Creativity & Innovation

by Rev. James Wong

“The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them” (Prov. 18:15 LB). New ideas is the driving force of a wise man. He is wise because he is not stuck with old ideas but in endless search for new ideas that work better.

We are living in a world of creativity and innovation. The progress and advancement of this world is fueled by creativity and innovation. Anything that does not change will soon become irrelevant or obsolete.

Definition. Creativity is having the ability or power to create and innovation is simply introducing something new or something better. In the business world, creativity and innovation are fundamental for progress and profitability. New ideas and innovative products that can bring better values and meet the needs of the customers is a key to successful business.

Creativity in the church. In the business of the church, we seldom understand the importance of creativity and innovation in developing our ministries and the things we do. The early church gives us a very good example of creativity in ministry. When the church first started as recorded in Acts 6, it did not only proclaim that Jesus was the son of God and the savior of the world. The church quickly moved into helping the poor with a food program. Many church members contributed generously to this effort and there were those who sold their properties and give their money to the church. Soon the food program took a lot of the apostles’ time and attention and they used an innovate method to solve the problem by choosing 7 deacons to help out. New and creative ideas and innovative methods must be used to advance the work of the gospel. We must always ask the age old question constantly; how can we reach others more effective with the good news and how can we meet their needs? How can we do our ministries better?

Creativity in our work place. We must develop our creativity especially our creative problem solving skills in order to survive and thrive in the 21st Century. For example, you can increase your value as an employee by being creative and innovative in your job to achieve higher productivity. As a business owner, you can use creativity and innovative ideas to increase the value of your services to customers. In marketing, combo sales is a power technique to sell product by combining a few items to compliment each other in a sales package. In fast food outlet, I normally settle for a combo meal because it helps me to solve the problem of tedious choosing and it comes with added value.

What about using our creative ideas or innovative methods to increase the productivity of your work or increase the profit of your company? God has given us great gifts of creativity. We can tap into it by simply asking this question: What is a better and more efficient way to get this done?’ In everything, we must learn to think in a new way. Old ideas cannot solve new problems. Ideas that are good enough never is. If