It occurs to me that many people enjoy being creative, and creative people enjoy creating together whenever possible. Many people are afraid they are NOT creative, but wish they were. I would like to design a class which will help people share in the joy of creating together.
My idea is that I might be able to organize such a class within my church. It would be easiest to get creative if we had the use of the large tables in the conference room, or perhaps could set up such tables in the foyer or sanctuary. Creativity requires room to spread out!
My hope is that many different people would join. I’d welcome folks of any skill level. I would design classes that would encourage even raw beginners to feel confident that they could produce something to be proud of, while allowing more experienced members freedom to go off-road a bit and explore the finer intricacies of the possible.
Some could come just for the fellowship while they work on whatever projects they enjoy at the time. I may be teaching a quilt block, but they may enjoy beading or knitting. Just being together with other creative people could still be a great source of connection, as well as give inspiration for regular, continued progress on their projects.
Besides being a source of friendship, connection, and comfort among those who attend, a class such as this might take on projects which benefit others in the church. We might make special gift quilts as a group, to give to new parents or graduates or newlyweds. This would help bond members of our church together who are not even in the group! We could also create quilts which could be sold at auction as part of a church fundraiser. Or we could create quilts to decorate the foyer or sanctuary, or give as a gift to a new minister or a member moving out of state. We might even make quilts as part of a social justice movement, declaring our position on whatever issue we feel fired up about. It’s classier than carrying tagboard signs.
I sent a message to the church secretary today, explaining some of these ideas. I don’t really expect that this will turn into a reality any time soon. People are all busy, and stressed because we are right in the beginning of the process of choosing a new minister. But I figured I may as well at least register my idea, and it may be taken up at a later date when appropriate.
Until then, it does me no harm to spend time designing the course work. I’ll list my ideas and sketch out how things might go. Maybe I’ll even create samples of all my projects, and photograph the process. That way those materials may be used as teaching aids if the class ever does happen.
All of this would also be good to do as part of my YouTube channel. I’ve located my camera recently. I need to get over my fear of using it and creating content to upload.
