptisms.
Now, somewhere down the line I started to mix in a heavier dose of creativity and cleverness into each message. I replaced simplicity and sincerity for a more fun and dynamic approach to reaching my audience. I felt that if I could get them to think in more of a dynamic way, it would produce, well, more dynamic decisions for Christ. Again, I love creativity. In fact, I believe it's a missing gift in many of our churches today. But what I discovered five years into my ministry is that people were actually longing for more clarity than cleverness. In fact, there were times after my message that my wife would share with me, "Honey, I really enjoyed the message this morning, but I couldn't really tell you what it was about." Yikes. I over-shot the runway! And to be real honest with you, I, too, couldn't remember what my message was about. However, I did have a lot of fun at the expense of Biblical truth.
With so many creative conferences taking place across the globe (which I do support and love), I'm yearning a bit more for clarity, along with her close relative, sincerity. Less might be the new more in today's culture. Creativity does have its place - but not at the expense of clarity. Keeping the balance of these two in check will provide for some exciting ministry.
Fortunately, I was able to "auto-correct" the situation early on and get back to the basics.
How do you balance clarity with creativeness?
