“Worship ‘ARTS' Director?
Really? What is that about?”
“Whatever happened to just having a Song Leader?”
“What does art have to do with leading music?”
In the last few years, the arts have been brought more to
the forefront in churches of all denominations. But what do we mean when we say “art?” Are “worship arts” different from museum art
or, say, ballet, or opera? What is their
place in worship? And what are the arts? In order to begin exploring this recent trend
in worship, let’s start there. What are the arts?
To get some idea of what people thought about “the arts,” I
conducted a one-question survey in social media, namely Facebook. Here are those results.
What comes to mind
when you hear the term “the arts?”
Boring
Music, drama, and
paintings
…and crafts store
Anything involving a
stage and an audience
Creative endeavors
Buncha hippies…
Music, paintings,
sculptures, plays, movies that I generally don’t like
First Night
Springfield
Snooty people
Dickies and pipes
Music, paintings,
poetry, and theatre
People above my pay
grade mingling together
Freedom
Boring, opera (but
“artistic”? musical, drawings, painter,
photography, etc.)
Something people with
money contribute to
Ballet, music,
paintings, acting
Art Linkletter and Art
Carney
Culture, Music, Fine
Art, Dance, Theater, Sculpting, Carving, Creative things being created by
creative people who have been given gifts from the Father.
Theater and music
Theater mostly, music
Music, writing,
theater
An extension of
life. What makes us appreciate life even
more through visual art, musical art, theatrical art, etc. It all gives us an opportunity to pause and
gaze and think and appreciate life.
Okay, so at the very least, you get a good glimpse into the
dichotomy of my “friends” on Facebook.
Clever bunch.
But, it seems that even the term itself is hard to nail down
to just one definitive answer. The closest Merriam-Webster
can come to defining “the arts” is the singular, “art” (as painting, sculpture, or music) concerned primarily with
the creation of beautiful objects —usually used in plural.
And also from Merriam-Webster, the
conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of
aesthetic objects; also: works
so produced.
City Church of Chattanooga, on their website describing their own Worship Arts, says, “Art is man’s activity that mirrors the creativity of God. Being created in his image (Gen.1:27), we are creative beings capable of displaying that creativity in many ways.”
City Church of Chattanooga, on their website describing their own Worship Arts, says, “Art is man’s activity that mirrors the creativity of God. Being created in his image (Gen.1:27), we are creative beings capable of displaying that creativity in many ways.”
Combining Merriam-Webster's definition with that of City Church, we can actually begin to see a more clear directive concerning the arts in worship. The conscious use of skill and creative imagination...to create art that is our way of attempting to mirror the creativity of God.
Theater, music, writing, painting, photography, dance, sculpting, these are all terms defining the creative arts. But there are more. Worship center decoration, brochure publishing, website design, video production. All creative art forms that can be—and should be used in worship today.
So, perhaps the better question is, “Why not Worship Arts?” Art is
beauty. Can we look at God’s creation
and not see the beauty of His
artwork? My friend and fellow Worship
Artist, Joshua Davis, in his blog *Why
Are the Creative Arts Important in Churches says, “…as Christians, we must realize that God is an artist. He was the first artist, as found in Genesis
with creation.”
I travel to Colorado 3 or 4 times a year to visit my daughter
and grandson. Often during these visits,
we go up into the Rocky Mountains to stay at a cabin or visit a mountain town. It is impossible for me to stand in a canyon
there, gazing at the grandeur of the mountains, the tall pines and the Aspens,
the rushing mountain streams, and not
see the artwork of the Creator. It is beauty
and inspiration beyond words.
Clearly, The Artist values beauty. He also desires our beauty and art in our
praise and worship. Even his very
creation offers Him praise. Psalm 19:1
says, “The
heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim
the work of his hands.”
Davis goes on to say, “Not
only is God an artist, He created us to be artists. He has created us to be co-creators with
Him. He inspires us to inspire others…God
has hard-wired us to be creative...If God created and gifted people to be
artists, we need to praise Him through those gifts and talents. This is why art is important in churches.”
My mother used to say to me when I was young---actually she
still says it to me: “You have been given a gift with your music. Make sure you use it to glorify God!” But is my gift of art through music a better
offering of praise than say, the team at church who decorate the worship
center? Of course not. These are both examples of creative arts
being offered as praise to the glory of God.
What matters is the heart of the giver; the praise offering behind the
creative art.
Some have a gift of creative art in drama. Some in painting. Some are creative in the art of sculpting, or photography. How great would it be to give these artists a
platform for their art here in our church, to the praise of His glorious name? But more than simply providing opportunity, how
important is it that we incorporate all
the creative arts? I would offer that it
is not just important. It is incumbent
upon us as the church to bring the creative arts into our worship.
That is what “Worship
Arts” means. As Worship Arts Director, I
hope to involve more people in worship through their own God-given gifts. I believe it is important that we, as a
church, embrace the arts and incorporate them into our worship.
As Joshua Davis says in his blog, “As the church and the world evolve, the local church will have to
start using the creative arts to reach the lost world where we live. We will have to find creative ways to
incorporate the arts into our worship services.”
As our own church stretches and reaches for the west-side of
town, and strives to become more and more relevant to a changing world, let’s
be in prayer now as to how God will lead us in this area of worship.
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." -- Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
*Joshua Davis, “Why Are the Creative Arts Important in
Churches”
