A few days ago I tweeted the following: Creativity and relevance are way overrated. If you want a healthy church you might want to try consistency and reliability.
That one got multiple re-tweets, upping my weekly re-tweet average from one to two. For those unfamiliar with the Twitterverse, a re-tweet means the author of said tweet is both profound and important. A re-tweet brings much honor to the family name.
Back to the point. I am tired of watching sincerely dedicated pastors and church planters focus on things that ultimately don’t matter and on things that don’t transform lives, all in the name of being creative and relevant.
Creativity is fine and good, but it does not break the power of sin. Relevance appears to be hip and cool, but it does not restore broken relationships or heal broken bodies.
I have done church for a long time. Sometimes I have been creative. Often I have not. But I have always tried my best to be consistent: to do what I say I will do, to stay faithful to the basics of the Faith.
Over the years, I’m sure there have been times when I looked relevant, and times when I did not. But I think my church is healthy today because relevant or not, I have been reliable (i.e. authentic, genuine, trustworthy, dependable).
I know this is not an either/or situation. It is possible to be creative and relevant, and consistent and reliable at the same time. But too many pastors and preachers tend to go all OCD about creativity and seemingly forget that the power is in the gospel.
Question: I know you are creative and relevant, but are you consistently preaching the gospel?
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because IT IS THE POWER OF GOD for the salvation of everyone who believes. . . (Romans 1:16)
