Believe it or not, there was a time when the church set the standard for art and culture. During the age of the Renaissance, there were no movie theatres, concert venues, or art galleries. Instead there were cathedrals, beautiful depictions of God’s glory bursting at the corners with original music, visual art, and the latest technology. People actually looked to the church for culture. Now, many seem to avoid it.
Take a step closer in history to the age of rhythm and blues. It’s likely you’d discover an uproar of unhappy Christians frustrated with “secular” artists who stole sounds and themes originally conceived by gospel churches and transported them into the worldly bars and night clubs of the 40’s and 50’s.
What once was a birthing place for culture now often settles to copy it. There are marketing firms, organizations, and consultants all over the country trying to make church look more appealing by dressing it up with what’s “mainstream.”
It’s our deep desire, however, to see the church become a place that once again fosters creativity, ingenuity, and originality, a space that invites people boldly into the knowledge that we serve a creative God, the world’s greatest storyteller. We want to see a new generation of artisans, pioneers, and communicators develop a “kingdom imagination,” a longing to both tell and be God’s story to a world in desperate need of it.
Where do you see kingdom imaginations forming? How are God’s people telling his story uniquely and creatively?
What is your part to play?
Message (500 Character Limit)Dang Lauren! Right on! Great perspective. Keep sharing!
The arts can be an incredibly powerful venue to express all that God is and His power. There was a time when culture was defined by the Church. However looking back in history, specifcally in theater, the Church played a large role in restricting and admonishing artists for their work and ideas. I believe the Church can play a powerful role in affecting the arts today. But it is important to recognize the control that was once placed on the arts, largely causing them to draw away from the Church. So in trying to foster the arts again, we should aim to do so fully embracing God’s love and compassion, rather then oppression. The arts enlighten us and can reveal our own ills. As the Church, we should face the ills and ideas that art presents us instead of shying away from them as was done in the past. I think we should engage in truthful conversations on these issues, because in doing so we will have the greatest opportunities to profess Christ’s love for humanity.