A Recipe for Imagination
It’s time to cook up something other than macaroni and cheese. The stale recipes of past methods won’t suffice anymore. Fast-food ministry won’t satisfy today’s palate. Apart from a new diet of innovative ideas creatively applied, we can never hope to achieve the daunting task of reaching the world with the gospel. We need to cook up some creativity. We need to be movement building gourmets.
The following recipe for creativity focuses on learning “how to think, not what to think.” Take some time with your team to practice this skill. Use the following ingredients to stir up some creative solutions to the problems you face.
1st- Cultivate an appetite for ideas. Get hungry for new ways of doing things. Adopt the mind-set of exploration and discovery. Pray and ask lots of questions. Start with a focusing question like: In what ways can I _______? (“In what ways can I stay committed to making disciples–given my family and career responsibilities?)
2nd ” Collect ideas. Get the facts, the figures, the feelings related to your project. “The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas.” Read. Brainstorm. Observe. Do some research. Take surveys. The more information a person has, the greater potential one has for creativity. (Take out some butcher paper and don’t stop until you’ve listed 100 ways to follow up recruits once they leave basic training?)
3rd–Analyze ideas. Break the problem or idea into its component parts. Study it. Find its attributes, its qualities, its quantities. Examine it from different point of views. Make the idea visible–sketch it out, map it out, diagram it. Seeing the idea on paper, on a white board, in clay, etc. taps into the creative process. (What are the component parts of “ministry partner development”–how we raise personal support? Separate parts and processes. What is hardest for you? Why? )
4th–Join, relate, mix and marry ideas. Look for connections, make comparisons, relate your idea to others, invent metaphors and develop analogies. Force yourself to make novel combinations and to connect the unconnected. Look in other worlds for ideas. (In what ways is building a movement of evangelism and discipleship like building a skyscraper?)
5th–Let ideas simmer and stew. Work through your ideas consciously and unconsciously. Purposely express and reflect upon your ideas. Then take some time to let things bake for a while. Be prepared for a flash of insight when you’re just awaking from sleep, or when you’re jogging or vacuuming. (What strategic partnerships with other ministries could make up for our limited resources?)
6th–Add some spice. Have some fun by asking “what if” and “why not” questions. Change contexts. Express your idea in a different mental language. Challenge your assumptions, break the rules. (Is our evangelism like this? Please answer yes or no to this question: Will the next word you speak be no?”)
7th- Taste. Evaluate your creative ideas. How effective are they? Recognize the strengths and weaknesses. Ideas should appeal to the eye as well as the palate. Do they? Ask whether they are timely, practical, simple, human, elegant? Don’t be afraid to revise, rewrite or rethink. Most of all, don’t fear failure. Embrace failure and learn from it. Be willing to find what you aren’t looking for. (A recently failed idea of ours: send resources to staff and key volunteers on a CD. Oh well.)
8th-Digest. Assimilate ideas. Implement them. And then take time to rejoice in the creative process. It’s hard work, but it’s great fun. Try it. Leaders take time to creatively solve problems.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
— Albert Einstein