For Highest Creativity, You Need a Garden of Community

My family attended the SING! 2024 conference last week, hosted by Keith & Kristyn Getty, and it was such an encouraging time of fellowship, teaching, and inspiration. The wealth of songs, art, literature, and insight saturated each day we attended. I was struck by the collective unity in the thousands of attendees, but even more so by how they celebrated the uniqueness of cultures, experiences, and perspectives that contributed to the three-day event.

If I had a single takeaway from this year's conference (besides renewed vigor to sing the songs of the Bible), it would be this:

Creativity flourishes in community—not in isolation.

You Were Made to Create

At the conference, in a breakout session hosted by Shai and Blair Linne, they shared a profound point: "As image bearers of God, we get to participate in creativity." The title "image bearer" goes beyond the physical; our ability to reason, assess, improve, and order are derived from our Creator. 

This is not to say we are "little gods"; we are simply inheritors of a legacy of workmanship, and our works point back to an Originator who started it all. And as image bearers, we are called to create not for the sake of our art, but for the sake of glorifying our Lord. 

This points to an individual calling to identify where your skills and talents lie, and then develop them through practice and exploration. 

Your Creativity Requires a Garden of Cultivation

In another breakout session led by Andrew Peterson, he emphasized that as artists (i.e., anything to do with creativity), we need a "garden to grow in." Think about it: Are flowers and shrubs really ever planted alone, in isolation? 

No, they're not (or at least, very rarely). Instead, we see natural ecosystems and man-made landscapes permeated with diversity and abundance of many species, all co-existing and balancing their respective needs in order to flourish.

Similarly, your artistry can only go so far in isolation. When you transplant yourself away from the practice room, studio, or office, you receive the nutrients of feedback, alternate perspectives, and input from your friends, peers, and audience. 

Here's an example: In songwriting, we rarely see single songwriters achieving critical and commercial success. (Just to be clear: This success isn't the goal, but it is a nice affirmation of the intense dedication you bring to your work.) Many writers have co-writers to help them flesh out their songs, offering ways to tweak melodies, lyrics, and harmonies to draw out the best work possible. Similarly, authors need an editor to bring their words into focus in order to deliver a more compelling story to the reader. 

In whatever you do, always remember that your output can be greatly elevated when you leverage the support of your "garden." And in the same token, offering your own feedback and perspective to another person's work contributes to the overall cultivation.

Your Garden Is a Place of Rest and Renewal

Beyond the creative "nutrients" that you receive in your "garden," you need a place to rest and recharge when energy is depleted or you've lost your focus. In times like this, your "garden" becomes a place where dead foliage is pruned, weeds are pulled out, and fresh fertilizer applied to kickstart your growth again. 

This can take to form of sabbaticals or breaks designed to re-center your focus, but again—not in isolation. This will vary among you, especially those who might be overwhelmed with frequent personal contact and connection. But it still stands that in order to grow, of which rest and renewal are parts, you must be in community. If isolation is chosen instead, you stand the chance of withering away, stunted in your thought process and idea generation. 

Let Your Garden Spread

As you move further along in your journey of creativity, you'll find that your garden will naturally grow, and sometimes that means spreading it to other areas in order to see their respective landscapes transformed. So don't remain confined to a single space; periodically transplant your focus to other areas. 

It's not that you're ignoring or dismissing other "gardens," but you have the chance to contribute to the ideas and projects of new people and places—and this can bring about incredible fruit.  

So I'll leave you with this encouraging summary: 

• You were made to create, so identify your individual talent and nurture it through practice.

• Plant that talent in a garden of friends, peers, and an audience so that you may mutually build each other up.

• It's necessary to rest and prune out the waste in order to be renewed.

• Your growth should lead to spreading into other gardens and bring more life to other spaces. 

And finally (and most importantly), in all this, "whatever you do, do to the glory of God."

Worship Leader Health Check from Likewise Worship

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Click the link below for a 6-minute questionnaire as a health check—it’s 100% free!

Be blessed 👊✌️