There’s a Warren Wiersbe quote that I love: “I learned never to adopt a method until I understood the principle behind it.”

Let’s face it—we’ve all followed various methods for other reasons. We see someone doing something in ministry that seems to work, and we then (possibly subconsciously) think to ourselves: If we could do what they do, we could have what they have. Usually what we want is similar numbers of people involved in what we’re doing. Our motivations might be masked as wanting to reach people for Jesus or wanting to make an impact on our cities, but for the most part the motivation is numbers-driven.

I’m not saying wanting to reach a large number of people is a negative in ministry, but it can be dangerous if it’s our driving motivation. We all know this to be true. However, I would like to point out one negative aspect of this approach that some of us may not realize: Simply looking at what someone else has done, or is doing, and trying to adopt their methods to your context is dangerous because you will experience loss of Holy-Spirit-driven creativity.

If we are honest, we have a tendency to look around us at what others are doing rather than spending days, weeks or months praying and asking God what He wants to do in and through us and our circumstances. When we are teaching, we read commentaries and other books or resources before reading the text and simply asking God to reveal what He has for us personally and the people to whom we minister. When we go to resources (other people, commentaries, published works) before going to God, we run the risk of robbing ourselves and those we lead of the creativity God has instilled in us.

In my experience, these are some of the most powerful things God uses in my ministry. So, as an encouragement to you, here is one thing you may want to remember as you go about your week:

As image bearers of the Creator, we also are creators. We should not be reliant on what God has done through other people, but rather dependent on His personal guidance. There’s nothing wrong with learning from others, but we must not allow their influence to be an excuse for avoiding approaching God first and allowing Him to give us unique creative ideas. If someone says something that begins with, “Well, so-and-so did…” we should stop the sentence and say, “That’s awesome, but let’s start with what God telling us to do.”

Part of the fun of my ministry is starting with a clean whiteboard and brainstorming ideas with my staff. We always begin with prayer, asking the Creator to give us divine ideas for the ministry in which He has allowed us to participate. Part of spiritual leadership is guiding our people to God’s heart for what He wants to do in our ministry. That’s very different than looking around to see what He has done in others and adopting those methods as the best plans for our ministries.

May God guide you toward creative ministry at an extremely intimate level.