How big a role does art play in your
church’s architecture, worship, even
witness?
Imagine you have just witnessed to an
artist—and he enthusiastically agrees to
visit your church. But when he arrives on
Sunday, his face drops. There is not a
single painting, tapestry, or piece of
sculpture, anywhere in the church, with
one exception: In a Sunday school
classroom, he sees a mass-produced
poster depicting Jesus carrying a lamb.
If the same can be said of your church, or
mine, we need to ask ourselves why. What
does the lack of artistic expression in our
churches says about the function of art,
and the value we place on artistic works—
and those who create them? And what are
missing by the absence of art?
We need to think seriously about these
questions, and remember how much
importance God Himself puts on artistic
expression as a means of drawing people
to Himself. For example, in the book of
Exodus, we read of God’s directions to
Moses regarding the design of the
tabernacle. He gifted and inspired a
craftsman named Bezalel with the ability
to create the beauty God wanted.
As David McNutt writes in a Christianity
Today, “In Bezalel, Scripture provides us
with a model not only for faithful
engagement with the arts but also for the
responsible use of the arts in our
evangelism.”
The creation of art in the tabernacle was
not optional; God commanded it. And far
from being relegated to the edges of
worship, artistic images in both the
tabernacle and the Temple “stood at the
heart of the worshipping life of the
Israelite people,” enabling and aiding their
worship of God.
McNutt adds, Bezalel’s calling “forces us
to reckon with the arts as a way to honor
God and fulfill one’s vocational task.”
Ignoring the important role of visual arts
should play in church ministry causes
artists to feel “isolated, unwelcome, or
even betrayed by the church.”
God still gifts people with artistic ability—
and we ignore their gifts at our peril.
Henry Lucey-Lee, Intervarsity Christian
Fellowship’s national director of Arts
Ministry, says that college students “will
respond to quality art that conveys the
beauty of God.” Yes, we still need
scriptural teaching, he says, but “art is
often the first step college students today
will take as they open themselves to
Jesus.”
Marissa Voytenko, a member of Christians
in the Visual Arts, agrees with this
approach. “As a painter,” she told
Christianity Today, “it’s easier for me to
talk about redemption, equality, beauty,
and the love of God through my artwork
rather than turning directly to Scripture,
though it is obviously informed by that.”
Voytenko points to great works of art
created over the centuries that point to
God’s love and sacrifice for us: For
example, Mattias Gruenwald’s Isenheim
Altarpiece, depicting Christ on the cross,
“was placed within a hospital during the
Bubonic plague to encourage and give the
dying hope.”
A more famous work is Michaelangelo’s
Pieta, a sculpture at the Vatican, which
hundreds of thousands of people view
every year—people who “encounter God’s
humanity through this portrait of Christ
and his mother,” Voytenko told us at
BreakPoint.
And during the so-called Dark Ages—a
time when few people could read–“the
monastic community kept the written
word of God alive through illuminated
manuscripts” such as “the stunning Book
of Kells. These images and ornate text no
doubt ushered both the artists and
viewers into a greater intimacy with God.”
These historical examples tell us that,
instead of asking whether we should use
the arts in ministry, we should instead be
asking how we should be using it. One of
the missions of the church should be
evaluating how the needs of seekers today
might be met through the visual arts.
And let’s embrace the talents of the
artists among us, using their gifts to serve
the faithful and glorify God.
church’s architecture, worship, even
witness?
Imagine you have just witnessed to an
artist—and he enthusiastically agrees to
visit your church. But when he arrives on
Sunday, his face drops. There is not a
single painting, tapestry, or piece of
sculpture, anywhere in the church, with
one exception: In a Sunday school
classroom, he sees a mass-produced
poster depicting Jesus carrying a lamb.
If the same can be said of your church, or
mine, we need to ask ourselves why. What
does the lack of artistic expression in our
churches says about the function of art,
and the value we place on artistic works—
and those who create them? And what are
missing by the absence of art?
We need to think seriously about these
questions, and remember how much
importance God Himself puts on artistic
expression as a means of drawing people
to Himself. For example, in the book of
Exodus, we read of God’s directions to
Moses regarding the design of the
tabernacle. He gifted and inspired a
craftsman named Bezalel with the ability
to create the beauty God wanted.
As David McNutt writes in a Christianity
Today, “In Bezalel, Scripture provides us
with a model not only for faithful
engagement with the arts but also for the
responsible use of the arts in our
evangelism.”
The creation of art in the tabernacle was
not optional; God commanded it. And far
from being relegated to the edges of
worship, artistic images in both the
tabernacle and the Temple “stood at the
heart of the worshipping life of the
Israelite people,” enabling and aiding their
worship of God.
McNutt adds, Bezalel’s calling “forces us
to reckon with the arts as a way to honor
God and fulfill one’s vocational task.”
Ignoring the important role of visual arts
should play in church ministry causes
artists to feel “isolated, unwelcome, or
even betrayed by the church.”
God still gifts people with artistic ability—
and we ignore their gifts at our peril.
Henry Lucey-Lee, Intervarsity Christian
Fellowship’s national director of Arts
Ministry, says that college students “will
respond to quality art that conveys the
beauty of God.” Yes, we still need
scriptural teaching, he says, but “art is
often the first step college students today
will take as they open themselves to
Jesus.”
Marissa Voytenko, a member of Christians
in the Visual Arts, agrees with this
approach. “As a painter,” she told
Christianity Today, “it’s easier for me to
talk about redemption, equality, beauty,
and the love of God through my artwork
rather than turning directly to Scripture,
though it is obviously informed by that.”
Voytenko points to great works of art
created over the centuries that point to
God’s love and sacrifice for us: For
example, Mattias Gruenwald’s Isenheim
Altarpiece, depicting Christ on the cross,
“was placed within a hospital during the
Bubonic plague to encourage and give the
dying hope.”
A more famous work is Michaelangelo’s
Pieta, a sculpture at the Vatican, which
hundreds of thousands of people view
every year—people who “encounter God’s
humanity through this portrait of Christ
and his mother,” Voytenko told us at
BreakPoint.
And during the so-called Dark Ages—a
time when few people could read–“the
monastic community kept the written
word of God alive through illuminated
manuscripts” such as “the stunning Book
of Kells. These images and ornate text no
doubt ushered both the artists and
viewers into a greater intimacy with God.”
These historical examples tell us that,
instead of asking whether we should use
the arts in ministry, we should instead be
asking how we should be using it. One of
the missions of the church should be
evaluating how the needs of seekers today
might be met through the visual arts.
And let’s embrace the talents of the
artists among us, using their gifts to serve
the faithful and glorify God.
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