A Philosophy
of Creativity
By Gregory S. Waddell
Mid-South Christian College
February 2006

Creativity Smashers
• Fear
• Criticism
• Risk Avoidance
• Tone of Voice
• Confrontation
• Competition
• Insecurity

Building a Creative Environment
• Define Creativity.
• Communicate Why Creativity is Important.
• Develop a Creativity Mindset.
• Formulate a Theology of Creativity.
• Build an Environment of Creativity

Defining Creativity
“An ability to see things in a new way, to put
familiar things together into new and unfamiliar
forms that nobody has ever put together this
way.”
Source: Katharine Weber, Cited in Patrick, 2006, p. 31.

Defining Creativity
“The strange human
compulsion to give
physical expression to
mystery.”
Source: Michael Card, Cited in Zoba, 2000, p. 63.

The Importance of Creativity
God-hungry people are “looking for a bold
fellowship, and what they [often] find is a
complacent society concerned to an absurd
degree with its own internal politics or so
unimaginative as to suggest that the world
can be saved by three hymns and a sermon.”
Source: Trueblood, 1980, pp. 8-9.

Mindset

A preservation
mindset denies the
Church’s true nature.

A Theology of Creativity
“Let Us make man in
Our image, according
to Our likeness.”
─Genesis 1:26, NASB

A Theology of Creativity
Far from being the
enemy of the faith,
creativity may in fact
be a core
manifestation of the
Spirit of God working
in His people.

An Environment of Creativity
• Set up a creativity team.
• Acknowledge those who contribute ideas.
• Provide special recognition.
• Tell the stories of successful new ideas.
• Make creativity a core value.
─ Paige Leavitt, American Productivity & Quality Center

Creative Assumptions
• Within three years, at least a third of the
things we are currently doing will go away.
• Everything has a shelf life of fewer than four
years.
• Allow new members to contribute to your
brainstorming potential.

Allow the Holy Spirit to Speak
“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit
and to us to lay upon you no greater
burden than these essentials.”
─The Apostles and Elders in
Jerusalem, Acts 15:28

Resources
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264. Retrieved January 26, 2006, from ABI/INFORM Complete
Andrejev, V. (2004) Creativity & the meaning of 'image' from the perspective of the Orthodox icon. Theology
Today 61(1), 53-66. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from eLibrary
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Marsh, N., McAllum, M. & Purcell, D. (2002). Why Strategic Foresight? In The Power of Standing in the
Future. Victoria, Australia: Crown Content.
Morgan, G. (1997). Imaginization: New mindsets for seeing, organizing, & managing. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Patrick, B. K. (2006) When your creativity takes a hike: How give novelists have found ways to get it back.
The Writer 119(1), 28-31. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from OmniFiles Full Text Mega
Rosenberry, K. (2005) Essay: Organizational barriers to creativity in law schools and the legal profession.
California Western Law Review 39(12), 423-457. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from OmniFile Full Text
Mega
Schweitzer, C. (2004) Light-bulb leadership: Creating a culture where innovation is in. Association
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Trueblood, E. (1980). The company of the committed. San Francisco: Harper & Row. (Original work
published 1961)
Zoba, W. M. (2000) Incarnating mystery: Michael Card argues that a proper view of Christ is a key to
creativity. Christianity Today 44(8), 63-64. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from OmniFile Full Text Mega