Q and A "How do we incorporate visual arts into worship?"
Lisa asked:
Great blog. I feel called to lead worship, but it seems that so many churches are hesitant to incorporate ALL of the arts... seeing worship as just music... so my style doesn't fit too well! What have you done to get churches/large events to accept what you do as an appropriate part of the worship process?
JesusPainter Responds:
Wow... good question. I wish there was an easy answer but to me it seems that it varies from group to group. The best tool we have in a situation like this is to send a sample video out to groups who seem to be on the edge. Sometimes the problem is that in more conservative audiences change tough to pull off. Other groups don't want to spend money on an artist. As for convincing large events the trick is to do well at small events. And the real trick is to go for free. If people don't want to pay lower your price. I worked for free for a little over a year. I was not intending to start a career, I just felt called to use my gifts. Eventually I was busy enough to ask for a few bucks. God provided. Thanks Lisa
Lisa asks:
Yesterday I asked a question that was a little too broad. Here is what I was getting at... How do you see visual arts being effectively incorporated into corporate worship for local churches? What can worship leaders do to make sure this happens?
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I want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to chime in here. I will offer my 2 cents but I am not a worship leader employed by a church. Please contribute, I feel like this thread could be one of the most important topics here. I am going to think about this before I just churn out some lame answer. I will try to answer this within 24 hours.
posted by The JesusPainter at 11:21 AM
10 Comments:
we're kind of at a point where we are asking some of the same questions in our service. as an 'artsy' person it really seems like there must be an easy way to incorporate art into worship, but i work at a very conservative church. my solution so far has been to start with the kids and work my way up. i've displayed some of our children's and youth art, and now we have several older members who arenow wanting to express themselves the same way. we have along way to go, but i think its a good start.
by the way mike, welcome to the blogging world. can't wait to hang out again sometime. one love, one heart.
2:46 PM
Okay... I said that I would try to write back in 24 hours a week ago but I have been thinking really hard about this and I don't want to waste your time with a lame answer. After a week of thinking I have come up with this... I don't know. I don't know a formula; I don't think that there are rules that work everywhere. I have been in three cities in the past week and every situation has been different. The only thing that I see consistently from event to event is that hard work and proper planning is a big part of every successful program. The program sponsors will constantly throw what seem at first to be weird or difficult requests at me. My instincts are to resist anything hard or out of my routine. But I have noticed that when I choose to hold a yes on the tip of my tongue things seem to go well. Here is what I mean, you ask me to go jump off of a bridge. My answer is yes; can I wear a parachute or a bungee cord? Can I jump off of a 3 ft tall bridge...? The point is sponsors love it when you listen to their ideas and take them seriously. Too many times artsy fartsy types want to do things their way. What YOU (I) want is not important. What is important? IMPACT Are people moved throughout the course of you presentation. This goes both ways, sometimes the sponsor has ideas that can be improved on. I have found that in general event coordinators are receptive to my suggestions.
These might sound like ramblings but I really have thought long and hard about this stuff.
I spent part of this weekend in California. I did 3 church services in Sacramento and a Sonic Flood concert. While there I noticed that the worship band was pretty good. I started to realize that more than half of the churches that I visit are able to scrape together a decent worship band. The other half are pretty bad. But the members show up either way. Here is my point, Sunday mornings are not a Broadway production or Showtime at the Apollo. Church is a group of believers meeting in a building to worship God. Why does every worship leader and Pastor feel like they are competing with Willow Creek or Saddleback? Have FUN!!!!!!!! Worship the Lord and let your members worship him. Maybe it won’t be perfect maybe it will. Maybe it will stink... SO WHAT? Half of the church services pretty much stink anyway if you are comparing them to some praise CD. But our Lord will cherish all of our sincere efforts.
7:07 PM
I have tried to discuss this from an artist's perspective, I will try to get some ministers who have successfully brought me out to their church to talk some.
8:58 PM
These are great thoughts. I loved the comment about saying yes... even to jumping off a bridge. We need that kind of flexibility in worship, because pretty much everyone worships in a different way. As a worship leader, it is hard to find the balance sometimes, but it is VERY important to lead each person into the presence of God for a meaningful worship experience... at least as much as possible.
I found it interesting that in your experience you have found that most every pastor/church is trying to compete with mega-churches. I, myself, am not a mega-church fanatic. They are a little overwhelming to me. HOWEVER... I definately see the need for mega-churches, because they are bringing tons of people to Christ! And... it is probably a little easier to have a "polished" service with more people/resources to work with. Even really large churches can't take anything for granted, though, because they still have a small percentage of their congregation involved in doing ministry... about the same percentage as a small church. Sometimes mega-churches get a bad rap, because we think they have it "easy" and are jealous. They really don't have it a whole lot easier than any of the rest of us. Your comments made me think about how important it is to get everyone involved in using their gifts for Christ... regardless of your congregation size or even the finished "product". God is more interested in genuine worship than in a perfect show!
What bothers me is when worship kinda "stinks" and leadership is unwilling to change because they like it that way. Perhaps there are ways to slowly integrate the arts, though... as mentioned in your posts.
Thanks. I'll look forward to reading more as others comment.
Lisa
10:52 PM
Hey, I've been wanting to comment on this for a while but keep getting distracted before I can post something.
I think the same curse has been on American churches for a long time, not just recently: the inability to adapt. Typically, those churches that tend to adapt well tend to attract more people, thus the "megachurch."
To share my background...I just left a church that was like many of the ones you are mentioning: music is subpar, diversity in expression is lacking, change is not present. I think the most important thing is that whoever is leading worship at a church has to have a deep from-the-heart desire to change.
The church I was a part of had a decent group of talented musicians...who all played in bar bands in the 70's and 80's. They are playing the same style of music now. Even though the songs and the lyrics change, the sound does not, and that is what causes the "product" (so to speak) to not be desirable for most people my age or younger (and I'm 30).
Hey, I'm all for what Mike said about just worshipping God and being happy. Some people think that cultural relevance equates to MTV-like visuals and music, and that's just not true. If you live in a small town in Kentucky and your local church does what we picture as an "old-timey" church would do, guess what? They are culturally relevant to the culture around them. There is nothing wrong with that.
And today, if you don't want your church to grow (or, more importantly, for non-believers to be interested in what's going on at your church to the point that it would open the door for the salvation message) then stand pat. Do what you've been doing all this time and don't change. From my experience, this is what leads churches to a slow, drawn out death. I've experienced it first hand, and that's why I am not at the church I grew up in.
Where am I now? At a "megachurch." The reason has some to do with worship, but its more than that. They are more modern, more to my liking, and they incorporate more than just music (video, stage setup, etc.) to contribute to not just the worship experience, but the entire message of the day as well.
To come back around to the point...they get that they need to change with culture, and they get that it's more than music. What it takes are people who are willing to change and a desire to become the best conduit they can become to facilitate worship of anyone who might come through those doors every week.
Our God is creative and our God is dynamic, and a lot of people don't get that. Anyone ever notice how the oldest roots of Catholicism have art all around them? Many of the most astonishing classical works of art were religious in nature: Sistine Chapel, reliquaries, etc. I think the fear that was there when those things were challenged by Protestants - the fear that those images/expressions would be worshipped instead of God - is still there. The irony is that by and large the current church does the same thing with music, worshipping it instead of the God it's pointing to.
I hope this post hasn't been too random...just what's been kicking around in my mind for quite some time.
Mike...good lookin' out. Keep spreading the word and causing people to be challenged in what true worship entails.
12:00 PM
Hi, I had the pleasure of seeing you at BYIC last summer. I really enjoy looking at your art pieces and I was wondering what it would cost to buy one of your pictures possibly? If you could email me back on this I would be greatly blessed. Shieldoffaith102@aol.com
Oh and I think that it's great what you're doing. Its amazing, thank you so much. To be quite honest, I will never forget when you painted that for us.
7:46 PM
im from henderson hills and was at big weekend and i was in the front row on saturday night and i loved ur painting and ur heart for ur work on that night when u finished ur 2nd painting and when u wrote all my sinsa and whiped em away i loved that and after u fished thee painting i fell on my face and cryed my eyes out in aw of that painting i think it was god speaking to me
i want to thank u for comeing and god bless
12:37 AM
I saw you two years ago now in NJ. I just wanted to thank you because you gave me inspiration to be the artist I wanted to be. I'm Christian and an artist and never mixed the two before. I cried and thanked God because I knew after seeing you that my gift was meant for his glory. I've been painting murals in Churches and do spiritual comissions. Continue to bless...
3:20 PM
Ironically, I have actually played guitar in one of the services where you painted (Albuquerque Calvary). I hope we weren't one of the bands that sucked, haha.
Anyhoo, my wife is an illustrator and is asking herself the same question: How does she incorporate what she does into worship?
She's started by creating artwork for CD's, donating art services for church bulletins, and has started her efforts to creating an illustrated index of Genesis. Pretty cool and interesting stuff.
Whatever the case, I've heard a zillion preachers say that worship isn't just that 25 minutes before the service starts, but the way we live our lives in sacrifice. Therefore, her artwork is already an example of worship, and was even before she was becoming recognized as an artist.
Or something like that...
3:10 PM
Hey Mr. Mike :D
First of all, I would like to say Praise God for laying this ministry into your hands...I love that we have such a creative Father and that He can use anything from rebuilding a house in Juarez to PAINTING to get out His word...truly AMAZING!
Second of all, I wanted to ask for your prayers, as well as the prayers of anyone who reads this comment.
On June 25th I am flying up to Montreal, Canada with 25 others from the highschool ministry at Calvary of Albuquerque for a mission trip. While we are up there we will be handing out free coffee, using music, media and ART to start conversations with people about Worldviews (including Christianity). I have been placed in the ART ministry group and have been asked to do live paintings up there with acrylics. YIKES! I have never painted in front of anyone, nor have i ever used acrylics (i use oils) I read how you started and noticed that when you started, there were some firsts for you as well...So my prayer is this...That God would use my art however He wants and that I would allow Him to take control of my heart and hands and that He would work through me. I know that I cannot do this without Him, He is my all and I feel so honored to be doing His work. Prayers would be much appreciated...God bless you real good :D
~Mandy
ps...for more info on this mission trip, you can go to verticalabq.org
4:18 PM
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