From the earliest days of the church, art and Christian life have been intertwined. Painted frescoes and carvings of Jesus can be found in the ancient catacombs that sheltered persecuted believers under Roman rule. These were not rigid formal icons—rather they were expressions of individual and communal creativity, integrating old symbols and new with the impulses and yearnings of the first believers to create true art: multifaceted, carefully executed, worshipful and full of meaning.
The richness of Christianity’s treasures for the creative soul gave the world one of the greatest, most imaginative and most diverse creative traditions in human history. From Dante to Flannery O’Connor, Michelangelo to Shūsaku Endō, Augustine to Wendell Berry, it is impossible to overstate how much the artistic expression of Christianity has shaped our culture and our minds.
Of course, this rich tradition has not ended, but on a practical level, the relationship between those called to creative work and the church is often complicated. While many pastors have a background in the arts and appreciate them, a latent mutual distrust can sometimes develop between Christians whose calling is to create art, music, literature and dance, and those whose calling is to lead them. Some of this tension is natural and inherent. The artist’s job is to tell the truth with as much power, originality and beauty as can be mustered. All other concerns are secondary, including many that feel primary to church leaders, whose instincts of doctrine and lifestyle tend toward tamer lanes than those of the artist.
The fact is, the pastor needs the artist, and the artist needs the pastor. Their roles are complementary, which is precisely as it should be. But the pastor’s role with artists, as is the pastor’s role with all vocations, is to serve, guide and feed. Here are five steps a less artistically inclined pastor can take to make this relationship as positive and fruitful as possible for the creative life of your artists and of your congregation and community.
- Be Authentic.
Artists don’t need you to be anything other than what you are—a pastor. Besides being very good at sniffing out inauthenticity, artists very likely have baggage, voiced or unvoiced, with Christian leaders in this area. Don’t assume you fully understand what they are thinking or feeling, as you do not—any more than they fully understand what you are thinking or feeling. Instead, work to be simple and direct. Ask honest questions.
Remember that the artistic vocation is to tell the truth, which means that to the degree they are a real and effective artist, they will have a more finely tuned ability than most to “see” and “hear” what is real. You do not have to try to please them, pander to them, show false interest or (worst of all) show well-meaning condescension to their work. Instead, simply be yourself.
One discipline that works exceptionally well to relate authentically is in the asking of positive, open-ended questions, such as:
* What inspires your work?
* What medium/genre/tradition do you work with?
* What are you reading/watching/listening to these days?
* What are some of the big themes or concepts you see coming out in your work?
* Tell me about the relationship between your faith and art. Does it ever feel complicated?
Such questions humbly communicate a sense of pastoral value. They do not claim to know the artist’s work or calling better than the artist does, nor do they create a lopsided relationship between the pastor and the artist. Instead, the values behind them stress that the artist’s work is expected to be compelling, meaningful and challenging.
Best of all, you as a pastor will discover things that are undoubtedly interesting. There is something here that is sacred and intriguing. Establishing a relationship that assumes nothing, that builds trust and allows the artist room to speak for themselves, is valuable and affirming, and likely something the artist has been longing to hear from a spiritual leader in their life.
- Dig Deep Wells.
This is far from the whole story, but the truth is that many church leaders do not have a reputation for wide reading or interest in the arts. While pastors like Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard and Fleming Rutledge inspire us with their wide reading habits and sense of expansive and grounded cultural interests, they can seem too few and far between.
For your own sake and for the sake of creative people in your community, it is important to drink from deep wells, expanding your own tastes and horizons of thought and emotion. This simply means spending intentional time with good art, film, music and writing. By “good” I mean art that is well and carefully crafted, rich enough to sustain multiple interpretations or engagements, and that often has stood the test of time or of wide popularity with different types of people.
For many of us, this takes slightly more effort than mere entertainment. Good art is abundantly generous, but it asks something of us: real engagement. If we are willing to commit a little time and effort, we find ourselves in the presence of something sacred—the product of another person’s deep creativity, exercised, regardless of background or imperfection, in the image of God.
- Affirm the Call.
For some people, a creative life may be a hobby or a career; for others, it is a calling. It asks for significant commitment, inspires sacrifice and helps shape the arc and trajectory of their lives and thought. Furthermore, because of its ability to inspire, communicate and form the human imagination’s sense of truth, beauty and goodness, it is a calling that influences other callings. This carries special opportunities and special dangers. It deserves intentional and attentive pastoral care to ensure that those called in this way remain supported, enlivened and relationally connected to Christ and his people.
This will be most challenging for ministries that follow a model of exclusively focusing on a single leader’s vision for ministry or mission. The truth is that every congregation has work to do that is far wider than the contributions of the church or the vision of a single person or team. That calling includes cultivating and making sacred every single Christian’s individual life and contribution to the kingdom work. Their vision. Their vocation.
Like other workers in your church, artists need to hear you say—and frequently—that their calling matters to Christ and his church. They need you to plead for them to remain fresh in soul and pressing faithfully to “overcome the world” in Jesus. They need to hear that their work of expression and creativity is something in which God purely delights, and which can be flower and fruit for the great, wide tree of the church.
- Empower, Don’t Expect.
One of the difficulties that you might encounter when connecting with an artist is the expectation that you have an ulterior motive. Talented musicians are used to being asked to play on the worship team, good writers are pressed into service with the communications team, visual artists are hounded for free graphics, etc. Put the right way, an invitation can be a wonderful thing, but when there is a veiled agenda, a lack of appreciation or a sense of being used—well, you can imagine how that feels.
With this in mind, gauge the balance between empowerment and expectation. Empowerment simply means making sure the artist is not alone, that they feel that the attention and resources of the community are there for them. Expectation is not necessarily negative, but it must be accompanied by genuine, reciprocal relationships, clear communication and regular marks of appreciation and gratitude as seem pastorally appropriate.
Clarify expectations transparently and often. Language like this might help:
* “I’m so impressed by your work. Would you ever be open to sharing it with our church?”
* “I would love to invite you to contribute to our programming, but I don’t want to assume anything about your time. Would you be open to a conversation?”
* “I see God working in your creativity. Is there anything we can do to support or encourage you, no strings attached?”
* “You’ve been volunteering for a while. I appreciate it so much. How is it really going for you. Does it feel sustainable? Do you still have leftover energy to focus on creative work outside of church?”
* “I know we can’t pay you what you’re worth, but we’re grateful for your gift of time and talent. We would like to send you on a weekend retreat to help you recharge as a small thank you.”
One of the beauties of church is that, when healthy, we have a chance to bring our gifts freely to serve others. Empower artists to participate in this kind of generosity.
- Know How Much You Matter.
The Christian artist needs you. What you have to offer is powerful—it is not just right teaching (though that is important), nor is it connection to a community (wonderful though that can be). What the Christian leader has to offer the Christian artist is more paradoxical, powerful and overlookable. It is blessing.
This blessing is experienced in many different ways by the artist, but it is most purely communicated by your simple presence. The work of the pastor to simply be near is a grace to the artist, and opens a world of other, secondary blessings: of insight, connection, exhortation, encouragement and, yes, creative inspiration.
Whatever your role in the church or your relationship to the arts, it is a worthy task to reach out to those in your community who are working to tell the truth, to create meaning and beauty in a world daily losing its sense of life and light.
As you support those with a creative calling in your community, you will be investing in a vital and blessedly unpredictable aspect of your congregation. While it will likely be an adventure, one thing is certain—the Creator will be pleased to see you investing in an activity so dear to his own heart.
Paul J. Pastor is editor-at-large of Outreach magazine and author of Bower Lodge: Poems.