An interview with Gene Veith on art and Christianity; he talks in particular about art at the time of the reformation, mentioning Cranach the Elder and Albrecht Durer. Veith’s blog at Christianity, Culture, Vocation; the podcast link originally posted by CyberBrethren via Twitter.

Lausanne World Pulse website published an article on art as mission in France. It’s a good article written by Steve Thrall touching on the why and how of art in missions. Below is an image from Pat Butler’s website of Thrall giving a talk in France.

Last Thursday I participated in my first webinar. The topic was art and missions, something very interesting to me and a subject rarely discussed in the context of missions. The following were a few of the more interesting observations I came away with, my notes in essence.

• Music is the artistic exception that the church has not so much ignored in the past century. While it could be argued to a degree, and I might add drama to the short list, the speaker’s mentioning this point just confirms my own observations.
• The Bible begins and ends with God creating.
• Christians make lists of God’s character traits. Imagination is conspicuously missing from all of these lists (so far as the speaker, Byron Spradlin, could tell). Along these lines, when God created ex nihilo all things were abstract or even non-representational by our definitions. A fish was just as abstract as a tree.
• Christianity is not just an informational faith. Why then has so much “Christian art” aspired to be so literal? Life and ministry engage both the head and the heart (Matt. 22:37-40, Eph 3:18-19).
• Spradlin defined an artist, per Exodus chapters 35 and 36, as someone with unusual wisdom in creative design.
• Humans live in time and space. Art, or “icons,” help us pass through our physical existence into transcendental realities.
• Artists need to be a part of missions as strategists (Spradlin suggested their role up to now in the past century has been relegated to that of performer), and even allowed to make mistakes *gasp*
• Spradlin mentioned a missionary in Europe. He is a photographer. When he goes out and hands out tracts, he gets little response from the people. When he goes out to take pictures with his camera, people flock to him. Go figure.

I had one question in particular I wanted Spradlin to answer, but — not surprisingly — the webinar went long as it was and he didn’t get to it. I hoped to get a sense from the speaker what kind of interest or felt need he thought there was for my idea of a Christian artists retreat or colony that functioned to funnel artists of faith into missions. I sent the question via Facebook hoping to get an answer after the seminar ended, and am still waiting to hear back.

He concluded by suggesting that the most significant barrier to artists becoming more involved in missions is simply that agencies still believe art to be this elite, intellectual pursuit. How can we as artists or mission mobilizers change this?

My boss pointed out an upcoming webinar I might be interested in titled Artists in Missions: A reservoir of potential for cross-cultural ministry. From the flyer for the event:

Artists in missions? Mission leaders have a great opportunity to re-enfranchise artists for leadership in our new multi-cultural, post (hyper) modern culture. But embracing artists in ministry and missions is as tricky as it is fruitful. Still, new millennium ministry demands we include them — as ministry strategists as well as program presenters.

This webinar will help you understand how to involve artists in your cross-cultural ministry by considering the following:

• The value of artists in ministry
• The potential for incorporating artistics and creative culture in your teams
• Missionary roles for artists
• Identifying artists that fit your ministry
• Avoiding problems in recruiting artists
• Communication and conflict between left and right-brainers

The webinar is being given by Byron Spradlin, founder and president of Artists in Christian Testimony (ACT). ACT has been around since 1973 if I recall correctly, so Spradlin probably possesses a lot of useful perspective on this issue.

I have two reservations about this rare opportunity. First of all it costs $40 to register for the hour and a half presentation. Secondly, Spradlin is a musician. I have nothing against musicians or music — quite the contrary — but music can be a very different ball game than the plastic arts, especially when I think of how it might work in the context of missions. This is probably, hopefully an unfounded concern. ACT works with all kinds of artists, and Spradlin has been at this long enough to have a broad perspective.

I haven’t registered yet. The detailed flyer was only posted a couple days ago, and I’m waiting to see if I have to pay for it out of my own pocket or if the boss will reimburse me for it. I’m guessing that I’ll participate one way or another though. It’s a topic all too rarely broached.