the arts...in church?

The other night, I had the opportunity to attend a symposium series that is exploring art and faith. Everyone there was an artist of some form, so it was neat to see how everyone interacted. I must say, you could cut the ADD with a knife. On all the tables they had put out paper, pens, pencils, crayons, chalk...just about every medium you could think of. Right, like we're all going to pay attention to the speaker with all this in front of us? But on the contrary, I found myself engaged and inspired.

The night started out with Ed Cash (singer/songwriter/producer) talking about his workings with Chris Tomlin and then spoke about how the song, "How Great is Our God" came to be. Then there was a reading from the introduction of Matthew Turner's new book. Following that there was a video about Seth Conley's art work. He had struggled with the Gospel for quite some time, not really getting anything out of it. Reading the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John just didn't seem to make it real to Seth. He was challenged by the creative arts pastor at his church to (get this) paint the Book of John. Seth is an incredible artist so it allowed him to depict the Gospels in his own language--paint. He didn't portray the Gospels literally; he didn't draw the Samaritan woman. Instead, he drew his reaction to the stories, and what he got out of them. It was a truly amazing testimony of how God used a medium, such as paint, to speak to Seth.

The keynote speaker of the evening was Nancy Beach from Willow Creek church in IL. She said that for one hour on Sunday there is a great opportunity to reach people. For one hour, 1.) PEOPLE ARE GIVEN THE GIFT OF A QUIETED SOUL. There's no noise in communication, there is time to reflect, and it allows people to stop and feel. 2.) PEOPLE CAN BE MOVED. Use paintings to get your point across, use multi-sensory layers (have them smell something, touch, feel, taste etc.). If you use different "tools", then people won't be on autopilot. 3.) WE HAVE THE CHANCE TO PARTNER WITH GOD FOR CHANGE. What an awesome opportunity to have a "Divine Partnership" to allow people to experience God.

She also pointed out a common thread amongst artist that were unleashed in the church. 1.) THEY HAVE WELL-MANAGED HEARTS AND MINDS. They are held accountable. 2.) THEY ARE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE AUTHENTICALLY. They let their art have integrity. They can be honest about their struggles. 3.) THEY BELIEVE THAT WHAT THEY'RE DOING MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

Art is an expression and it comes in many different forms and media. I think now more than ever, we're going to see a trend of art become more relevant and very much more a part of how "the church" reaches people.