Creating vs. Tweaking

How do you change something?

For the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about how one can change a situation. More particularly, I have been thinking about how one can change a culture, including a subculture like a church.

A popular book talks about the "tipping point" and tries to identify the various factors or common elements that social movements have and which, when combined "tip" things and result in a cultural change. I think the book is a fascinating read. 

That got me thinking about another book - the Bible. What, if anything, does God have to say about how we change things. Well, there are a lot of answers to this question. People change because of the Holy Spirit. People change because of repentance - again linked to the Holy Spirit. 

But what about a culture and world?

Some will argue that you tweak things, making small changes to the culture and chipping away at it until, lo and behold, things have changed. Others, will say that you change it by confronting - calling out evil or whatever else you might want to see altered. 

Lately, I have been thinking that one of the gifts which God has given us the gift of creativity. What I mean is this: my observation is that things change in large ways when there is newness, creativity, a new reality. In fact, we are made in the image of a creator, and it could be argued that one of the fundamental truths about Christ followers is that we were made to make/ create and bring into reality that which is not presently there. 

One of the potentially sad observations is that creative people (and here I am thinking about the arts) in the history of the church have often been pushed to the margins, and at times ostracized altogether. Why? Because their creative expressions were considered a threat to the stability of the church. 

It makes me sad to wonder what has been lost in such a transaction.

It also makes me wonder: who are the creators of the church today? Who are the people giving expression to newness? Who are the ones that are trying to create the new realities in our world? in our governments? churches? This is not to "saint" all those that are at the fringes with wacky ideas about how things ought to be. I think that would be silly. But, it might be worth asking where the fringe of your world is these days - and consider leaning into it. It might be the place where you are most changed - and maybe even be the place where God uses you to bring about the sort of change that he might only be able to bring about when you get active in the creative process.