We Need Creative Christians

The more we include all God's people in the thinking, planning and building processes of Christianity the more we will see creative solutions to the difficult problems of life. The less bureaucracy we build the more people can find solutions that are out of the box.

I joined the staff of College Hill Presbyterian Church in 1973. It was composed of a very powerful and gifted team of people. Dr. Jerry Kirk was our Pastor, boss and mentor. He was a genius in many respects but in some ways he showed us how to select strong people without being threatened by them. Weak leaders are not secure enough to really allow subordinates to be strong. But Jerry was very secure and he chose people with talent, passion, vision and gifts and turned us loose.

Jerry is an ordained Clergyman in the Presbyterian Church and very proud of it and his denomination's history. However, he never hesitated to select and release non-ordained men and women if they had the gifts to lead. I was one who was blessed to learn and be released under Jerry's tutelage without Presbyterian Ordination.

Far too many denominations are hung up on the wrong credentials. Having to select less gifted and less passionate people because of credentials is stifling and is a block to Kingdom Growth. In a book called, The Churching of America, authors Finke and Stark reveal research that has in inverse relationship between seminary training and church plants and church growth throughout the history of America.

I have a strong commitment to higher education for Christians but not the kind we currently require. I want to see ministers trained to mobilize and equip and release all God's people. The task of evangelism, ministry to the poor and healing are too great to leave to the clergy alone.
If only one Clergyman is actively in ministry when hundreds are sitting on the sidelines then the game cannot be won when Satan is able to marshal all his team to oppose goodness and mercy and healing.

The team at CHPC did that. As a group, we developed new and different structures based on a creative vision that excited all of our members. Thousands of them have gone into the world of work, family and Para-church ministries. It was possible because Jerry and the Elders thought outside the box. They allowed us to make numerous Second Order Changes and most people would never have thought we were a Mainline Church in an old stodgy denomination.

Do it again Lord! Do it again.