If I had created the world, no one would be allowed to touch anything. I’d treat every little thing like those weird knickknacks that overcrowded my Grandma’s mobile home. Don’t you dare touch that gnome! Thankfully I’m not God…for a lot of reasons but mostly because I wouldn’t have given my creatures free will.
One of my favorite parts of the Bible is the beginning. God creates the most amazing planet ever and after placing Adam in the garden, God gives him freedom. “Fill it. Subdue it. Rule over it.”
How does a person subdue God’s creation? The way I understand it, subduing has to do with bringing order and sense out of chaos. It’s almost like God gave us the freedom to improve on His creation.
I think that part of God’s design is that we never be satisfied with OK. We honor our creator when we constantly ask, “How can we improve this? How can we bring more order out of chaos?” New ideas. New questions. New practices. Relentless innovation.
The thing is, innovation is difficult. It doesn’t come natural. But, it is paramount. Otherwise, our practices become archaic and we lose effectiveness. We can’t afford to lose effectiveness in student ministry. There’s too much at stake.
Here are some tips on pursuing relentless innovation.
1. CREATE MARGIN
Innovation requires space. If there’s no margin in your life there won’t be much ingenuity. It requires quiet, solitude and focus. If you are over-committed, your practices will probably never change. Pull back, cut something and create space for ingenuity.
2. CAPTURE IDEAS
I have lost so many brilliant ideas. This is absolutely the worst. You have to capture genius ideas like you would a great picture. When I see my kids doing something hilarious or cute I snap a picture as quickly as I can. It’s the same with ideas. Write them down. Make a note in your phone. Take a picture. Tie a string on your finger. It doesn’t really matter how you do it just develop a system.
I am very forgetful so when I have a great idea I write it down immediately. Seriously, I’ll pull my car to the side of the road and even hop out of shower to capture a good idea.
3. FORCE THE ISSUE
Sometimes when innovation isn’t flowing it needs to be forced out. This is why our team gets away to process and think strategically. Asking hard questions as a community will flush out brilliant ideas. On these retreats we present new thoughts, argue, debate and laugh. We’ve never a staff retreat that didn’t generate at least one great idea.
Before I worked at a big church I would simply gather friends who were in ministry and take a study retreat together. Both options lead to great thinking.
4. CALL IN EXPERTS
Truthfully, I rarely conjure up a great idea on my own. I need someone or something to prime the pump. There are a few people in my life that somehow pull good ideas out of me. The quality of conversation or the questions they ask just help me to approach problems from a different angle.
A great book will also spur on your thinking. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to be a relevant topic. Reading great thinkers often produces great thinking.
5. PERMISSION TO FAIL
As I’ve written before, 90% of my ideas are no good. But, 10% are game changers [read about this concept here]. Over time, I’ve accepted my 90% failure rate. If I stopped all creative thinking every time I had a bad idea I’d never do anything new. Some of my favorite practices in life and ministry would have never happened. Give yourself permission to have a few bad ideas.
We’re called to innovation. We honor God when we wrestle with hard questions and uncover brilliant solutions through pure hard work and laborious thinking. This is how I tap into creativity. How do you do it?