Creativity  

Early on as a pastor (most would say I’m still early on as a pastor) one of my greatest struggles was found in the battle between consistency and creativity. I knew that my ability to engage those around me with the message of Jesus Christ required a tremendous amount of creativity. As a church we would have to be different than what the church had been in the recent past. As a church we would have to creatively serve our neighbors. We would have to creatively communicate the message of Christ. We would have to creatively lead people along this journey if we expected to see results that were different than those before us. Creativity was crucial. 

Along the way however I discovered two problems. 

Creativity is extremely time intensive. 

Consistency, not creativity. is the foundation of long-term growth. 

As I interacted with these realities, I first thought that creativity and consistency were at odds. The time it took to be creative kept us from being consistent or our drive to be consistent kept us from being creative. When we were creative, we brought fresh insight, but long-term growth wasn’t accomplished in the way that can be with the consistent communication of truth. The two seemingly could not coexist. I felt I needed to choose. It would be creativity or consistency but both seemed critical. 

It was in the midst of this battle that I found something that I believe great teachers know. 

The goal in communicating for growth is not to be consistently creative but rather to be creatively consistent. 

Don’t get me wrong. I believe there is space for consistently creative people. These are the people who bring us the world’s greatest inventions and artwork. 

This is not however effective in growth. A consistently creative gardener ends up with a snack not sustenance. A consistently creative teacher can communicate a great deal of truth, but the lack of consistency results in very little being retained or engrained in the lives of their students. 

A great teacher understands the value of consistently communicating truth in such a way as to build it into the very thought process of the student. They realize that this consistency is critical while also understanding that the reception of this consistent communication will be directly related to their creativity in communicating it over and over and over. 

The problem with consistency is that it becomes mundane. It can easily be disregarded as something you’ve heard before or know. Great teachers mask the same content in creative shells that allow the student to receive it with excitement time and again further establishing the truth in their minds and lives. 

If you are an artist, be consistently creative. If you are a teacher and growth is your aim, work tirelessly to be creatively consistent.