Saturday 8 June 2019

How Important Is Art To The Mission Of The Church?

repost from https://www.davidsantistevan.com/art-and-the-church/

How Important Is Art To The Mission Of The Church?

I’ll be the first to admit, I love art. I also love the church.
For a long time, these worlds have been at odds. Some pastors embrace the arts. Others fear it.
Some artists embrace the church. Others hate it with a passion.
Can these two worlds be reconciled? Should they be?
Photo Credit: Paul Bica (Flickr)
If you’re a creative, I’m sure you’ve wondered if your arts fits within the four walls of the church.
If you’re a pastor, you’ve probably asked the same question regarding the artists in your congregation.
We’re going to explore two views today. Then, I want to hear your take in the comments.
Matter of fact, you should tweet this post to your followers so they can discuss as well.
Ready? This is going to get good…

View #1: Art Is Beautiful, but not Essential

I’ve been having many conversations surrounding this idea recently.
If the office of an “artist” was so essential to the mission of the church, why didn’t Jesus add it to the list of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher?
Why isn’t there a separate category for the artist?
The New Testament is about people. It’s about discipleship.
Art, by itself, does not equip people to do ministry, which is the main purpose of the church.
So while art it beautiful, it simply can’t be an end in itself.

View #2: Art Is An Essential Part of God’s Purpose and Plan

On the other side are those in favor of the arts. Often I hear phrases like this:
  • Why does the devil have to have all the good music?
  • The church should be at the forefront of creativity
  • Since God is a creative being and we’re made in His image, we’re made to create.
There’s something beautiful about art. It’s completely human, yet it reveals the mystery of the Gospel in unique ways.
Arts captures attention. It invites people into a story.
While artist may not have been included as one of the fivefold ministry gifts, artists can function as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher.
It could even be argued that this generation can only be reached through the arts.
Without art, our ministry wouldn’t engage culture. We’d sit in our church buildings, clench our theology and watch as the world passes us by.

Where Are You?

I don’t think anyone would say that art isn’t important – that it has no place.
But how important is it to the mission of the church? I know art has a significant place in the Old Testament, but where do you see it in the New?
I need your feedback. How important is art to the mission of the church? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
I would love to hear some feedback from other creatives and pastors that you know. If you think this discussion is necessary and helpful, please share the post via the social network icons below. Thank you so much!

Comments

  1. I truly feel that art is cultural and art in within all cultures in various forms. I also believe that art can and is an effective means of the Gospel reaching certain people through particular creative means.
    An example, I myself am a visual learner. Having gone through a transition of a church home, the place where we are a part of now has video literally every week. It’s awesome and I love it and it helps me “get” it. The stage is often “redecorated” according to the current sermon series. If anything, it shakes your mental attention. Something is different. It’s not the same pastor, on the same stage, with the same flowers, etc., etc.
    It has a place. And not just for services.
    Can it be distracting? Yes. Poor quality? Yes. Confusing? Yes.
    This is why when I see people who are seriously gifted in the arts, I sing a little song of thankfulness and maybe even do a little happy dance. ðŸ™‚
    As for being in a line with pastors, evangelists, teachers, etc., that doesn’t reallly make any sense to me actually. I don’t think that people are exclusively creative next to pastors and so on, but rather it is the pastors, teachers, etc. that utilize creativity in a variety of ways.
    I don’t care who ya are, you are creative somewhere in your life…food, fitness, decorating, writing words, playing with kids, numerical sequences, organizational guru….it’s a part of our humanity.
    I’m writing off the cuff here late at night, so I hope this makes sense. Feel free to ask a question if I need to clarify (or think a little deeper on something!)
    Thanks and I’ll share the link!
    • Anneke, good thoughts. Why don’t you think the role of an artist isn’t mentioned more throughout the New Testament? It seems that there isn’t much of a priority placed on it compared to preaching the Gospel and making disciples. Thoughts?
  2. I think that apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher tell how a person functions, but they don’t necessarily say what that person does. I’m a mix of prophet and teacher, and while that explains why I do things the way I do, art is often what I do. Art by itself does not equip people for ministry, but the artist can. My role as a discipler is mostly through being a clarinet teacher. I’m teaching my kids to make better art, but they are also watching the way I live life. So maybe the fivefold gifts are more like ‘hows’ and art is more of a ‘what’. If you can be an apostolic worship leader, you can be an apostolic artist.
    I’ve heard art described as incarnational prayer. God is first introduced as creator, and when we create, we are being like God (isn’t that sorta what holiness and righteousness are about too?) and it is a way to commune with God without (or with, depending on your art) words.
  3. If you live near one try and take a tour of an Eastern or Greek Orthodox Church. The way they use art in the form of iconography to tell the stories of the bible is interesting. The colors inside these churches are astounding, and its quite an experience to go inside. Some may not consider this fine art but it is an essential part of their worship.
    • Good point, Mark. This is very similar to the Old Testament tabernacle and temple. Architecture was designed and created as part of the physical place of worship. But this doesn’t seem to be emphasized in the New Testament. Why don’t you think it is?
  4. I think we see God being the first, divine artist from the first chapters of Genesis. God’s Creative Spirit hovers over the waters and God speaks the heavens and the earth into being. Plants, animals, light and darkness, oceans and land… creative, artistic, beautiful, and God calls them good. In Genesis 2 God forms Adam from the dust and breathes life into him. The rest of chapter 2 portrays this creative, anthropomorphic God who walks among the garden. All very artistic poetic language and imagery.
    And if we truly believe that God created man and woman in God’s image, we all that Creative Spirit inside of us. I would say that many of us long to create, to let that Spirit of God move through us, to be in community and share it.
    So I would say art is an invaluable part of the body of Christ. Created in God’s image, some are called to preach, or evangelize, or heal, or create. And we need all of those blessings of the Spirit. Use of art, architecture, and space artistically in worship can certainly inspire awe and help people connect with the Holy Spirit that moves through our communities and worship services.
  5. i just saw this video:
    and it reminded me of your post here.
    i will look for your compilation of Scripture that inspire in re to art/worship. esp in the NT! =)
  6. Oral tradition and music seem to be pretty universally valued in churches.
    Maybe the problem is more the diversity of art?
    And not allowing for *mystery* with art, I think that bothers me the most personally. There’s seems to be no room for mystery in Protestant churches, which is so surprising considering how much of the Bible is filled with mystery. You have the Old Testament with mysterious poetry and the gospels of the New Testament filled with mysterious parables from Jesus himself (so mysterious they almost always had to be explained!).
  7. About the question of art in the New Testament, I have been thinking about it and I think that there is a lot of examples, all the gospel is full of art. Where? In the parables of Jesus. The way that Jesus tell these histories is pure art. Art that touch hearts and souls. If evangelists, pastors, teachers…could preach with the excellence that Jesus does, a lot of things would change.
    • Yeah, that’s exactly what I was saying. Although it wasn’t really histories. It was fiction!
      Jesus used fictional stories that were abstract and somewhat mysterious to communicate aspects of the Kingdom of God. They were easy to understand if you had the same understanding of the Kingdom as he did, but were hard otherwise.
      The fact that his parables were fictional should immediately throw a flag in your mind that we’re dealing with art here. And not only that, but he used the artistic medium that his audience was familiar with in that day: oral tradition.
      What artistic mediums are audiences familiar with today? Film and videogames.
      A good parable today could follow the same model:
      A film or videogame that is fictional and communicates some aspect of how the Kingdom of God works in the world in a way that requires a deep understanding to fully grasp, yet draws people in with its intrigue or unexpected nature.
      • Ups!! jeje. Yes, I am sorry. I have changed histories for stories. I am writing from Spain and in spanish the word is the same for histories and stories. Best regards from Spain
          • I just realize that came out all wrong, haha, sorry. I just mean that history and story is confused all the time, and for Americans (like me), one need not look further than the case of our Columbus Day.
        • Today that great effort is supported by a market, which is pretty weird, but indeed true. Places like worshiphousemedia.com sell “mini-movies” that any church can use to deliver some kind of message through video. Many evangelical churches use these.
          In terms of videogames, I’ve been part of a team that is working on a new worship platform for that purpose called Weiv. So it is possible, although sadly it seems to require capitalism.
          • I think I see some left leaning politics. Its OK, we agree in the end. Read my comments. Its pretty boring if we’re all the same.
            • I don’t think political stance really matters here.
              I’m guessing if you were to ask a group of people if they thought the idea of buying and selling sermons as commodities is weird, they’d generally say yes. That’s all I meant by that.
              But I am still thankful for those websites, since it allows artists to make a living creating art specifically for use during worship.
              Regarding “requiring capitalism,” what I mean is that, unlike in the past, most churches are not willing to pay staff to create non-musical art. They simply don’t value it that much. So instead, if you want to devote yourself to creating non-musical art for the church, you have to turn your art into a product and sell it. That’s only one option of many. You don’t have to lean a specific way to find that limitation sad.
    • Good point, Agustin. I have a passion to see more artist-evangelists, pastors, teachers, etc. do what they do in order to equip people for ministry. Jesus is a pretty good role model ðŸ™‚
  8. David, I have just recently found your blogs. I seem to find them, and according to dates, they have sort of gotten cold. Some rambling thoughts. God is Creator, we are made in His Image. We are God’s art work. Art and science, (and politics, as you will see)all go hand in hand. Through art we imagine, with science we make our imaginings come true.With politics, we attempt application. Art changes the way we think and feel, it gives us courage and hope and allows us to live experiences in the 2nd person. As Eric and Anneke said, we are all creative artists in some way.
    To God AT Play, be thankful there is enough of a market to support some art. (I do not believe in uncontrolled capitalism, but it is a very! important ingredient in a very delicate balancing act). With 7 billion people in the world now, 6 billion would change places with us in a heart beat. How much art can we create living in 3rd world poverty. But, to whom much is given , much is required.Which now ties in. Art can make us aware through second hand experience that so much of the world is dying in poverty with out Christ. Words alone usually don’t move us. But art in its various forms can. We talk a lot about worship nowadays, we are called to worship our Creator. But, the Church was “commanded” to go into all the world. Are we doing that, or is our art a distraction. (Another balancing act).
    In studying history, we often come to the conclusion that something omitted meant that it was universally important and understood. We can ask, is food and water important to the mission of the Church?
    Back to God AT PLAY, about mystery. Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God,,, Mystery is part of being a Christian. You are also very correct to say that Christ met people where they were, and spoke to them using things in their world they could relate to. It won’t be long before those 7 billion people all have smart phones. The art and science capable of changing the world is now in your hands.
    Some type of creativity is in all of us, God placed it there.
    Wow, that was rambling on. I guess for me, art is the string that ties “everything” together. Art, science, politics, faith, and 3rd world poverty. If art is unnecessary, I will surely unravel.
  9. I think art is a form of expression. Writing, fine art (painting etc), music etc.. are all various aspects of art that I see useful.
    Visual arts (story telling with pictures or art) can be a method to reach people when words fail to do so. I myself find art very therepeutic.
    • Great point. Do you think art needs to be explicit in its message (like a sermon) or is there a certain beauty in its vagueness? I think that’s where the church struggles with art. It’s too open ended in how we interpret it, you know?

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