deliberate creativity
Parking lots, iron wires, fences...are these things beautiful?
When I was walking around Denver, Colorado, USA, I saw a school that transformed things that made people feel restricted, rigid, and isolated into installation art (pictured). The wire fence of the parking lot is entangled with student paintings. The materials that cannot be tougher and the boundaries that cannot be compromised have become an exhibition full of childishness.
How creative! But how much thought goes into this idea!
What does writing require? Perhaps the first thing many people think of is that creativity and inspiration are hard to come by, like meteors that fade away as soon as they appear.
When I edit an issue of a magazine and review an article after article, what I see is the time, effort, and effort that the authors put into their writing. They pay attention to what is happening around them, ponder biblical truths, and look for ways to apply them. The non-negotiable truth, unfriendly times, limited space and deadlines did not limit their creative observation, reflection and response. How much thought goes into this!
For example, in this issue's stewardship unit, "Service enters the workplace, and the workplace enters service", it deliberately adheres to biblical principles and responds to workplace challenges with emotional intelligence and reverse intelligence creativity; in the knowledge and action unit, "The Author and His Gifts", it deliberately takes stock of dominant gifts. , live out your calling with creativity; the family unit's "Searching for Beauty Life" deliberately seeks beauty and appreciates the beauty of creativity in daily life; the community unit "Red Roses Blooming in the Darkroom" deliberately approaches the shining neon lights with gifts Women behind closed doors creatively convey the gospel of love and respect.
But the greatest creativity comes from God.While the editors were planning to report on the Afghan evacuation, reporter Liao Meihui happened to meet an old acquaintance, a missionary couple, and heard about their burden for Afghan students. Through their introduction, they contacted Christians through another missionary who spent 96 hours fleeing Afghanistan. In order to increase the breadth of the report and learn more about the Afghan refugee ministry, we originally made an appointment to interview co-workers from the gospel organization. Unexpectedly, he invited frontline service workers to provide the most direct information. [Evacuation from Afghanistan] Special report, you can find God’s grace threading the needle in it.
The characteristics of "Kingdom of God" magazine lie not only in the profound, broad, powerful and beautiful themes and texts, but also in the carefully selected and designed illustrations. The art editor uses full-page or cross-page color pictures to give readers a visual shock and highlight the main point of the article. She needs to read the article, resize and position images, and communicate with the copy editor. These deliberate efforts make the creativity of the magazine shine.
The National Library of Taiwan has requested that all previous issues of "The Kingdom of God" be included in its collection. The director also called this magazine "the Christian magazine "World". Such affirmation gives great encouragement to the editorial team.
However, what motivates us to continue publishing issue after issue is to record and promote the wonderful deeds of the rich, beautiful, and infinitely creative God. This is what we purposely and intentionally do, and we hope this issue inspires you to do the same.
Copy editor of this journal 