We talk about getting more creative in our worship gatherings, but sometimes when we get together to brainstorm, there’s a whole lot of silence. The white space just screams back at us from those 3-M sheets. What sermon series haven’t we done? What songs haven’t we sung? What movie clip haven’t we played? It feels like our brains are on pause.

Change of strategy! A new year is upon us and maybe this fall is the perfect time to get the remote off of pause and into play. Literally. Have you ever thought that it might be the four walls of your church building that are working against you? Maybe if you and your worship planning team made a point of getting out into the community and playing for the next few months, you’d need the whole 3-M pad to write down your ideas!   

What do you mean, get out into the community and play? I mean, get out and have fun. Go to the football game, holler, and eat a bunch of Cheetos. Get tickets to the high-school play (yes, even if it’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and drink the intermission punch while you’re there. Yes, that institutional red stuff. 

The point is, get out of church-dom and go see what your fellow earthlings are doing. If you don’t know where to begin, just take a look at the school calendars your kids are bringing home. Any grade. From the kindergarten finger-paint-a-thon at the library to the soccer-parents’ annual talent-show to the eighth-grade-jazz-band’s “Ice Cream Rumba,” there are tons of things going on. Take your whole group when you go. Take your family. Take as many church-types as you can. But get out there.

What would be even better than pushing the “play” button is to push the “record” button, i.e., to actually help create these moments with your neighbors. You may have lost your sparkle as a worship team, but you’re sure to get the creative juices flowing when you’re actually a part of making community memories. In addition to the much-needed creative jolt, you might just make some new friends. Funny how, when you’re in partnership alley, you meet a ton of people with talent, people with fascinating lives and incredible stories. Heart-warming, laugh-until-you-cry stories. Stories that will make you glad you’re alive and make you convinced that Jesus sent you to this town, to this place, at this time. 

Last, if you really want a shot in the old worship arm, try boosting your sense of mission. Worship that is truly honoring to God is Romans 12:1 kinds of worship. Worship as a living sacrifice. Worship that expresses itself outwardly. Worship that feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and pours a lot of cups of cold water. When you roll-up your sleeves to produce community events, you’re taking part in God’s great connective Plan. You’re getting to know the people God loves, the people God has sent you to love. When you take part in what’s happening in your world, you are sending a big message – a message no sandwich-board sign can match: you are one of them. You’re not above them, beyond, or outside of them. You’re doing life right beside them and you’re here for the long-haul.

You want more creativity on your team and in your congregation’s worship? Look outside of yourselves. Get out of your box and into the game of life. Creativity is nothing more than love lived to the fullest. It’s what God did the first seven days on the planet: love breathed outward, not inward. Love that expanded the universe instead of contracting it.

Is your church expanding God’s universe? Go play.

Sally Morgenthaler is worship and leadership consultant, speaker and author. She has been a strong and respected voice in the area of church worship and leadership. She is best known for her book Worship Evangelism. Sally has been a contributing author in eight books. Her most recent collaborative effort is an Emergent Manifesto of Hope released this past April. Her chapter “Leadership in a Flattened World: Grassroots Culture and the Demise of the CEO Model” has been widely recognized as an insightful work in the area of church leadership.

Over the past 12 years she has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in seminaries and universities including Yale University, Bethany Seminary, Denver seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Mars Hill Graduate School, The Conservatory for Praise and Worship and Covenant Bible College.

Sally has been a featured speaker at numerous worship conferences, including Injoy’s Catalyst, the American Society of Church Growth, the Beeson Institute, The Emergent National Conference, Net Results, Integrity Hosanna’s Seminars 4Worship, and the National Pastor’s Convention.

Sally lives in Colorado, where she runs  Soulpix, a card company featuring her intimate photography of the rocky mountains.

To connect with Sally or for more information about her ministry go to,   www.trueconversations.com and www.giftedforleadership.com