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The Beginning of Creativity
By Kirk Browning | December 5, 2007
Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (English Standard Version of the Bible - ESV)
How could this possibly apply for the benefit of “business as mission” (BAM) or Kingdom business? When we think of the ‘word’ in Isaiah 55:11, many Christians think first and only of Scripture. The analogy given is to rain and snow that benefit the earth. Think of both the physical example and Scripture. Reading John 1:1, we also think of that ‘word’ by analogy as Jesus. John 1:1 starts out treating ‘word’ as ‘it’ but in John 1:2 ‘Word’ becomes ‘He’, Jesus. John 1:1 also talks about ‘the beginning’. In the same ‘beginning’ that Genesis 1 speaks of, God’s word forms the earth, oceans, plants, animals and finally man. There is something big for marketplace ministry in John 1:3.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (ESV)
If all things were made through him and nothing was made without him (Colossians 1:15-17), then everything that we would use as a raw material for a product or service in the marketplace was made by Jesus. Christian or not, every business operates within His grace. The Cross where Jesus was crucified and the nails used were made by human hands. In modern times, whether the printing press and paper manufactured for it produces a Bible or some publication that contradicts the Bible, it operates from things that were made through Him. If “in him all things hold together”, He probably has advice on how we can combine those things to make other things.
Christians ought to be the most creative people in the world. We tend to express creativity as art, not technology or business. We buy morally good art and boycott evil art. That leaves out the potential of business and technology. We do not generally buy morally good gasoline and shun bad. When the car’s gas tank is empty and there is only one station on a lonely stretch of road, we buy from that station. We pray ‘give us our daily bread’ in church and avoid shopping on Sundays, but when Monday comes and we want to put something in the toaster, our first thought tends to be “is the Wal-Mart SuperCenter open?” The impact of creativity in business is that is the best point in business formation to change the environment of a business or industry.
In John 19:30, Jesus said “It is finished”. The ‘it’ is the purpose He stated in Luke 4:17-19. In John 14:12, Jesus asked that Christians extend His works. The Lord never asks us to do something for which He does not provide the resources beforehand. So in Genesis 1:26 when it says to “let them have dominion” there must have been something specified beforehand about the raw materials. That specification would enable making products and services to be “fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion”. It does not say to devote all our energies to having an ongoing argument about Genesis 1:1-25. Sure, there is a need for apologists such as Hugh Ross with “Reasons to Believe” or “A Case for Creation” by Lee Strobel. But those should serve as basic research, where others of us supply the applied technology. Arguing about Creationism has become almost a tradition.
There are millions of ‘undecideds’ about Christianity who are never going to understand or be impressed by the detailed arguments about Creationism versus evolution. Many of them are poor, hungry or sick and those who are not wonder why a just God allows those conditions. The Gospel we present to them could include creative expressions in the marketplace that fix those problems. Consider ‘Hot Idea’ by Neil Henry, from Smithsonian Magazine, Fall, 2007. Women in Darfur, Sudan were being made susceptible to sexual assault by marauding militias as they went ever farther from their refugee camps to find wood for their cooking fires. Christina Galitsky, an engineer from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California invented an energy-efficient portable cookstove that reduced the need to leave the camps. Metalworkers in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, manufacture the stoves for $2.50 each.
Wonderful! So why do I sound like there is a problem? I am trying to encourage Christians, not criticize Christina Galitsky or her employer in any way. A refugee camp in Darfur is a mission field. Why was there no Christian organization or business earlier with the solution? Why did we hear about the solution first in a secular, not Christian publication? In mission fields we see physical need right alongside spiritual need. It would not be preaching a new Gospel at all to solve the physical problem alongside preaching salvation. If someone became a little more prosperous it would not necessarily be that “prosperity gospel”. In fact, creative marketplace believers would see the need for a $2.50 cookstove as an entrepreneurial opportunity. Where is the disconnect? Perhaps a tradition has built up that causes Christians to be late or never with creativity as business and ministry. There is plenty of material implied by Genesis 1:1-25 that would enable Christians to be much more active in creativity, in a way that would argue for Creation.
This is just the challenge. I will deal with the action and results in another post. This only deals with the ‘who, what, when where and why’ questions. I’ll get to ‘how’ in other posts.
Topics: Creativity |