Monday, May 23, 2005
Objections to arts ministry
A friend of mine alerted me to the fact that my ministry had become the topic of conversation on a message board. Of course I went over to read what everyone had to say. The topic of the thread was does your church have a visual arts ministry? I thank everyone for their kind words, but the one thing that struck me was that there were several people that seemed to face quite a bit of opposition to the thought of visual arts ministry. Here is my response.
For those of you who have people who shave objections to visual arts ministry, show then 1 Peter 4:10 which in the NIV says "each one should use WHATEVER gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (emphasis mine) At one point the church was the main patron of the arts (can you say Michelangelo?) but around the time of the reformation we seemed to have turned from all of that stuff.
I don't really want to get into a deep theological discussion on this, because I'm not sure I can, but what I will say is this, there is an old saying in education that says what I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I understand. We have been entrusted with a message of salvation and commanded to take that message to a hurting world. We have been given gifts and talents to be used to that end. To me as a minister, it is not good enough for me to give people a forgettable message, because these truths are far too important to be forgotten. To my mind I need to use every tool I have been given. We live in a very visual culture full of visual learners and the more people can see as they hear the better.
I use painting in my speaking at least once a month. I use my cartoons in power point as often as they are relevant. I use puppets to give a brief humorous look at the topic I am going to be preaching on. It's amazing how many times an image will come to me in prayer as I am preparing a sermon. I paint these images sometimes in completely in church (if I can complete the piece in 5-15 minutes) or at home in advance. Sometimes I do what I call progressive revelation paintings. On these I hide things on the canvas and mask them over. I finish the image in church and then at just the right moment strip the mask away and sum up the point of the message. You'd be amazed at how many gasps of amazement I hear from the congregation. That's the kind of thing they remember. I've done participatory pieces too where the congregation creates the art.
The nice thing about all of this is, my church has very plain walls and so we use the finished paintings to decorate the church giving a gallery feel. I make these little cards that explain the paintings to people who haven't heard the messages. I have visual reminders in my church that people see every weeek to remind them of biblical truths. I can't say any of them are great art, but that's not their purpose. Their purpose is communicate a truth.
We also have a biweekly art night called Studio New Creation where the people come together to create and fellowship. I use visual arts in outreaches such as Italian Street Painting and sometimes we do real elementary stuff like face painting which is the best way I have ever seen to have a captive audience for three to five minutes, lol.
Of course I am in a new church plant that is really open to this stuff but as the pastor, if I am using all my gifts it gives the people permission to use theirs. The best advice I can give people for arts ministry is just do it. The next thing I am planning is to place easels around the room so that other can get into the "act." Offer your bodies as living sacrifices this is your spiritual act of worship. When we give our everything to God, that is the Worship He deserves
A friend of mine alerted me to the fact that my ministry had become the topic of conversation on a message board. Of course I went over to read what everyone had to say. The topic of the thread was does your church have a visual arts ministry? I thank everyone for their kind words, but the one thing that struck me was that there were several people that seemed to face quite a bit of opposition to the thought of visual arts ministry. Here is my response.
For those of you who have people who shave objections to visual arts ministry, show then 1 Peter 4:10 which in the NIV says "each one should use WHATEVER gifts he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (emphasis mine) At one point the church was the main patron of the arts (can you say Michelangelo?) but around the time of the reformation we seemed to have turned from all of that stuff.
I don't really want to get into a deep theological discussion on this, because I'm not sure I can, but what I will say is this, there is an old saying in education that says what I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do I understand. We have been entrusted with a message of salvation and commanded to take that message to a hurting world. We have been given gifts and talents to be used to that end. To me as a minister, it is not good enough for me to give people a forgettable message, because these truths are far too important to be forgotten. To my mind I need to use every tool I have been given. We live in a very visual culture full of visual learners and the more people can see as they hear the better.
I use painting in my speaking at least once a month. I use my cartoons in power point as often as they are relevant. I use puppets to give a brief humorous look at the topic I am going to be preaching on. It's amazing how many times an image will come to me in prayer as I am preparing a sermon. I paint these images sometimes in completely in church (if I can complete the piece in 5-15 minutes) or at home in advance. Sometimes I do what I call progressive revelation paintings. On these I hide things on the canvas and mask them over. I finish the image in church and then at just the right moment strip the mask away and sum up the point of the message. You'd be amazed at how many gasps of amazement I hear from the congregation. That's the kind of thing they remember. I've done participatory pieces too where the congregation creates the art.
The nice thing about all of this is, my church has very plain walls and so we use the finished paintings to decorate the church giving a gallery feel. I make these little cards that explain the paintings to people who haven't heard the messages. I have visual reminders in my church that people see every weeek to remind them of biblical truths. I can't say any of them are great art, but that's not their purpose. Their purpose is communicate a truth.
We also have a biweekly art night called Studio New Creation where the people come together to create and fellowship. I use visual arts in outreaches such as Italian Street Painting and sometimes we do real elementary stuff like face painting which is the best way I have ever seen to have a captive audience for three to five minutes, lol.
Of course I am in a new church plant that is really open to this stuff but as the pastor, if I am using all my gifts it gives the people permission to use theirs. The best advice I can give people for arts ministry is just do it. The next thing I am planning is to place easels around the room so that other can get into the "act." Offer your bodies as living sacrifices this is your spiritual act of worship. When we give our everything to God, that is the Worship He deserves
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