 |
| Artwork by Jim LePage |
In one of his first blogs of the new year controversial Christian author Donald Miller tackled the question: “Is Church Life Stifling Your Creativity?” He hypothesizes the uproar that might occur if Solomon wrote his biblical text, “Song of Songs” in a modern church context, supposing that people would be outraged by the erotic nature of the poetry. In the end, the bottom line was that Miller encouraged his readers to do what God tells them to do and not what the church tells them to do.
Miller’s advice is not bad. In fact it’s downright biblical, but it begs the question, what if God’s telling you to use your creativity to make art in the church? All of the creativity drowning influences that often come with large organizations must be overcome to accomplish the call of God. You can’t shrug them off as an unfortunate circumstance. (I’m incredibly blessed to be in a church that inspires creativity.)
As the Media Director for a large church I’ve studied the leadership structures of many multi-thousand-member churches in America. In doing so I’ve discovered that contemporary art as we know it in these structures may very well simultaneously hit on religious, political and cultural stigmas. Art says things that people are afraid to speak; it’s often subversive in nature. But what does today’s great Christian art look like? I believe I am yet to discover it. I have discovered professional quality video ministries and sharp design, but have not yet witnessed a thriving community of artists in the local church.
So I’m kicking off this blog with a thirst to discover just that. Have you seen art embraced in a church? I’d love to hear about it here.
