UNDERSTANDING THE CREATIVE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE LOCAL CHURCH (p5)

In light of all that has been discovered so far about the creativity, it’s source and operation in a person’s life, what outlook should an artist have who happens to be a Christian? The following bullet points will give an overview:

• The artist who is a Christian, should be amongst the very best at what they do, as they have the giver of creativity dwelling on the inside of them.

• In the same way a banker wouldn’t slap an “I love Jesus” sticker on a report he has just written, so an artist shouldn’t feel pressured into ‘cheeseifying’ their work, to conform to expectations from within the established church. Their work, should by it source, and channel (i.e. God through them) speak something of God’s character, just by itself.

• I believe an artist will only truly understand the creative in general and their creative ability specifically, as they draw near to God.

• There is a great danger when a person has created anything, to move from taking pleasure in it, to worshipping the created thing. As an artist who is a Christian it is important to firmly have your focus on the giver of the creative, not the created thing.

• The artist should use the gifts to the very best of their ability, as it is a reflection of the creative God they serve.

• Create as a gift to give to the creative God – knowing that He loves the work of your hands.

• I believe that the creative Christian’s have an important role in helping more scientific or ‘logical’ Christians experience the wonder and beauty of God.

UNDERSTANDING THE CREATIVE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE LOCAL CHURCH (p4)

Other people will say, ‘well if the creative comes from God, why is so much evil created? I believe this question simply boils down to the fact that God has given responsibility in the way we use the gifts he has given us. One day we will stand before God and account for what we have done with the gifts he has given us (like the parable of the talents). In the same way God has given us responsibility of how we use our bodies, either for good, or bad (for example pounding another human being!), so it is with the creative. Just because someone chooses to use the creative gift that God has blessed him or her with to make a degrading pornographic image, does not mean that the giver (God) of the gift wanted it to be used that way. This is where the argument over the devils ability to create re-emerges. Many people will point to the horrific creations of ‘art’ and say these are the work of the devil. It is important to go back to scripture to view the tactics of the devil and to see how he operates in this type of situation.

"“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (Jn 10:10, NKJV)

This verse contrasts the actions of the devil with those of God. The devil is the one breaking and destroying and dismantling, it’s God who gives life. So it is with the creative. God is the source of all creativity, but it is the devil that comes in and destroys, mutates, twists, and perverts things. Take for example a musician. God has given the gift of musicianship, but the devil works in the persons life, twists and mutes the persons thinking, so they start to create songs glorifying anything but God.

UNDERSTANDING THE CREATIVE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE LOCAL CHURCH (p3)

Some people will object to the notion that all mankind is creative, using phases like “I haven’t got a creative bone in my body”. I believe this is due to a misunderstanding of the word creative. When we hear the word creative, many of us, automatically think of painters, sculptures, dancers, actors, and even graphic designers. However I would like to rebalance that understanding of the creative, by stating that in a general sense the creative is the expression of some form of thought or idea. The expression (or outlet) may be through the more conventional type of creative fields, but it may also be ‘a work of creative genius on the football field, the design of some breath-taking building, the invention of some microscopic-robot, an orchestral composer weaving umpteen lines of music together into one glorious harmony or even a ‘simple’ poem written on the back of a napkin by the hand of a child. The creative is simply one of the most amazing gifts given to mankind!

In James 1:16 there is a wonderful passage, which expresses the wonder of gifts from God:
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (Jas 1:17, NKJV)

This verse needs to be unpacked a little more to understand the true wonder of God given gifts. In this verse the English word “gift” is used twice. However, in the Greek it is two different words. The first use of the word is dosis (the act of giving), the second being dorema (bounty/bountifully, perfectly perfect). This shows us that God’s gift are both well given to us, but are also perfectly perfect in quality.

UNDERSTANDING THE CREATIVE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE LOCAL CHURCH (p2)

Is the creative restricted to God alone? No. The bible clearly teaches us that man, was created in the likeness of God:

"Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”" (Ge 1:26, NKJV)

Theologians call the attributes of man, which are in someway ‘like’ that of God’s the communicable attributes of God. These are attributes such as, mental reasoning, morality, love, will, and freedom. Even though we are made in the likeness of God we do not share these attributes in the ‘fullness’, but just in the ‘likeness’. So I believe it is with the creative. I believe it is one of the communicable attributes of God, which we ‘share’. God has released into every human being a level of creativity. An example of this ‘general’ creativity can be seen in the life of Adam and Eve. Even after sinning, they used their God given creativity to ‘make’ a covering for themselves out of leaves. That takes quite a high level of creativity!

Planting Missional Churches (part 6)

6. A people who want to see amazing things!

Neh 6:15-16 says … “The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul. It had taken fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard the news and all the surrounding nations saw it, our enemies totally lost their nerve. They knew that God was behind this work.”

Yes, being part of a church planting team may be challenging, tiring and even difficult, but there is also the opportunity to be part of something great and amazing! I dream of the days when Christ Community Church is a vibrant, community transforming church! What an amazing privilege to be in at the start seeing this dream become a reality!

Don’t thinking that being part of a church planting team is all hard slog. We are having great fun in Attleborough! Church planting is an adventure not to be missed!

Planting Missional Churches (part 5)

5. Willing to live on the edge of defeat
Neh 4:1-3 says … “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he exploded in anger, vilifying the Jews. In the company of his Samaritan cronies and military he let loose: “What are these miserable Jews doing? Do they think they can get everything back to normal overnight? Make building stones out of make-believe?” At his side, Tobiah the ammonite jumped in and said, “That’s right! What do they think they’re building? Why, if a fox climbed that wall, it would fall to pieces under the weight.”

All that Sanballat and his cronies had to say about the Jews was in a natural sense true! The project which these faith-filled people set out to accomplish was a mammoth task and without God’s resources was going to fail! However, as church planting team members we don’t rely upon our own resources. We rely upon the resources of heaven!

In Attleborough and the surrounding villages we are looking to build a church a 200. I don’t think Attleborough will have seen anything like this in generations. Are we swimming with resources? Are we well equipped for the challenge ahead? Could all of this end up being serious egg on face? Certainly! Yet we know that God has called us and that is why we are taking increasing steps of faith in order to see our vision become a reality!

Church Planting team members must get use to living on the edge of defeat, but that’s also where the glorious heroes of God can be found (David and Goliath, Gideon and the Midionites, the early church and the Roman Empire)

Planting Missional Churches (part 4)

4. Team Players
Neh 4:17 says … “From then on half of my young men worked while the other half stood guard with lances, shields, bows and mail armour.”

# Midway through the building project, under increasing pressure of attack, Nehemiah organised the team in such a way that they were interdependent. The builders wouldn’t survive on their own and the men at arms couldn’t complete the vision which they were defending on their own. Different roles, but both working towards the same goal. Can I say with as much grace as possible, lone rangers don’t survive in a church plant and may even take others out with them.

# Church planting is about team work. Working together to see something come out of nothing can be one of the greatest pleasures. I was so pleased last year when we were able to pull together a diverse bunch of people to run our latest Alpha course. People with different gifts, different abilities and yet able and willing to work together to see people gathered into the Kingdom!

Planting Missional Churches (part 3)

3. Playing out of Position
Chapter 3 of Nehemiah also shows us another clear characteristic of church planting team members. It shows us that we often have to play out of position. What do I mean by that? I mean, priests, goldsmiths, perfumers, countrymen, administrators, merchants and so on all gave themselves to manual construction work! Was this their specialist trade? No. Was it essential at that time they were able to build walls? Yes.

Grounding this in day to day reality this means people who are willing to have a go! You might never have arrived early for a church meeting to set chairs out, but are you willing to have a go? You might be afraid of working with children, but are you willing to have a go? You might never have led a cell group or an Alpha course, but if asked are you willing to have a go?

PLANTING MISSIONAL CHURCHES (part2)

2. Takes personal responsibility
Let’s read the whole of Nehemiah 2:18
“They said, ‘we’re with you. Let’s get started.” They rolled up their sleeves, ready for the good work.”

# Church planting teams members are people who make the connection between the big vision (the walls must be restored) and what they can do (their personal responsibility). Church planting team members are people who have their sleeves rolled up, ready to play their part!

If you flick over to Chapter 3 you will see paragraph after paragraph describing individuals and small teams who took ownership of the vision to see the walls restored and gave themselves (blood, sweat and tears) to seeing a part of that dream fulfilled!

# Don’t be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the vision, ask God what part you can play in fulfilling it, roll your sleeves up and get stuck in!

PLANTING MISSIONAL CHURCHES (part1)

The following 6 part series are notes from a seminar I led in the summer of 2006 looking at missional church planting ...


Have you ever asked questions such as: -

“Could I be part of a church planting team?”

“If so what would I have to offer?”

“What should I expect if I get involved in a church plant?”

“Is there a special type of person who can be involved in a church plant?”

In order to try and address some of these questions I thought it would be fun to start by looking at a “person specification” (like in a job application pack) of a church planting team member. I want to do this by drawing on the shining example of an amazing bunch of people who often get overlooked as they sit in the shadow of one of histories greatest examples of a pioneering leader – Nehemiah. Books and books have been written on the lessons we can learn from the life and leadership of Nehemiah; however, I want us to look behind him and see the type people who made up the team who stood with him as co-worker and co-pioneers to see the God given vision of a restored Jerusalem come into reality. In 52 days these ‘ordinary’ men, women and children saw Jerusalem’s walls emerge out of the rubble of disgrace and dishonour, and with it, set us an example of what it means to be part of a pioneering church planting team.



6 essential characteristics for a church planting team member

1. Responds to God’s call

Nehemiah 2:17-18 describes the moment when Nehemiah unveils to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, his God implanted dream to see the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. Listen to the response of the people:

“Then I gave them my report: “Face it: we’re in a bad way here. Jerusalem is a wreck; its gates are burned up. Come – let’s build the wall of Jerusalem and not live with this disgrace any longer.” I told them how God was supporting me and how the king was backing me up. They said, “we’re with you. Let’s get started …” (Neh 2:17-18)


# Firstly, anyone involved in a church planting team must be able to live with, and for a dream. Nehemiah called the people of God to arise and build a dream that up until that point may never have seemed remotely possible. Yet when the vision of a restored Jerusalem was shared they had to handle living with the tension of the ‘now situation’ and the ‘vision of what is to come’. The walls were burned and destroyed, but the vision was of a glorious restored city!

# Secondly, If you want to be part of a church planting team, you need to know, that you know, that God is in it! I've tried my hardest to ensure that everyone who has looked to join us at Christ Community Church are certain, in the deep parts of their heart, that God has spoken called them. Why? Because as this story shows, church planting is about being on the front line, facing opposition, and being exposed to enemy attack. If you aren’t certain that God is in the call to plant a church and secondly that you are meant to be part of it, it’s likely when pressure starts to break over your life you will feel tempted to give up!

Lorna and I have a number of prophetic words, which God has spoken over us with regard to our involvement in church planting in Norfolk. We hold these close to our hearts and when setbacks arise (and they do), we bring them to mind.

Church panting team members must feed off the bread of vision!

Christ Community Church

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