Creative Church Handbook

Releasing the Power of the Arts in Your Congregation

J. Scott McElroy

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780830897599
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Ministerio cristiano

If the future is creative, is it any wonder that sometimes the church seems stuck in the past? Now is the time for the church to reclaim its role as a center of creativity. Among your members are artists, musicians and other creatives whose gifts can enhance your worship, inform your theology and impact your community. Christian arts advocate J. Scott McElroy gives a comprehensive vision and manual for unleashing creativity in your congregation so you can connect with the more visual, aural, participatory and expressive generation that is rising up within the church today. In this handbook you'll find clear direction for: - Mobilizing and managing artists and other creatives in your congregation- Establishing structures and parameters for arts ministry- Leading and supporting staff and church members in creative changes- Enhancing the worship service- Adding creative elements to your sermons- Engaging the broader communityActivate your church in every avenue of worship with this practical guide for arts ministry.

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A Renewal of the Arts and Creativity in the Church

Creative experience foreshadows a new Heaven and a new Earth.

NIKOLAI BERDYAEV, Dream and Reality

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

EPHESIANS 2:10

Imagine if the local church became the place in culture to experience creativity, beauty and transcendence.

It is possible.

Hundreds of years ago, churches were in many ways centers for these experiences, leading millions to experience God’s presence through art and architecture. After the Reformation, Protestants largely abdicated that role. Now many churches are once again moving in that direction and beginning to develop creative arts programs that foster connection with the Creator.

Interaction with the arts and creativity is unavoidable in our culture. The average person encounters performances, music, and visual and media arts daily, even hourly. Most churches would like to become more fluent in the use of the arts in order to communicate truths about God more effectively. That’s a worthy goal. God designed the arts to hurdle our barriers, slip past our intellect, and penetrate our hearts and souls with truth and insight. But he values the arts and creativity for reasons beyond their usefulness. He loves them because he is beauty and creativity (Ps 19:1; 96:6). Whether his beauty and creativity are expressed in nature or through the arts, embracing them enables us to more fully appreciate his personality and enjoy his presence.

A New Renaissance

Throughout Christianity there are signs that a sort of new renaissance is rising, a Holy Spirit–initiated movement to integrate the arts and creativity into churches. This movement has the real potential to revive and rejuvenate our congregations, enhance our understanding of God and bring the body of Christ closer to maturity. And, looking outward, the movement is finding new and creative ways to engage the culture with spiritual art—not as propa­ganda but as an authentic expression of faith, love, truth and identity.

Christians of all traditions are noticing that God is sparking a renewed interest in the arts in their communities. Pope Benedict held a historic art summit with hundreds of world-renowned artists in the Sistine Chapel as part of a goal to “rekindle the special historical relationship between faith and art,” saying it was the first of many arts initiatives.1 Major evangelical organizations like Youth With a Mission (YWAM), Operation Mobilization (OM), Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU), the Navigators and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship have recognized the ability of the arts to communicate across barriers and have developed arts training and outreaches.2 The international Lausanne Movement (founded by Billy Graham) produced a brilliant manifesto on the arts called “Redeeming the Arts.”3 The explosion in the use of music, electronic media and drama in Protestant and evangelical churches has been quite significant, and now more churches than ever before have added visual arts galleries to their buildings.4 Many charismatics are using the arts as vehicles for encouragement, teaching and prophetic messages during their services and outreaches.5

The first substantial wave of this movement lapped into many churches in the mid-1980s in the form of contemporary worship music, swelling into a flood in the 1990s and 2000s. Within twenty years, music in many churches completely changed, and the majority now have at least one service where contemporary worship music is featured. Whether you prefer hymns or newer music, you must admit that this shift has enabled new generations to find relevance in their worship experience and opened the door for thousands of musical artists to create and play for God’s glory.

“I don’t want you to think of art as a little frill or whipped cream on the cake of life. It’s more like steak and potatoes.”

Dallas Willard, address at Biola University, March 31, 1987

This renewed interest in the arts goes beyond the church’s attempts to stay relevant or find creative ways to win converts. In fact, many see it as a key ingredient to the foretold preparation of the body and bride of Christ (Eph 5:26), as well as a shift in the way the church influences the world as an agent of redemption and a force for good.

The Essential Role of the Arts and Creativity in the Church

There are a number of reasons for the emergence of this new renaissance, but I believe all of them point to one conclusion: the arts and creativity are meant to play an essential role in the church.

I wasn’t always so passionate about that conclusion. Honestly, as I thought and prayed about this book, discouragement set in at the prospect of trying to build a case for the arts and creativity in the church. It was hard to find an argument that might persuade the leaders who see little need for the arts to think differently.

Then, one Saturday as I sat at a church retreat quieting myself in God’s presence, he quite unexpectedly whispered a question: “What if integrating the arts into the church is more than just a nice idea (more than just for decoration or relevance)? What if that integration is necessary for the maturity of the body of Christ?” For me, it was an electrifying thought, and I was immediately filled with hope and purpose. What if the arts and creativity are designed to play a key role in the maturing of Christ’s bride? What if we need them in the church? The more I prayed, studied, researched and posed that question to pastors and leaders, the more I became convinced of the truth of that concept.

Most will agree that God designed Christian community as a place where every believer’s gifting, large or small, can be discovered, nurtured and developed for the benefit of the believers themselves, the members of the body of Christ and the wider world. Romans 12:4-6 says,

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

So what happens when some of the intended gifts are simply missing? Can the body properly function?

Artists carry the gifts of intuition, insight, imagination, creativity and more—gifts designed by the Creator to ignite the heart and engage the whole person. But these giftings also fit in with the traditional gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11-13. The Amplified version sheds some interesting light on the passage:

And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.

His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),

[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts. Wayne Grudem says, “A spiritual gift is any ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and used in ministry of the church.”6 But even if this list were complete, we can see how artists operate in several of the gifts Paul mentions here, such as prophets. The arts are designed to reveal hidden meanings and truths to individuals and groups. The prophets of the Old Testament often used performance or crafted objects to convey God’s messages. For example, Ezekiel was instructed to make drawings and models, lie on his side a certain way and cook with dung as fuel—all to illustrate what God was saying to his people (Ezek 4:1-16).

Prophetic lyrics and music were also a constant part of Jewish life. The tabernacle was adorned with maximum beauty to proclaim the past, present and future magnificence of God (Ex 25). Of course, God’s artists today may not be oracles like the Old Testament prophets were, but as they learn to collaborate with him, he will use them in prophetic ways to bring truth and understanding to our churches, communities and culture.

As for the evangelistic gift, the arts speak across language barriers like few other forms of communication, using the universality of story, sound and symbol to convey the gospel. With the pastoral gift, worship pastors and (in the churches that have them) arts pastors lead congregations to connect with God in rich and heartfelt ways. The arts are excellent for teaching as well, especially in our visual society, because of their ability to bypass mental understanding and plant truth deep in the heart.

“The arts are not the pretty but irrelevant bits around the border of reality. They are highways into the center of a reality which cannot be glimpsed, let alone grasped, any other way.”

N. T. Wright, Simply Christian

The gifts were given “so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph 4:12-13). How can we really be one unless we are sharing our gifts, functioning as God designed us? And how can we have a full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God without approaching a comprehension of his inherent beauty and creativity or his unending grace?

The rest of verse 13 answers the question about why we should seek to pursue these things: that we might “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” We will never reach maturity or be the complete body of Christ without cultivating the gifts of the arts and creativity in the church.

If artists are not encouraged to contribute their gifts, observations, personalities and visions to the body of Christ, congregations and the universal church will continue to miss one of God’s key traits—his astounding creativity. And without that, imagination and joy are blocked, and faith, which requires imagination (Heb 11:1), will not fully flower. Without the integration of the arts and artists into the church, the body of Christ might be physically, emotionally and mentally challenged. And we will continue to be far from Jesus’ prayer that we would be one.

What Can Be Done?

So what can pastors and leaders, churches, artists and supporters do to welcome this renewal of the arts and help the body of Christ mature? Practically speaking, pastors and leaders can look for ways to encourage creativity, integrate the arts into services and disciple artists. Churches can pursue and support artists and start art galleries. Artists can get training, grow in their craft, become part of a Christian community and look for opportunities to spark creativity in local congregations. Supporters can advocate for the arts in their church, donate time and money, and help educate congregations. The New Renaissance Arts Movement, a nonprofit organization I’m part of that connects churches with the arts, offers many resources on these topics at the website TheNewR.org.

But in the end, all this activity will not be enough to achieve a true integration of creativity and the arts into the church. Bono, lead singer from the band U2, said in a USA Today interview that his band tries “to write songs that raise the temperature of the room and find words for feelings you can’t express. And then, as Quincy Jones says, you wait for God to walk through the door. Because in the end, craft isn’t enough.”7 Impressive works of art, ingenious education and brilliant proposals—though all these things and more are needed—aren’t enough for a new spiritual renaissance in the arts.

We must have divine inspiration. We must seek ideas from God, connecting and collaborating with him in our creativity on the projects he planned for us before we were born. We must pursue his guidance for how he would want to integrate the arts in our local churches.

Of course, this starts by learning to hear God’s voice in prayer and in our everyday lives. Artists—or any Christian—will experience their greatest spiritual growth when they develop that aptitude. If you are a pastor or leader, fostering this deep, conversational relationship with God in your congregation is no doubt one of your heart’s desires. When artists learn how to do this, they will naturally impart it to others through their work and personalities. Chapter five touches on teaching artists—and congregations—to hear God’s voice and collaborate with him.

As local churches take the initiative to encourage creativity, they’ll experience rich benefits in their services and community life. Just as pastors have specific messages from God for their congregations at specific times in history, so it is with the artists he has planted in church fellowships. As they are trained to hear God’s voice, they will bring powerful messages that enhance what he is doing in congregations. And we are not talking about only master artists, but artists of various skill levels, extending even to the average churchgoers who have little idea of the creativity God has placed in them. Later chapters will look at ways to integrate all creative skill levels into our churches in order to promote spiritual growth and cultivate community.

The worldwide church stands at a unique time in history, in a position that no other institution can fill. Its decision to actively encourage the arts and creativity, to embrace and disciple artists, will benefit individuals, communities and the body of Christ in profound ways. It will enable the church to better fulfill its mission of offering God’s love to the world.

But even if we do nothing in r...