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Jesus with the Painters and the Poets

How does your church interact with people in the Arts?
I think that many people say “well, we don’t.” Some might even argue that a church that has values or encourages visual artists are in danger of breaking, the Second Commandment.

Yet if we take a closer look at the Old Testament we can’t help but realize that God instructed the people of Israel to be very creative. God cares a great deal, about the way things look. In Exodus 25 and following he lays does instructions about how the Tabernacle should look. He goes into great detail about how things should be put together, and then he says “you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them.”
The word skillfully here can also be translated inventive or even ingenious. Its a adverb stating that the cherubim which are going to hang in the curtains should be the best. God is telling the Israelites to do a good job. A few chapters later he even goes as far to say that he has empower certain people in Israel with the skills and artistic ability to make art worthy of God’s Tent of meeting.

Of course things are a little different now, but if we say that God gives still people the ability to compose songs for his glory. Couldn’t it be possible that He has given other people gifts that allow them to craft visual beauty, like Bezalel and the other artists of Exodus?

Some big churches like Marshill that are now getting into the fine arts and having gallery space, but they have 6000 people in and out every week.

How do smaller churches communicate that the Visual Arts are important?

At our church we have have Arts Coffee houses, were the Artists in our church have put stuff together, but we have not really pursued much of the Artistic community.

One church that I really like is Sojourn in Louisville KY.

They recently moved into a new building which acts as studio, gallery, and even performance space. They even have a yearly film fest utilizing their space.
These guys are doing something right, they are truly calling out to artists and saying “Jesus, cares about Art. He wants to see creative visual expressions.”

I hope to check out their space one day if I ever get down to Louisville.

Information and a list of upcoming events at the 930 Art Center can be found at their website.