Page 48 - Empowering Missional Artists - Jim Mills.pdf

48
evangelist who knew that the Gospel had the power to turn the heart of a nation and the arts

were significant tools to do just that.

Today God is once again raising up a movement of servant missional artists, who like

Rev. MacDonald, aspire to make a difference in their world and serve His purposes for their

generation. (Acts 13:36) These contemporary artists also announce, “life and religion are one”

(Johnson 2005) as did MacDonald. A hand full of diverse Christian initiatives throughout Europe

17
networks, gathers, mentors, prays for and mobilizes these artists to serve church and society.
These endeavors also lobby and work to awaken church leadership to affirm, invest in and

empower these artists as leaders, who live and serve on the stage of life.

In this postmodern era what can be done to stay the moral disintegration of our western

cultures? The answer lies certainly with God’s agent for hope in the earth, the church. David

Taylor, director of Hope Arts, expressed his vision for the church as a change agent:

A Church which transforms the culture by way of a redemptive artistry; a Church that
sends her artists into the culture to become the incarnational presence of Christ, a
presence quietly hidden or powerfully public, holistic, prophetic, winsome or graciously
subversive; a Church which releases her artists to create works which expose all the
ugliness of sin and entice the human creature into the beauty of God. (Taylor 2007)

In closing, John Wilson issues this relevant and passionate call to the church on how we begin:

Perhaps the starting point should be tears. Weep for a glorious gift that is being degraded
and corrupted into a worthless thing; for art that shows no craftsmanship and
communicates no vision . . . for theaters where blasphemy and sexual license are
mistaken for liberty; for our often violent and pornographic cinema; for cheap sensational
literature; for poetry that has nothing to say; paintings revealing no created reality, and
music that only disturbs . . . we must weep for our lost culture, for the makers of that
culture and the casualties that are all around us . . . the tears should lead to prayer.
Prayer for those highly gifted that they will use their talents to enrich human life, bring truth
and joy by opening the eyes and understanding . . . Pray for those whom God has called
to serve Him in the arts that they might learn to use them aright in their lonely, difficult and
yet glorious calling. (Wilson 1981, 103)

The task of empowering artists as servant leaders cannot be carried out by Pastors alone.

Though they may nurture an empowering vision by articulating a congruent integral Biblical

worldview, which brings about a paradigm shift of cultural penetration and Christian artistic

presence in our world, it takes more. It takes the entire church community. It takes the family,