Meet Justin Wise. Justin’s writing about social media in our first issue of Sunday| magazine. He’s co-founder of Center for Church Communication and Communications Director at Monk Development. Check out some of his heart and look for his story in the first issue of Sunday| magazine.
What’s your creative background?
I grew up taking apart old appliances in my family’s basement. I had a chemistry set. I used to mix chemicals together just to see what would happen.
When I started working at a church, that same habit followed me. I would throw different elements together just to see what would happen: What would high-church communion look like with a drum circle mixed in? What about bathing the sanctuary in purple lights? How would that affect how people encountered God? Church on Thursday night? In a night club? With those people?
Experimentation, not repetition, is the mother of all mastery.
What’s the biggest breakdown in creativity in our church services?
The biggest breakdown is lack of structure. Easily. This sounds counter-intuitive, but I believe it’s true. Many churches falsely believe that structure creates confines and confines cramp creativity. Just the opposite, in fact. The more structures you can build into your creative process, the more time you can spending ideating inside those structures. Restriction creates freedom, not the opposite.
What are you passionate about seeing happen in the Church?
I love to see a church that doesn’t copy the culture, but instead leads the culture in new forms of creative expression.
Read more from Justin on his blog:
“Content, not conversation, is the keystone to social media effectiveness.”
