Tailoring Creativity to Fit Your Church

"Next time a new idea comes your way, pause before saying no. Give yourself the space to think about how you might achieve the same result with the resources you already have."

Be Creative and Resourceful

We’ve all been there. Someone has a crazy idea to try something you know will be insanely expensive. You immediately shake your head and tell them, “Show me the money!” While this is often accurate, something must be said about finding creative ways to try something new, even though you don’t have the budget to pull it off. We production people love our gear, and it can be easier to say that if the church spends $30,000 on that new equipment, we can make it happen.

But what if we didn’t?

What if we started with the question, “What is the result that this idea accomplishes?” From there, we can ask new questions like “Can we accomplish this goal with the resources we already have?” or “What can we accomplish by spending $5,000 instead of $30,000?” I asked this last question recently when planning for future service elements. I was surprised when I learned I could rely on different technologies to accomplish the same task for far less than I initially anticipated. Had I just said no or stuck with the first solution, I would have robbed the teams who wanted to try new things from being able to do them or convinced my bosses to spend a crazy amount of the church’s resources to pull it off.

I struggle with this deeply. My initial response always wants to be “no.” I have to fight with everything in me to say instead, “Let me see what I can do,” to allow myself to think through what can be done. Much to my surprise, most of the time, I can find a compromise at a minimum. It may not be the original idea, but it’s a solution that still accomplishes the goal and makes the impact everyone hoped for. Next time a new idea comes your way, pause before saying no. Give yourself the space to think about how you might achieve the same result with the resources you already have.

Look for Inspiration, Not a Blueprint

I’ll admit it. I snoop on other churches, and I have a few I dig, and I want to try the stuff they do. I even look at movies, live music, or sporting events and find myself wanting to implement what I see in our services. While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being inspired by what others are doing, it’s unwise to approach what others are doing like it’s a blueprint for a successful church service. Trying to emulate what you see being done elsewhere doesn’t mean it will work for your situation.

Why not?

Every church is different. We have different visions, different cultures, different budgets, and different demographics we serve. Remember our sandbox? Remember the clarity that we worked hard to establish with our leadership? Does this cool new thing that you saw someone else do fit into that? Does it help your church accomplish their mission? Does it meet the unique needs of your church’s congregation?

I recently had to look for inspiration outside of typical church lighting for one of our campuses that was having lighting issues. For context, this particular campus is in a shopping center, so it has low ceilings. When they built out the campus, they approached stage lighting like every other church our size would. They used standard lekos as front light, which works great in our other rooms. The problem at this campus, though, was the lighting angle was way too low due to the ceiling height. The lights were almost pointed completely straight onto the subjects we were lighting. We were getting complaints constantly about the lighting there, and rightfully so. It looked rough. I have some experience lighting for video in a more studio format. Knowing a bit about those lights, I thought it would be worth experimenting with studio lighting panels instead. The solution worked! The lights were smaller, allowing us to mount them at a higher angle without bumping into the ceiling, and they were extremely soft fixtures that looked pleasing on our subject's skin.

As Production teams, our churches need us to stay diligent and focused on creating an environment that is best for OUR church, not just becoming a repeat of another church. Instead of going, “Oh, we need to do that!” see if there’s a way to be creative, take elements and inspiration from it, and apply it to your church service. Who knows, you may find yourself happier with the result, and you’ve thought about how to tailor it to your specific guests!