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Does Creativity Have to Be Faith-Related? · The Daily Writer

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, welcome to episode 110 of the Born to Create Podcast.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Kent Sanders, and this is the show where we explore the mindset, habits, and skills to help you make a bigger impact in your life and creative work.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: We are in a series that's a couple of months long, and I'm answering some listener questions each week, and this has been a ton of fun so far, and I hope this is adding value to you as well.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Today I want to answer a question sent in by Erica Stevens.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Erica writes Does your creativity have to be in ministry or faith related form?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Does anyone feel guilty for using their creative gifts in a non-church or non-ministry related situation?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And therefore stop being creative or abandon new projects?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Erica, thanks so much for this question.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: You've hit upon a really significant issue that I care deeply about, and even though you didn't ask it this way, really the issue comes down to this how much should Christians be involved in the culture?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And by culture I mean creative expressions like books, architecture, movies, entrepreneurship, starting a business, movies, screenwriting, entertainment, music, and so on and so forth.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: I remember back in the nineteen eighties when the contemporary Christian music industry was really starting to take off.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: There was this huge debate about all of this because a lot of Christian artists wanted to quote unquote crossover into the mainstream.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And some people didn't like this idea.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, Amy Grant was arguably the biggest Christian music star of the nineteen eighties, and a lot of people got upset whenever she sang on a song that was a crossover single with Peter Satera, who was from the group Chicago, and the song was called The Next Time I Fall.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if any of you remember that.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Probably if you're like 40 or over, you might remember that back from the eighties.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you're younger than that, you probably don't remember that, but you can Google it or find it on Spotify or something like that.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So the major issue of the whole debate was this should Christians make art only that it is explicitly biblical or Christian, or is it okay for Christians to make any type of art that speaks to broader themes as long as they are honoring God in the process?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a book came along called Roaring Lambs, written by Bob Briner, and he was a dedicated Christian who was involved in broadcasting and in the broader culture at large, and his book impacted me in a huge way, and it convinced me that Christians need to be involved in the broader culture.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: They should be making art and creating entertainment that honors God.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, they should be salt and light in the world.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Bob's book in his book Roaring Lambs, or I'm sorry, Bob's point in his book, Roaring Lambs, was that we can't complain about the culture not being Christ honoring if we're not right there alongside everybody else, creating great entertainment as well.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So he suggested that we need more Christian filmmakers, screenwriters, doctors, attorneys, musicians, producers, novelists, and so on and so forth.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I definitely agree with that.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: In the Christian community, we have a tendency to hoard all of our talent in-house, and we tend to view it as a loss if somebody uses their gifts outside the church walls.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: But in fact, that's exactly what we're called to do.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're called to be salt and light in the culture.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're called to use our creative gifts not just to serve people who are inside the church, but to serve the culture.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And in the process of doing that, in the process of making excellent art and being excellent at whatever our vocation is, that in my view is an amazing witness because then we honor God and we serve people well.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And really, isn't that what it's all about?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Loving God and loving people.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love the example of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 17, where he's talking to the pagan philosophers and he's engaging with them.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: He knew their culture and their art and was able to speak to them on their terms.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So Paul was engaging people who did not know Christ in terms that they understood.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Paul knew the art of the day, he knew the poetry, and in fact he quoted a p a couple of pagan pagan he quoted from a couple of pagan poets to those philosophers, which tells us that Paul was very familiar with the broader quote unquote secular culture, which is a great example for us to to be involved in the culture and to realize what's going on and to be aware of trends and to study history and all those kinds of things.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that Christians should be making the most interesting, engaging, and creative art possible, just as we did back in the Middle Ages.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: We should be the most innovative people and we should be the most creative people on the planet.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, Erica, that is kind of the long way around of answering your question.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess my direct answer is no, you should never feel guilty for using your creativity outside of the church.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I encourage you to do a lot more of it.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: The only way that we're going to be able to get a hearing from people outside of our faith is if we show our excellence to them by creating great art and by doing good work, by running great businesses, by building great buildings, by writing great novels and nonfiction books and doing great work in whatever it is that we're gifted and called to do.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, on the flip side, I'm not saying that church and ministry settings don't matter.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think we should have great music in the church.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: We should have great pastors, we should have great teachers and people who are doing all kinds of great ministry both inside and outside the church.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: My point here is that we shouldn't keep our talents hoarded inside the church.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, Erica, thanks so much for your question.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: As you can tell, this is something I'm very passionate about and feel very strongly about.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's funny, you know, on these these QA episodes, how one little question from somebody can can really spark a whole range of issues.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, Erica, I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on this topic.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And for everybody else listening, I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can let me know your thoughts by heading over to Apple Podcasts and leaving a rating and a review for the show, or you can leave a comment on this episode at KentSanders.net slash one one zero.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that you are born to create and designed to make a difference.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now go create something awesome.