I love speaking to and hanging out with young people–high school students, college students, etc. Back in the 90s as a college professor I made it a point to sit around the student center a couple of hours a week just to enjoy time with excited, vivacious students.
I am not so good with elementary school aged students. I find it much easier to teach undergrads and graduate students than a room full of 8 years olds (yikes). They are a bit loud for me, a bit unruly for my advancing years. But we can learn a lot from children.
In his fascinating book Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon Mackenzie made an observation of elementary school children. MacKenzie worked for decades as a creative expert for Hallmark Cards. His book examines the problems of bureacracy, in particular the tendency of bureacracy to suck the creative energy out of people in an institution (in other words, it is must reading for pastors and denominational workers!).
In his role as an artist who sketched designs for Hallmark cards, MacKenzie regularly spoke to elementary school classes about art. He developed a simnple evaluation that provided a telling insight into how parents in particular and culture in general raise children to seek conformity over creativity. As he spoke to students in each grade he asked students to raise their hand if they considered themselves an artist:
–First grade: All the children jumped from their chairs, arms waving wildly.
–Second grade: About half the kids raised their hands no higher than their shoulders.
–Third grade: No more than one-third ever raised their hands, and those who did were cautious and self-conscious about it.
“The higher the grade,” he observed, “the fewer children raised their hands.” He called the pattern “the suppression of creative genius.” Our culture, he observed, categorically raises children to pursue a safe, secure, and sensible path to a career.
That has been more pronounced in the church. We have created a culture which celebrates the duty-driven church goer and raises eyebrows at the passionate witness on the streets. Every year I take a lot of teens out witnessing in various settings. How many times have I met condescending adults who see the enthusiasm of youth after spending time sharing Christ retort: “They are excited, but they will get over it.” That is our problem; we have met Jesus and we have gotten over it. Certainly as we grow older maturity calls for wisdom, restraint, and even silence at appropriate times. But have we so anesthetized the church that outbreaks of creativity, even those consistent with Scripture, are considered scandalous?
I thank God that as a child about eleven years old, at the time caution begins to overtake enthusiasm, I saw young adults radiantly and unashamedly passionate about their faith. I was a typical good little church kid who knew the right answers in Sunday school and had ribbons for attendance at Vacation Bible School. But I did not know Jesus. Suddenly our church was invaded by the Jesus Movement. In 1970 I witnessed many hippie-looking youth become passionate for Jesus. Their passion became mine, for their testimonies helped to lead me to Christ.
Our church began creative ministries: a “One Way Christian Night Club” (a converted skating rink for unchurched youth to have a place to gather and meet believers off the church campus, serving only Kool Aid for strong drink), a drama ministry, and ministries at Panama City and other places. I recall one thing in particular about these ministries: they focused particularly on reaching the lost.
We have domesticated the faith. We have turned evangelism into a course, discipleship into a curriculum, and our devotional life into a checklist. Can we recover a Christianity that sees no disparity between biblical conviction and creativity? Can we say to the coming generation that following Jesus does not mean you have to surrender your creative energies and passions for the service of the institution, but that following Christ means unleashing all God has made you to be in service to the Most High?
Being creative does not mean always pushing the envelope. It means finding ways to honor God outside the norm, the path of least resistance. For example, a friend of man named Alan Quigley, evangelism director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, showed me an evangelistc approach called the Most Important Thing. This is a simple website where believers can post their testimony. I did this some time ago. Then, you carry simple little cards to leave with servers at restaurants (with a good tip!), or with others you meet. Nothing very intrusive, a simple little card with instructions on how to go to a website (www.mostimportantthing.org) and with my name on it. Every single time I have given out the card over the past several months I have received an email in the next 24 hours saying my testimony was read. People actually read this. Go ahead. Check it out. Just type in alvin reid. A simple, creative way to communicate the gospel through a personal story tied to the internet.
Go do something creative for the glory of God. And encourage the coming generation to embrace, not to shun, the artistry, the imagination, the creativity our Creator has placed inside them.