It’s becoming too regular of an occasion when my chin buries into my chest, digging back and forth testing the strength of my sternum. If I could just hide. From the embarrassment.

I’m ashamed. Ashamed of the priority (or lack of priority) the church has placed on creativity. Art. Design. Ashamed that we no longer strive for excellence in the areas that are often people’s first contact with the church.

When did this happen? How did this happen?

At what point during this world’s existence, from the creation of man, the fashioning of the blue skies with lush clouds, the formation of sharp mountains piercing the heavens until now, March, 14 2008, did we as divinely created people lose our God given desire for beauty. I really do believe that every human given the breath of life was made as an original. Unique. Capable of being creative and artistic, able to recognize beauty and too distinguish the opposite, ugliness.

Are we truly looking over our work, our sermon series graphics, our bulletins, our church websites and “seeing it as good?”

Some churches get it, some don’t. Some people get it, some don’t.

I really don’t know where this passion came from or why my stomach cringes every time I see an announcement slide during the Sunday announcements that was designed in PowerPoint or a bulletin designed by the church secretary. I have attended many churches across the country where this is reality. The easy answer that most people would conclude too is that I am “creative.” I have an “eye” for it. Maybe because I graduated with a Fine Arts degree or I work as a designer in the creative industry. Or …

Yeah.

Surface level, those seem like legitimate reasons. I suppose. But it’s something deeper than that. It’s something that lies deep in my soul, in every Christian’s soul, whether we acknowledge it or not. A desire to present our Creator as beautiful, to preach the Gospel and “if necessary use words.” Most people associate that quote with spoken word, but I believe it transcends to much greater depths. We all love to write pretty lyrics and sing songs with epic crescendos, trying to express our love to God. The heart behind that is great. But, what gospel are we preaching with our clip art Jesus? Spreading the love of God is just as important and arguably more important. But what adolescent is going to walk through the church double-doors to experience that love if their invitation (website, bulletin etc.)looks like crap? Is the world’s largest religion, missing the boat with a savvy-younger generation by appearing old fashioned and out of touch.

It’s either stubbornness or negligence to assume that there is no need to “market” the Church. It’s true. Sorry. For the Church, effective marketing and design are vital in telling their Story. The greatest story ever told. If we are expecting this generation and the ones to come to usher in the Kingdom of God, effectively, how can we disregard that which takes custody of our generation’s attention?

Design, and more specifically good taste, isn’t going anywhere. The standard has been set, so why are so many churches and in so many of our lives do we allow less than our best to be the Gospel we preach?