The Musical and Visual Arts in Worship

The Arts in African American Episcopal Churches

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Music has always been central to the worship of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Richard Allen, the founder of the denomination, provided a hymnal filled with selections that were popular among his people and that reflected the African-American heritage. Subsequent editions of the hymnal have included a wide variety of material. The visual and performing arts have also become a hallmark of worship in the AME church. Colorful robes and stoles and vibrant liturgical dance have contributed significantly to worship.

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The Arts in Adventist Churches

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Gospel song is prominent in the music of Adventist churches. However, the range of music used spans the centuries from traditional masterpieces to contemporary choruses. Churches rely on a variety of instruments, from large pipe organs to electronic synthesizers. The other arts are not generally used in worship, but among a few leading churches banners, hangings, and drama have been introduced.

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Christian Artist or Christian Communicator?

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ow does an artist share his faith in a genuine way? How can a singer use her talent as a communicator rather than a performer? Two key elements are a strategic vision and a servant’s heart. First, a strategic vision develops from the artist’s clear idea of the goal that he or she wants to achieve, an idea which then organizes and informs every step toward that goal.

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How Imagination and Artistic Expression Relate to Worship

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When people go to worship, whether in groups or alone, God designed them to need to exercise their imaginal intellect as much as any other dynamic of their being—including their rational intellect. When people worship God alone, they “practice” focusing their faith toward God through the gate of their imagination. As they couple their imagination with their intellect, they will imagine the unseen realities they "know" are true in Scripture.

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The Biblical Definition of Art and Artistic Expression

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Art is a part of life. It is not something people can choose to omit from their lives. Artistic expressions—imaginative human expressions—are more than a form of human communication. They are the substance, the amniotic fluid, in which human relationships live and grow—human-to-human, and humans-with-God.

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Rejection of the Modern Idea of Artists and the Arts

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This preconceived concept about art, and its relationship to the Church, does major damage to the Church’s ability to pursue artist expression as a means for making worship central to the mission of the body of Christ. Church leaders need to reject this modern view of artist expression, which excludes the imaginative realm of metaphors, symbols, and human expressions (or signal systems), and come back to a biblical view of the arts. In doing so, they will find new vitality for worship as the central agenda of the churches.

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The Role of the Artist and the Arts in Life and Ministry

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In Exodus 35 we see one of the most helpful summary passages in Scripture that reveals a description and role of the artistic specialist in the life of the believing community. This Old Testament passage highlights the role of the artistic expression specialist in the generally and worship-life of the believing community. It also provides critical instructional details that are specifically applied to specialized servants of God that were “filled with the Holy Spirit” and given “the ability to teach others”

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12 Roles Artists Play in Life and Living

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Artists are far more than wacky eccentrics; they are “imaginative expression specialists” (a term I’ve been using for several years). And they have been created by God for the purpose “of leading people into touching the transcendent realities God, and life. So hopefully these twelve areas will help you see more clearly how and why “Artistics” are so important to the way God has designed us and the way we related to Him, and to ourselves and others.

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Ministry and Imagination

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The reality of the content of the gospel (the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, God’s Son, the righteousness of God whose death paid the penalty for my and your sin—1 Cor. 15; Rom. 3) does no good without connection with the giver of the gospel. And artists are specialists at creating environments wherein human creatures can connect with their creator.

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World Evangelization and Artistic Expression

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When evangelization happens in its fullness, culturally appropriate and sensitive communication is crucial. In many parts of the world, due to lack of literacy, such communication will be through artistic or imaginative expression. Music, drama, storytelling, painting, architecture, mime, puppets, crafts, festivals, movement, ritual, and on and on, are all forms of artistic expression.

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