Innovation, Invention, and Creativity
Matthew Overton
If you can’t get it to ground, it probably isn’t real.
It’s been pretty interesting over the last few years to see the rise of the innovation conversation in churches and particularly in youth ministry of late. Overall it’s a pretty encouraging sign to see the church trying to figure out how to do ministry more creatively. The problem is that inventing new things isn’t easy work.
See what we just did? We used three words interchangeably that actually aren’t really the same thing: Invention, Creativity, and Innovation.
This is part of the problem.
The vast majority of folks deploying innovation in ministry don’t seem to have done much actual reading OR innovation on the ground. I notice this particularly in the area of these three terms. I think it’s important to understand them and apply them well (and we can do it briefly, thank God!)
Creativity- Creativity, which I ground in who God is rather than human capacities, is the Spirit given gift to imagine things and envision things that are not or that are new combinations of things that are. Consider these unique dreams and thoughts.
Invention- Is the ability to develop something completely new that nobody has ever though of. I would also say that often invention has to do with creating and actual physical THING.
Innovation- Innovation is the ability to bring a creative idea or invention forward in such a way that it actually is lived out. Innovation, in my mind, is the real deal because it involves the USEFUL APPLICATION of something.
None of this may seem inherently theological, but it is to me. For instance, many seminaries divide their theology departments into Theology and Practical Theology. This is asinine. All theology is practical because all theology is ultimately lived out practically. It’s lived out in the models we create and in the churches and societies we build based on those beliefs. In fact, what would be the point of even doing theology if that wasn’t true?
And the same is true of our ideas. What would be the point of thinking creatively or developing something inventive if it was never used or applied in a practical way? Keep in mind that I am NOT suggesting that everything has to scale big to be an innovation. It doesn’t. It just has to exist and be implemented in a meaningful way. Somewhere. On the ground. Beyond the academy or conference podium.
And this line of thinking is true of God as well. Our God does not merely think salvation or conceive of it. Our God actively Covenants with humanity and disrupts our reality and history in real time. He doesn’t just bring ideas to ground, God comes to the actual ground.
So, I think we need to make sure that as the church begins to jump on the innovation bandwagon during Covid and beyond, that we actually step back and ask whether the people putting forward innovation have actually done the work on the ground and whether their ideas actually work! We need loads of examples and actual data and feedback loops. We need to start distinguishing between people and institutions that are thinking about innovation versus those that are doing it. Creativity and invention are not enough. The true measure of an idea or thing is whether it can live among the people effectively in a way that moves that demonstrates the Kingdom reality we are all caught up in.