Let's see more creative churches in the world

[GodLovesArt]

Art is an essential part of God’s purpose and plan. Since God is a creative being and we’re made in His image, we’re made to create. The church should be at the forefront of creativity.

There’s something beautiful about art. It’s completely human, yet it reveals the mystery of the Gospel in unique ways. Art captures attention. It invites people into a story. It could even be said that this generation can only be reached through the arts. The church needs the arts for the sake of gospel.

 

[mathinspiration]

Maybe if churches focus more on culture they might be.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Maybe if churches focus more on culture they might be.

They all got in trouble in the first place by not keeping their eyes upon Jesus.

To focus on things of the world, sends them in the wrong directiion all the time, every day, I think.

People need and want Jesus, if they know anything.

And Jesus Himself said "IF I BE LIFTED UP, I WILL DRAW all men unto ME" ....

So many places lift up novelties instead, no wonder they have no power to heal or to save or to cast out demons --- it seems they rather may invite them and welcome them instead !

 

[GodLovesArt]

Maybe if churches focus more on culture they might be.

Art is an essential part of God’s purpose and plan. Since God is a creative being and we’re made in His image. The church should be at the forefront of creativity. This generation and the future generation can only be reached through the arts/ culture. The church needs to understand this that they have to embrace arts for the sake of gospel. The sooner the better for the body of Christ.

 

[Paidiske]

I agree. I would make two observations:

- The arts (or creativity more generally) are not a big part of how pastors/ministers/church leaders are trained (if it's any part of their training at all). I've found this a big lack in my own preparation for ministry, but it is difficult to equip yourself on the run once you're already out there and working full time.

- Arts (or creativity more generally) are costly; not just in terms of "stuff" but in terms of the time and energy that are put into them. Often when a church is struggling to survive, finding the resources, time and energy to do things which are seen as optional extras becomes difficult to impossible.

Given both of the above points, good resources which help spark creativity, which provide ideas and ways of being creative which are relatively low cost (in terms of money and intangibles like time), are an absolutely crying need right at the moment. There are great people out there doing work on this stuff, but often, spreading awareness of them to people at the grass roots of church life is really difficult.

A thread like this could be a great place to share ideas and experiences, though.

 

[GodLovesArt]

They all got in trouble in the first place by not keeping their eyes upon Jesus.

To focus on things of the world, sends them in the wrong directiion all the time, every day, I think.

People need and want Jesus, if they know anything.

And Jesus Himself said "IF I BE LIFTED UP, I WILL DRAW all men unto ME" ....

So many places lift up novelties instead, no wonder they have no power to heal or to save or to cast out demons --- it seems they rather may invite them and welcome them instead !

It's all about Jesus. Culture i'm talking about here is Cross Culture, which is centered around and rooted in Christ alone and nothing of this world. And let me tell you God is going to use arts to fulfill His purpose in the world, no matter which part of the world we're placed. And churches have to be more open to a culture that uses art for God's sake, for gospel's sake and eventually reach out to more nonbelievers and bring them into Christ.

 

[GodLovesArt]

I agree. I would make two observations:

- The arts (or creativity more generally) are not a big part of how pastors/ministers/church leaders are trained (if it's any part of their training at all). I've found this a big lack in my own preparation for ministry, but it is difficult to equip yourself on the run once you're already out there and working full time.

- Arts (or creativity more generally) are costly; not just in terms of "stuff" but in terms of the time and energy that are put into them. Often when a church is struggling to survive, finding the resources, time and energy to do things which are seen as optional extras becomes difficult to impossible.

Given both of the above points, good resources which help spark creativity, which provide ideas and ways of being creative which are relatively low cost (in terms of money and intangibles like time), are an absolutely crying need right at the moment. There are great people out there doing work on this stuff, but often, spreading awareness of them to people at the grass roots of church life is really difficult.

A thread like this could be a great place to share ideas and experiences, though.

Hi, Paidiske, thanks for sharing your detailed thoughts.

Couple of my thoughts.

• Church is the body of Christ, so the whole purpose of the existence of a church is to make the love of God and saving knowledge of Jesus be known to as many people as possible to save as many souls as possible. So it is the responsibility of the churches to find out ways through which their message will reach most of the people. The churches have for most part been traditional when it comes to reaching the unreached. They usually send missionaries to obey the great commission. Last couple of decades we've also seen the impact of media evangelism through Tv and social media. However it is evident that to create the most impact churches have to be more receptive to the changing culture and adopt to the change fearlessly if not for anything else than for the sake of gospel, for God's sake. This is the need of the hour. If the Church is going to reach the current generation and those to come, it must create a culture of creativity within its congregation.

• Art enhances all church and ministry preparation and makes the presentations much more powerful. Be it inside the church or outside, the moment you incorporate art into your ministry it begins to reach and touch more souls. That's the power of art.

• Arts or creativity in general may be costly in terms of stuff and the time and energy that are put into them, however, when churches and ministries collaborate and work together for a specific purpose, art seems to lose its expensiveness. We have to see art, artists or creative people as an important part of our mission and not as something or someone we use as and when needed by the project at hand. And everything will fall in place as soon as we realize the truth, that, Art is Never an option, Art is an Essential part of God’s purpose and plan.

• I very much agree with you that there is a crying need for the churches and individual ministries to find out ways of being creative which are relatively low cost in terms of money and time. I also agree with you that there are few people out there doing work on this stuff and spreading awareness of them to the churches and ministries is very much possible for God, after all, the whole purpose is to empower the body of Christ and reach more souls for the sake of gospel.
  

 

[Paidiske]

Have you come across this before? Abbey of the Arts

You might find it helpful and thought-provoking.

 

[GodLovesArt]

Have you come across this before? Abbey of the Arts

You might find it helpful and thought-provoking.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Bass4Jesus]

@GodLovesArt: Check out this spontaneous worship with Melissa Helser, Molly Skaggs, and full band. You'll see brief glimpses of two artists working at easels stage left.

 

[GodLovesArt]

@Bass4Jesus Thanks for sharing. I pray to Jesus that more and more churches around the world would embrace visual art as a way to worship God as well as to create more impact to His message.

 

[1watchman]

Art is an essential part of God’s purpose and plan. Since God is a creative being and we’re made in His image. The church should be at the forefront of creativity. This generation and the future generation can only be reached through the arts/ culture. The church needs to understand this that they have to embrace arts for the sake of gospel. The sooner the better for the body of Christ.

Creative art has a place in the world, and we do all enjoy beautiful art, BUT when it gets beyond nature, and even gets imaginative, and fails to honor God by going contrary to His Word, it must not be allowed. The Church should be no more in its appearance and function than what Holy Scripture shows for the collective testimony by God's Word, I see. Man likes to be innovative, but the Church loses its intended effect by carnal ways, so we need to appreciate the Church as shown in the Epistles. I cannot approve: "the church should be at the forefront of creativity".