The Gospel Coalition 2013 National Conference Orlando, Florida April 9, 2013 Introduction (3 minutes) I was a musician long before I was a Christian. Music was a part of the fabric of my life from the very beginning and for as long as I can remember. But about 36 years ago, in the midst of undergraduate study, I began to experience a growing frustration as a musician. In spite of success in musical pursuits, including performance, competitions, and such, I had a growing sense of a lack of purpose, in both my musical life, but also my life in general. Something was amiss. Everything appeared to be just fine in my little world I was learning a lot, everything was going smoothly but I sensed that there was something significantly lacking. Eventually, I made my way to God (or He made His way to me). As a new Christ-follower, everything changed. All of a sudden, I had a reason to make music that didn t center on garnering attention for myself or for that matter, wasn t all about the music itself. In the midst of my new life in Christ, I found purpose I had previously lacked. Music, by itself - as a stand alone hadn t been sufficient. I think Bach had it right when he said, The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. Now I had the right ingredients in the right order. Music made lots of sense if it was attached to its appropriate source and inspiration. This coming year will be my 35 th in professional music performance, teaching, and ministry, and it is within this framework that any of it makes sense the arts as they were invented as appropriate praise, celebration, and proclamation to our most high God. As my story unfolded, I was given many opportunities, including active participation as a clarinetist with dozens of orchestral concerts each year, involvement in ballet and music theatre orchestras, music ensembles in a wide variety of churches, and chamber music. I was drawn to educational institutions that attempted to marry faith and the arts and I ve been given the opportunity to serve through teaching, performance, administration, and collaboration. A part of my current work involves serving in the music accreditation arena in higher education, often with faith-based institutions. I have been given roles within several organizations that focus on the intersection of faith and the arts, including the Christian Performing Artists Fellowship, Recreatio, the MasterWorks Festival, and Credo. We have collaborated with InterVarsity and most recently hosted a conference for leaders in the arts, a collaborative project that gathered professional artists and students from throughout the country. I am honored to be here today and I count it a rare privilege to join with you, as we serve our shared Lord through ministry, outreach, and gospeldriven service.
I would like to take the next 20 minutes of your lives to briefly present a theology of the arts, explore characteristics of artists, offer ideas on how to best nurture artists within the church, and lastly, offer some specific suggestions on supporting a rich aesthetic environment in your church. I am aware that you may have gone well beyond the ideas I will share, so we are looking forward to hearing from you in this session. Theology of the Arts (5) So let me begin with the question - why the arts? And more specifically, why the arts in the church? My Bible uses the word music or musician 128 times. There are many references to artistic expression in scripture. We seem to have a God that is set on the arts as appropriate and even requisite in proclaiming the glory of the Lord. Revelation references 10,000 times 10,000 singers and there are so many examples of the arts as a natural and welcome partner in worship, outreach, and praise. God understands, in fact, He abundantly intends the enormous power of the arts. We are aesthetic creations, made in his image. The 5 th word of the Bible is thoroughly woven into our beings. We can t help it we are bent on creating. Many in our ranks have been given special gifts of arts creation, but the purpose of these gifts is often misunderstood and challenging for artists and at times, difficult for churches. If we are to fully reach those we are called to reach, why wouldn t we do all we can to bring every tool and language to that work? The power of the arts to most fully present the gospel s incredible, unspeakable invitation is not only a good idea; it is the Lord s idea. He does not merely suggest that we consider singing and dancing for purposes of praise; it is an imperative that spills over into every facet of the life of the church and of every Christian. Psalms 13, 5, and 92 tell us to engage in artistic outpouring as we recognize God s gifts and goodness to us, Psalms 21, 47, 97, and 150 encourage us to sing in celebration of God s strength and power. And as we anticipate the return of the Lord, Psalm 96 instructs us to Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;! let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes... In Art for God s Sake, Philip Ryken writes,...god wants all of the arts to flourish in all the fullness of their artistic potential, so that we may discover the inherent possibilities of creation and thereby come to a deeper knowledge of our Creator. The arts are pervasively linked to human experience and the arts are a vehicle by which our lives are dramatically enriched. Did you know that we are unable to find any human culture that does not include the arts? Henry Fogel (President of the Chicago Symphony for 18 years) commented, Look around where there is human interaction, there is music. Of course, scripture instructs us multiple times to sing and
dance, to break forth in jubilant song, and to make a joyful noise. In the words of Anton Armstrong (conductor of the St. Olaf Choir), referring to music, he said, It s about eliminating the distractions so that the infinite power can shine through and transform the lives of those who make and hear it. As it relates specifically to our redemption, Philip Ryken offers an insightful biblical overview of music, stating that...the drama of redemption is and has to be musical. From the morning stars singing together at creation, to Moses singing by the sea (Exodus 15), to the exiles returning with singing (Isaiah 55), to the Christmas carols in Luke, to the final triumph songs of Revelation, it is never sufficient merely to tell the story of our salvation; we must always sing God s praise. The arts have unique capabilities to: praise and worship invite and evangelize proclaim heal teach I hope that you will agree that we have been given pervasive instruction and encouragement, as God s children, to seize the arts in the work of the church. In fact, the proclamation of the gospel may be incomplete without the incorporation of artistic expression. Ours is a God who is deeply artistic and creative and we have been similarly imbued with artistic inclination and ability. Ministry to the Artists stewardship of gifts. How does the church best attract, feed, and care for artists? (9) First let s try to understand these rascals the artists within the church. Artists are often people who live in two distinct worlds, many times standing between the church and the broader culture. They frequently have a strong sense that they are the purveyors of something very special, but they are also many times conflicted, because they know all too well the temptation to make the artistic activity the primary subject. So one of the most critical points for this group is in your hands, as leaders of the church, and that is to suggest that the arts are not the message, but a means to express the message, to work out the message, and to invite others to the message. The arts are one of the most significant avenues of communication with those in your congregation and well beyond, as to the invitation of Christ to us proclaiming, celebrating, and inviting, but artists need our help and support as they maintain the balance of God s perspective versus that of the world. One of the very special projects in my life for the last eight years has been the work of the Christian Performing Artists Fellowship, an organization for which I have served as the Chair of the Board until recently. The purpose of this organization is to bring together a group of professional
Christian artists in theatre, dance, and music from throughout the country. Working together with about 200 students (high school through graduate levels), this project intends to offer a rich, Christian context in which is woven daily Bible study, shared meals, rehearsals, and more than two dozen performances over the course of a month each summer. In addition, extensive leadership training and internships focus on the development of knowledge and skills that have been taken into more than 80 academic and professional arts settings including fellowship groups, Bible studies, and special projects. This organization has sponsored similar outreach initiatives in England, Bermuda, Hawaii, and China. There are a number of very similar projects, including Credo at Oberlin and this next year in Australia and Asia; Crescendo, which is headquartered in Switzerland and offered in dozens of countries, including the U.S.; Csehy at Houghton College; SALT at Belhaven University; and many more. Intervarsity and its national arts director support vibrant Bible studies at the Juilliard School, at Eastman, the Manhattan School of Music, and many other universities and arts conservatories. I believe that God may be stirring and that these initiatives are evidence of His hand at work, as He intends to encourage the church in matters of the arts. Each of these projects is designed to bring together artists of Christian persuasion and to encourage them as they live lives that are in the world, but not of it offering artistic gifts to and through the church, while also residing in the broader arts world. This is similar to the conditions faced by all others within the church pastors, dentists, plumbers, and teachers but the conditions faced by Christian artists may have a set of special challenges that warrant our attention. Many artists are decades into their careers, yet still practicing 2, 3, and 4 hours each day refining their crafts and exploring new techniques and ideas. Though not wholly unique, this is different than for many other professionals. So...what would we want to notice about the artists of the church? 1. Artists need special resources space, time, artistic freedom, and the encouragement and invitation to dream 2. Artists are frequently committed to high levels of excellence and standards and a willingness to commit to practice and getting it right, even if it requires many hours and revisions and often starting over. 3. Artists in your church will often have strong interest in evangelical outreach. Remember, many of them are performers. They have been trained to embrace a high level of engagement with an audience and so are naturally inclined toward evangelism and proclamation within an artistic vernacular. 4. Artists are best served when they are engaged in a loop of planning and delivery of arts offerings. While art making is highly creative and often personal, it is also best nurtured in community and relationship. With one another and others, artists have need for quality interaction.
5. An artist is often someone who is willing to spend a large amount of time getting some of the smallest details just right. We might view this as nearly obsessive but this obsession, with getting small details just right isn t all bad. With these tendencies in mind, I believe you have a very special opportunity as pastoral leaders to respond to these conditions. You are invited to teach, affirm, and facilitate the work of artists within the church. You have the opportunity to teach artists to keep the arts in their proper place remembering that the arts are not the message in and of itself, but a means to express the message and to invite others into it. You can affirm artists of their Christ-invited place within the church as coproclaimers of the gospel. This can often be achieved in very simple ways recognizing artistic contributions through words of acknowledgement and appreciation. And you have the power to facilitate the work of the artists within the church providing space, time, and resources that invite artists into the core of planning, delivery, and assessment. Let me return for a moment to the notion of helping artists with perspective. Simply put, many artists are wrong. They have become convinced that the art itself is the subject; that the arts are the beginning and end of the discussion. Maybe we shouldn t be surprised at this. Consider the nearly bizarre conditions of music performance let s say a piano soloist in Chicago s Symphony Center - seated before more than 2,500 audience members all of whom are intensely focused on the performer for two hours, stopping only occasionally to applaud, possibly rising to their feet at the end of the performance in a rousing, standing ovation. This is tough stuff to keep in perspective. In much of the arts performance world, we have a very low tolerance for error in fact our tolerance for error in many art forms is nearly zero. Think about a ballerina who falls not just once, but on 60% of her jumps or imagine a pianist playing a Chopin Ballade in which only about 35% of the notes are the ones that Chopin wrote. If you were a basketball player, these percentages would yield a multi-million dollar contract. In ballet and music, you would be finished very quickly. It is no wonder that these high expectations in the arts can drive some a little off the edge. For the record, this level of expectation is also highly valued in other fields, isn t it? How about...brain surgery, accounting, and theology. I decided to launch a campaign a few years ago. Doesn t it only seem fair to warn these little children of the dangers of playing that musical instrument? My idea was to attach a simple warning label to each instrument so that the child would be given a fair opportunity to consider just what they were getting into:
Caution:))Use)of)this)instrument)can)lead)to)excessive) anxiety,)heightened)levels)of)self9criticism,)acute) concern)about)the)opinions)of)other)people,)over9 awareness)of)the)strengths)and)weakness)of)others,) and)a)tendency)to)spend)prolonged)periods)of)time) practicing)alone)in)very)small)rooms)(often)staring) into)a)mirror).) My campaign never really got off the ground, though I will say that I have printed and distributed several hundred of these labels and still see them pop up from time to time on the music instrument cases of professional musicians. I would like to offer you some specific suggestions in supporting an environment that affirms and encourages artists. What can you do within your churches? 1. Nurture a rich aesthetic environment. Attend to the small aesthetic cues invite many into this conversation, create opportunities, develop and nurture ownership among church members. We all are alert to these aesthetic conditions and artists are especially sensitive to them. While cultivating a rich aesthetic environment, lean toward natural versus artificial light, flowers, colors, building materials of wood, stone, and natural fabrics. 2. Artists are looking for relationship interaction, healing, prayer, and community. Like the projects I described earlier, artists welcome the opportunity to be with other artists in support and encouragement of one another. Cultivate an environment that fosters these activities. Food and coffee and gathering spots are all good ideas in promoting rich, committed relationships. 3. Care about the artists as people first who they are, before what they do - and minister to them. They are mouthpieces for the church s message and are powerful resources in the proclaiming of the gospel and the broader ministry of the church. Artists are often sensitive to being used for the artistic products they can deliver. 4. Foster a communication loop with church artists that includes vision development, rehearsal and production, followup and assessment. Spend the time necessary to support this level of interaction and intentionality in arts offerings. 5. Assist artists, as the church is able, in the specific challenges of making art the need for space and opportunity, resources, and time, and venues for display, concerts, and outreach. Are there ways to support artists with housing needs, studio space, and teaching facilities? Could a Christian community of artists live near or within your church? 6. Artists enter your church and are there to deliver an artistic package. They have been carrying it for decades in some cases. Make the invitation clear, as they ask, Does my voice, gift,
perspective have a place in this church? They will often wait to be asked willing to contribute, but possibly hanging back initially. Within each of these conditions and tendencies among your artists, you have an exciting, critical role to play in cultivating a rich aesthetic environment; fostering deep, productive relationships; ministering to artists; fueling an active loop of communication; offering space and resources, and championing an ongoing invitation to each artist. Much of this will rely on an overall culture within your church and your role in establishing and furthering such an environment can pay extremely rich dividends. Your influence in these matters is vital and powerful. As an example, speak to artists after they have offered contributions to the church of course, to show your appreciation, but to also teach and guide as you notice and mention specific goals that were served by that artistic offering. You can then, or later, explore with these artists just how these objectives might be further served in future projects and chapters as you steer and encourage the arts in their proper place and perspective. You, undoubtedly, have many more ideas on how to best engage your flocks in artistic activity, so it is good that this is set up as a workshop and that we have opportunity to interact in sharing just how we best serve this grand, creative God. I am honored to be here with you and to be given this opportunity to encourage you and to explore together just where God might lead us in His interest in the artistic tools, creativity, and outreach of His people.
Gospel'Coalition'Conference' 'President'Ryken'Sessions' ' Expositional'Preaching'of'Luke:" The"main"Bible"expositions"for"this"conference"come"from"the"Gospel"of" Luke."Pastors"and"other"Bible"teachers"who"are"currently"working"through"Luke or"planning"to"do"so"in" the"future are"invited"to"come"with"their"questions"and"comments."the"discussion"will"focus"on"the" structure"of"luke"as"a"whole,"on"distinctive"aspects"of"its"presentation"of"the"gospel,"and"on"challenges"a" preacher"or"teacher"may"face"in"expounding"and"applying"its"message. " "" How'Pastors'Can'Encourage'Artistic'Gifts:" Many"Christian"artists"live"between"two"strange"worlds."Their" faith"in"christ"seems"odd"to"many"of"their"friends"in"the"artistic"community almost"as"odd"as"their" calling"as"artists"seems"to"some"of"their"friends"at"church."yet"christians"who"are"called"to"draw,"paint," sculpt,"sing,"act,"dance,"and"play"music"have"extraordinary"opportunities"to"honor"god"in"their"daily" work"and"to"bear"witness"to"the"grace,"beauty,"and"truth"of"the"gospel."this"workshop"will"focus"on"how" pastors"(and"churches)"can"encourage"christians"with"artistic"gifts"in"their"dual"calling"as"christian" artists. "