We have looked at some of the ways in which our thinking needs to be reshaped when considering the links between faith and art. Laying out a fresh understanding is only the beginning. The second facet of this educational component is to consider how faith communities might strengthen their understanding and heighten their awareness about the arts as well as welcome them into the mix for faithful living. Here we are concerned to create opportunities for learning about both the biblical view of the arts and about art itself. The education we wish to encourage includes education about the arts, in the arts and through the arts.
The time is ripe for Christian faith communities around the world to be intentional in their commitment to engage the arts as an important component in the life of the church and as a strategic resource for bridging to the various cultures in which our faith communities are found. Our neglect of the arts impoverishes our communal life as God’s people and diminishes our resourcefulness as witnesses of the kingdom and of the good news of the gospel.
Because of this neglect little is being done to cultivate a Christian imagination. Meanwhile, the imaginations of a whole generation are being shaped by cultural trends that are devoid of any Christian content. The great task of reclaiming the imagination is one that will require our commitment to develop effective education programs for believers in our faith communities and educational institutions. This is no small task, and will require vision and leadership as well as the engagement of dancers, poets, visual artists and performance artists in our communities.
OBSTACLES
The call to a renewed theological vision as set out in this document is a
call for a shift in our thinking. We are all inclined to maintain our comfort
level and new thinking can make us uncomfortable. Change is often a slow process
and we are aware that there are obstacles that may make the shift we are recommending
difficult. Here as elsewhere, we will want to confront obstacles with strategies
for consideration, discussion, further development and possible implementation.
These tasks will include:
· Overcoming a long tradition of neglect of the arts by the church
· Overcoming resistance to change by individuals and institutions
· Finding efficient ways to communicate with those who can make a difference
· Reducing discomfort with the ambiguity found in the arts
· Finding church communities that are hospitable to the arts
· Funding curriculum development in colleges and seminaries
· Overcoming resistance to cultural art forms within a church context
· Shaping a sustainable structure that will support the arts and artists
· Linking Christians through a global network of arts organizations
· Finding qualified people to develop curriculum in the arts
STRATEGIES
The “renewed mind” needs the vehicle of strategic action that
will employ the personal, educational and technological resources available
for the work of educating in the arts. Our hope is that this document will
be a catalyst for mobilizing people of faith in church communities around
the world to give new attention to the arts and so be beneficiaries of all
that they have to offer. To accomplish this requires creative strategies for
moving from good ideas to a place of dynamic change. Among the strategies
we wish to affirm are:
1. Developing and supporting national and global networks of Christ-centred arts organizations to help to increase the momentum and understanding in arts-related concerns within faith communities.
2. Creating educational resources for faith communities to provide an informed biblical and theological understanding of the arts. These may take the form of church or small group curriculum.
• Mike and Zipporah, musicians and messianic Jewish believers, have launched an arts academy with a Christian worldview. They are attempting to fill a huge void in support for young artists who are just beginning to develop. They write about the development of artists and cover the disciplines of music, theatre, dance writing and visual art in their academy. However, it comes as no surprise that their greatest challenge is getting adequate funding for staff, facilities and equipment.
3. Funding qualified teachers to create courses in the arts for Christian higher education.
One of the greatest challenges facing artists and art organizations today is the issue of funding. Patronage is still necessary if artists are to pursue what God has gifted and called them to do. Sadly, with notable exceptions, most evangelical grant-giving foundations have little or no understanding of, or interest in, the arts. Ironically, secular foundations and arts-funding organizations are much more responsive to Christians when they see quality work in the arts and perceive that the community will benefit in some way. Artists and their supporters also need to think more in terms of business models in their work and projects. It is of particular importance when making funding proposals to businesses and corporations to present them in language they will understand and respond to. Mutually beneficial and helpful relationships must be established with the business community.
4. Establishing biblically based course and degree offerings in the arts at Christian colleges, seminaries and universities. It is in these places that both the leadership and the rank and file of the church can discover the value of the arts, in the scheme of the divine order of creation and the mission responsibility of the church.
• “The Dreaming Of Lions Project” by a Canadian artist, uses an unusual visual narrative exhibition along with PowerPoint lectures to teach visual language, visual metaphor, and ways in which God uses this language to communicate with His people in the scriptures, in every culture and in daily life. This display and lecture series has traveled internationally, and is an interactive college and seminary level credit course.
5. Planning for seminars and conferences that will foster new awareness of the arts and encourage Christian leaders and teachers to promote the arts in churches, mission organizations and educational settings.
• A Paris church organized a four-day art event with expositions,
concerts, dance and film offerings and a forum. All events were public and
free. The response from the community was overwhelming. The exposition focused
on the work of invited professional painters, but also featured the work of
amateurs and church members selected by jury. In the context of this weekend
art show, a four-day forum was organized inviting artists, pastors, and others
from around Europe to discuss the relationship of art and the mission of the
church in the urban context. A dozen countries were represented.