Participants at the 2003 Creative Ministries Festival, held Feb. 21-22 at St. Andrews Church in Columbia, put their training to use during a performance showcase held Saturday afternoon at Dutch Square Mall.  The showcase incorporated evangelism with clowning, mime, puppetry, drama and interpretive movement groups, story tellers, illusionists and balloon sculpture. 

More than 1,030 members of churches from across South Carolina participated in the event which was designed to offer training in a variety of creative ministries.  The event included members of other denominations including Lutheran, Methodist, Church of God, Episcopal and Presbyterian.

“God is moving in some wonderful ways through creative ministries throughout our state.  He is raising up youth, adults, and many creative arts groups who are learning to share their faith through their specific artform,” said Tom Eggleston, associate in the Music and Creative Arts Group, South Carolina Baptist Convention.

Rev. Jeremy Lucas, interpretive movement consultant for the convention and Minister of Worship at St. George Church in Orangeburg, said the gospel can be shared through creative ministries to reach people who would not normally attend church.

“The world is changing so rapidly, and we are getting far behind on how to evangelize the people of today.  We can use ‘cutting edge’ or ‘out of the box’ ministry tools to reach people where they are because they will not come to us,” Lucas said.

During this year’s mall performance, festival participants distributed a dual-purpose performance schedule with the plan of salvation printed on the back to those who stopped to watch,  an idea that Eggleston recommended to churches and performance groups active in creative ministries.

“The Creative Ministries Showcase held at the mall was certainly a highlight of the festival. The variety of creative ministries is astounding, but the message remains the same – the power of Christ to transform the lives of all people,” Eggleston said.