Before you begin to analyze all the lyrics on the latest David Wilcox album, my intent is not to bring his work or lyrics to the forefront of this post. What I’m getting at is that a prophetic voice for art is foundational to what art does in a society.

Francis Schaeffer, a 20th Century Theologian and Philosopher, makes the point that artists and art communicate things about where our society is going long before it becomes part of our everyday conversation. A song, a story, a film, a book, a photograph or painting, a drama, architecture or pretty much any art can reveal something on a level that we only begin to discover as we encounter the art itself.

If you are a student of art, you will have experienced times where art spoke to you on a deeper level. The same can be said for those who connect with a story and just know it was good. I find that

to be the case when I read a book and a character or event reminds me of the truths we find true in Christianity. But sometimes truth is more subtle, such as when a character says something that you have wondered or thought and you have this little “yes” go off inside your head.

The prophetic role in the bible was given to one who spoke God’s truth to people. The prophet would communicate about how things truly were. This side of eternity, we live as fallen, blind, humans who unless we have been given spiritual eyes to see, miss even the dimly revealed and sometimes confusing “word” of God. I will one day see face to face but now I see in a glass darkly. (reference Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians chapter 13) The artist can and will continue to dig deeper and struggle to say something that matters. David Wilcox, for example, describes that many of his songs come from a situation that “bugs him for a metaphorical reason.”

I enjoy working with Artists and getting to know how other creatives think. I believe that people of Faith are especially able to communicate through art. The Spirit of God filled Bezallel to create as one of the first artists in the blble given to God’s service in making the tabernacle and all its wonders. Faith and Art can intersect. Sometimes it will be profound and sometimes just ring true. Some art by believers will seem simplistic or trite. Some try to avoid making a statement at all. I’m not sure we should put Christian Art in a box anymore than the prophet could put God in a box.

Artists are not a linear bunch. Things are not neat and tidy. Sometimes we don’t have anything profound to say but what we create can be a vehicle for others to stop and go hmmm? wait? Yeah!

Where do you see Art communicate in a “prophetic” way?

What are some examples of art that made you go hmmm?

Get David’s Album and more at DavidWilcox.com

Just for Fun – Here is the youtube video

The poor starving Artist is a common character and an all too common reality.  Many cities face struggles in funding the arts. Artists struggle to pay the bills. Artists and arts organizations fight over funding, spending time and resources in grant writing. There will always be a fluid nature to this issue as our circumstances change.

What do you think of when you hear the word poor? I think of failure. I think of lack of initiative. I visualize someone without choices. I see someone ignored and disdained.

Blessed are the poor

Jesus, says the poor are blessed.

Blessed are you who are poor. Why? What does this mean? This cannot be correct.
It is so completely backwards from the way our culture thinks!

Poverty brings you to the end of yourself.

When you don’t have anything it changes you. The very real and painful condition of poverty breaks our pride and helps us realize that we need someone to help us!

What I am not saying is that artists are better off poor and should live their lives barely getting by, living without being able to go to a doctor or have any money in a savings account. For a person to be “ok” with poverty means that they have learned that they are no longer in control and that they need to lay down their life into the hands of their creator. For only when I see that my life and my worth is not wrapped up in the things I own or my success, then I can begin look to God alone to meet my needs.

So what does Poor in Spirit mean?

In another passage Matthew 5, Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit.  In this passage Jesus expands on the idea of poverty.

When I consider that being poor brings me to the end of myself, I begin to see the issue is one of the heart as well as the circumstance. The person who is poor in spirit sees that his condition as a human being is broken, flawed, and without hope in and of itself. I have nothing that would grant me access to the presence of God. All mankind are born poor in spirit.

The solution for my poverty in spirit

Only when I begin to see this place of brokenness will I look for a solution. The solution is found as my spiritual poverty shows me that I need to be forgiven and gain “riches” that are not my own. Jesus is showing us that only by His becoming poor for us, taking on our personal debt of sin on the cross can we be part of the Kingdom. Only by Jesus perfect life and “riches” can he also give us his goodness and call us a new life with our adopted father. God in Christ brings the believer from state of an orphan to a son. We who trust in Christ alone are adopted and brought to a place of wholeness and look for God’s provision both physically and spiritually.

The blessed part of this verse is that those who see their poverty of spirit are called to look at Jesus for salvation and wholeness. Blessedness comes not in getting rich in this worlds goods, but finding the riches of Jesus. I learn to place my life into the care of a God who is my Father! I look to his Son who has promised that through Him I have access to the kingdom of heaven.

For the creative person, poverty can be a good thing as it points me to my need for Jesus.

What do you think?

Have you ever considered that circumstances in life such as poverty were are meant to point people to a need for Christ? Have you seen this in your life?

Maybe you are already a Christian as an Artists. How does the struggle with poverty cause you to go deeper in your relationship with God?

So how does your understanding of your poverty and need for Jesus effect your creative process? Does it?

I am part of a discipleship ministry called WDA or Worldwide Discipleship Association. (www.disciplebuilding.org)  WDA has spent almost 40 years developing a method for discipleship.  What I have learned in working both on campus and in the church, is that one size doesn’t fit all.  Methods and structures are tools.

WDA uses something called an R-CAPS grid to help fit key discipleship principles to the place a person is at that moment.

By looking at each person starting with your Relationship (R. in RCAPS) you then teach Content and provide places for Accountability (C. & A. in RCAPS) which fits them.

When I approach discipleship with the relationship in mind I find that my teaching isn’t as formulaic or brittle.  It can be fluid and flexible.  I can think how I need to Pray and the Situations that may help the learning process. (P. S. in RCAPS)

To teach biblical truth with my family, like with other creative people requires that I think creatively using R-CAPS to find points of interest and places to have teaching moments.  I’m finding that discipleship can begin with any of the R-CAPS.  I can teach beginning with prayer, talking about an issue in the news which is a good application or example of  truth and even beginning with a situation that then leads to a discussion about something I have been wanting them to learn.

I suggest that teaching creatives means you need to have a variety of starting points, which when connected to the other R-CAPS help people learn.  Once I would have followed a method closer to the way I learn. I focused on a bible passage or truth and the moved to accountability, prayer and even a situation.  I next tried to begin with relationships moving logically along the RCAPS grid.  As I have been learning to teach my family, I am growing to see that I need to forget a sequence and focus on the person.

Take time to watch WDA’s intro video for RCAPS (below) and learn how this discipleship tool can give you direction in your discipleship process. WDA has seen this tool used in churches and ministries around the world to help those who disciple others have a balanced approach to teaching.  Remember that one method does not fit all, but content applied with prayer, used in creative situations based on your relationship with others can help your discipleship produce mature growing Christians.

Sacrificial Love - by Matt Armstrong

Just what do people do when they gather to share creative work together? You may want to have an event at your church or organization.  Here are 5 Ideas for a Creative Arts Event that I think are worth everyone trying out.

1. Invite people to submit creative work for a “show and tell” night. Each person has 5 minutes and can either perform their art or show their visual art and describe it to others. This can happen in a formal meeting place or in a home or apartment.
2. Provide a place for people who create visual art to display in a gallery setting. We provided lighting for photography, paintings and graphic art in a small area at the back of our event. Ask artists to create a short summary of their work, it’s title and their name and display along with each work.
3. Give room for people to talk and ask questions to the artists.  Make the event about building community and engaging people.  I always like to ask the artists about their process, time, materials, and techniques needed to create work.
4. Consider combining visual art and performance art.  We recently had people who painted during an event, while others were doing music. One artist did a “worship painting” while a song was played.
5. Invite a guest artist to speak to the group. 

• sharing about their Christian faith and how it is reflected in their artistic calling or sharing a personal story about their journey to this point
• giving tips for younger artists who are pursuing art as a vocation, including some advice considering the challenges facing artists
• addressing a broad topic like the need for art education or the challenge and misconceptions of “Christian Art” and an Artist who is a Christian. (Ask the artist what they care about and what they would like to share)
• ending with a time of questions and answers provided your guest is comfortable fielding these.

Kerry Jackson: Bezallel Church

Some of these ideas were combined together for Incarnazio, a collaborative event by Bezallel Church and St Paul’s Creatives Group. We had both vocational and avocational artists participate.  You may find that combining a few of these ideas together will work for you.

What kind of events have you been part of?

Do you have any ideas for a Creative Arts Event?

Atlanta Arts Network strives to help church’s build connections between artists, encourage creativity and find places for believing artists to cultivate or pour their lives and art into others.