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Leadership & Life
Where Have All The Artists Gone?
Mal Fletcher
We're standing, my son and I, in Amsterdam's Van Gogh museum, gazing at a wall filled with Vincent's paintings. We're definitely impressed with the pictures - and with the number of people who queue outside the building on this wintry morning just to see them. Why don't they line the streets for church like that?
For the past twenty years, the world of art has been going through a kind of renaissance and its popularity shows no sign of shrinking. Hotels, restaurants and cinemas exhibit and sell works of art and Internet art auctions do brisk business.
Sadly, many church leaders have come to view the arts as something 'out there', something which others do. We've relinquished our influence in an area that shapes peoples' thinking and values. Our culture suffers because we've taken preaching out of the marketplace and art out of the church.
Our God is the ultimate artist. Whenever he wants to speak to a generation, he first gets their attention, incarnating his message in a form that they can understand. He confronts Moses with the first ever 'bush-fire'. He points Abram to the stars. He paints vivid pictures. (That's what revivals are about!)
Many church leaders have antipathetic feelings toward art; sometimes, because we're more comfortable with the polemics of preaching. Preaching is, by its very nature, black and white and when it ceases to be so it loses its unique power.
Art, on the other hand, is not so clear cut. It is not so much about statements as questions. It provokes us and makes us feel something.
Yet that is why we should be encouraging artists. Art can be prophetic: it can challenge the way things are in this world and point our spirits to something better - the kingdom of God. Preaching can work alongside art to suggest the answer to the heart's longings.
The other reason we are unsure of the arts is that we find very creative people difficult to work with. They just don't seem to fit into the system.
Should we fear these people? Not at all. We should labour until Christ is formed in them, without seeing their gifts as 'worldly' or 'secular'. I remember my parents allowing my brothers and sisters and me to express our creativity and individuality. Yet we had to do so within boundaries - we were not allowed to disrupt the rest of the family.
We should welcome artistic people into the spiritual home and allow them scope for their creative gifts, giving the 'train tracks' of vision along which their gifts can run. We should allow their creativity to rub off on us. After all, any vision will die if it isn't constantly watered by fresh innovation.
We should even take active steps to encourage artistic expression using, for example, video and modern media alongside music. Our own home church features in its large foyer a series of sculptures and paintings by local artists, all with a kingdom theme. They're not all masterpieces, but when artists walk in those doors they feel there is a place for them here.
Leaving the Van Gogh building, I remember that he started out with a passion for God, a drive to share the gospel. I'm left wondering what kind of influence this talented but troubled young man might have had if his church could have harnessed some of that enormous creative energy.
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