Over the weekend, we had the privilege of attending Festival Church in Chester, and once again it was interesting to see how God is moving and speaking in other areas and to see just how many points of commonality there are.
Festival Church, situated in the heart of the historic city of Chester, meets in a former Methodist building which has been refurbished so that the balcony area now houses a lovely coffee shop which reaches out to local people during the week.
The welcome there was warm and it was good to join with people from all ages and backgrounds. The pastor was speaking on the church’s values, one of which is to be ‘faithfully creative.’ Having just organised a community arts’ festival because of my firm belief that we are all created to be creative, it was encouraging to hear the same theme being preached on at another church!
Creativity takes many shapes and forms – since we are all so diverse as people, our creativity flows from this diversity. Some ponder and reflect and are very deliberate, being good at taking things apart and seeing how things work in order to build new things. Others are good at organising and pulling strands together. Others are more spontaneous and emotional, visionaries (like Elijah!) who ‘see’ the invisible. Whatever our style, everyone has ‘an irresistible, divinely-inspired impulse to create, organise and fashion.’ (Stephen Altrogge)
John Piper said, ‘If you are God, your work is to create out of nothing. If you are not God, but like God – that is, if you are human – your work is to take what God has made and shape it and use it to make Him look great.’
We are called to glorify God in all we do, and as we are creative in myriad ways, others will see the fulness of God and be drawn to Him.