You need them. You want them. It's not so easy to find them.

Great ideas keep your church fresh and interesting, and give energy to what can become stagnant. Church should never become routine. In fact, the bible repeatedly refers to the old being made new. With new ideas comes a freshness and a vibrance that keeps the spiritual journey exciting for those already on it and attractive to those who have just begun exploring Christianity.

Coming up with great ideas, however, can be a daunting task. The canvas of your church is vast so filling it with colorful ideas is far from easy. Two factors can make the creative process even more overwhelming: when you're doing it alone and when you are too close to the subject. Under these circumstances, the pressure becomes almost insurmountable.

Generating ideas is best in the right size group where synergy can be created. One idea, even a less than stellar thought, can spark something in the mind of another person, generating a spark in someone else. Before you know it, the sparks are flying and the room is on fire. Group brainstorming, even in an informal environment, also takes the pressure off of you, which in turn releases your mind and allows your creativity to flow more freely.

But even a group of people can miss the boat on generating the right ideas for a particular situation. The closer you are to the task at hand, the harder it is to have perspective on it. Just like that painting from Ferris Beuller's Day Off
that hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. You know the one, it's made up of dots, so when you're really close to it, all you see are spots of color. But when you step away from it, you suddenly gain perspective and can see that all those little dots make up a tranquil scene of people enjoying an afternoon at the park.

It's hard, however, to step back far enough on your own. Often an outsider is needed to show you what you're failing to see because you are so close to the daily operations of your church. You are too close to your church's problems or gifts to realize your full potential. An outsider's opinion may be the only way to view the complete canvas of your church in its entirety.

So the key is to remember that two heads are better than one. When you combine the synergy that is created in group brainstorming with the perspective that is gained from the objectivity of an outsider, great ideas come naturally!

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another - Proverbs 27:17, NIV