By: Chris Mallonee, Deacon of Worship & Arts
We are a week away from the 2020 version of 7in7, and I am excited to embark on this journey together as a church family! In years past, when we have done 7in7 it has been so awesome to see everyone come together to use their gifts of creativity to bless others.
7in7 was put on the church calendar before the Covid-19 outbreak, and it was scheduled the first week after school’s out so that families could more easily participate together. The start of summer is typically a less-busy for many, so it felt like a good time to jump in and flex our creative muscles.
But now, families with children are coming off of over two months of homeschooling during “stay home, stay safe”. Anxiety levels are high. There are health concerns, financial concerns, relational challenges as we try to figure out what the “new normal” looks like. It seems like a tough season to try and be creative in. However, I believe if we press in together, God can use this in a powerful way within our church family. Let’s create beautiful things together to remind ourselves and others that better, more hopeful days are coming!
Here are the details for the 2020 version of 7in7.
When: May 31 - June 6
What: A seven-day focus on stewarding our gifts of creativity to bless others. That could mean creating one thing a day for seven days, or one big creative project over the entire week. How is God calling you to sharpen your creative gifts?
Maybe you are writing poetry, writing songs, doing graphic design, writing music, cooking meals for others, finding acts of kindness to do for your neighbors, writing or sharing short stories, etc. Pray and ask God how He wants you to engage during the week!
How: We will be using a Facebook group linked to the Redeemer Round Rock page. This will be a great tool to submit 7in7 posts throughout the week, whether that be posting videos, uploading audio files, uploading pictures, or writing a post on the site about what you are doing for 7in7.
We will have some rules posted within the site about how we can most effectively engage with one another throughout the week using social media for the first time to submit 7in7 posts.
Why: The goal for 7in7 is not to impress one another with our awesome creative abilities, although we will certainly celebrate when something beautiful is created! The goal is for us to come together and encourage one another in stewarding and growing in our gifts of creativity. We are not looking for perfection. We are not comparing ourselves to one another. This is a safe place for our church family to encourage one another.
Who: Everyone from Redeemer Round Rock is encouraged to participate. We would love for you to find a way to do something for 7in7. If this season of life just doesn’t make that possible, you can still join the Facebook group, and encourage those participating with “likes” and comments as things are submitted. Let’s encourage one another like crazy during 7in7 this year!
For those who want more details of the heart behind 7in7 I encourage you to:
- Watch this devotional on Creativity and how that ties into our Gospel Values as a church.
- Read this blog post from our 2018 7in7.
I look forward to us joining together for 7in7 this year!