Creative Tension

April 15, 2005 by

Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas writes about creative tension for Leadership Journal. He focuses on three areas:

1) Exellence vs. Expense

“In today’s technology-crazed world, it’s tempting to keep buying the hottest equipment. But does that purchase serve a higher purpose, helping reach people more effectively, or is it just a cool toy for your team to play with? You don’t have to buy high-end gear to be cutting edge. Yes, you may have to spend some money for technology. But you can be creative without being a large, wealthy church.”

2) Spontaneity vs. Structure

“In order to connect with people, we’ve got to find the sweet spot that incorporates passion, personality, and performance. Plan what you want to say, how you are going to say it, and where you want to lead your audience. But then be flexible enough to make changes if it’s not working.”

3) Consistency vs. Change

“We’ve made clear at Fellowship that things will constantly change. It’s what I call being consistently inconsistent. The message will not change, but how we communicate it will, so we can reach a variety of people in a variety of ways. Every time you talk about the vision of your church, which should be often, reinforce this idea of change.”

Post By:

Kevin D. Hendricks


When Kevin isn't busy as the editor of Church Marketing Sucks, he runs his own writing and editing company, Monkey Outta Nowhere. Kevin has been blogging since 1998, runs the hyperlocal site West St. Paul Reader, and has published several books, including 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading, The Stephanies and all of our church communication books.
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One Response to “Creative Tension”

  • James VanDyke
    April 15, 2005

    I’d like to debate Ed’s first point. While there is truth there, I’m not sure this message is one that most churches need to hear.

    One of the reasons that this website has a following is that churches are very good at cutting costs. I think churches swing too far though trying to cut corners. They end up hurting the effectiveness of their efforts.

    Fellowship may not need to spend huge amounts of money on the latest gear but that’s because they’ve already made heavy investments to be able to create creative messages that really communicate. In the full article, two of the examples he picks would be impossible without expensive investments.

    1. Video for a children’s building: Clearly bringing in outside consultants to create a stewardship campaign is expensive. In the end it’s probably a wise investment, but it’s still expensive.
    2. A fishing fly: Unless you have a very small congregation, you’ll loose the back section of your church trying to make a fly on stage because you’re asking them to focus on something they can’t see. But, if you have an expensive video projection system you can make even the smallest illustrations work.

    I think Ed may have missed the real message that many churches need to hear. Like all good things excellence is hard work. And as the adage goes, ‘You have to pick between good, cheap and quick because while you can have any two; you’ll never be able to get all three.’


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