Stewards of Creativity
This week we read the book Visual Faith by William A. Dyrness. Throughout the book he advocates for a renewal of the arts within worship and faith culture. One of many statements that he made stood out to me: “We must become better stewards of their gifts as we allow them to expand our corporate vision.”[1]
When I was in High School, I attended a church were during the sermon an artist would be engaging in the message through visual art as they message was preached. At first, I had to adjust to this new response to the word but I did embrace it. One of my firm beliefs is that because God is our creator, we were made in His image and likeness; therefore, we possess the ability to be creative. With that said, I would make the assertion that we were all created to be creative beings. On January 30th 2015, I published a blog post for the High Calling entitled “On Earth As It Is in Heaven: Stewards of Creativity”. Within this short post, I made this statement that “All of God’s creation was given the ability to reproduce in some form or fashion. What makes our existence unique is that we were made in his image and likeness; therefore, we have the ability to create. This gift comes with the responsibility of stewardship.” [2] The post went on to state that “The ability to create is a supernatural connection between our earthly nature and our heavenly intertwining with the Holy Spirit. We cooperatively engage in seeing heaven brought to earth as we continue to yield to the guidance of the Spirit. In Ephesians, when Paul said we were God’s workmanship, I believe he was saying that we are His carefully imagined creative expression. We are hand-crafted to become everything He envisioned.”[3]
Regardless of the form of art we choose to engage in, art has its place in communicating and providing a valid demonstration of the Gospel within the Kingdom of God. Dyrness affirms that “if we are to be citizens of this time, we must learn to speak (and enjoy) this visual language, even as we seek to translate the gospel into its colors and tones.[4] The Gospel while is points to one Truth, it can be communicated in various ways. To limit or diminish the way in which is is conveyed is a disservice, in my opinion, to the great commission. We as ambassadors of the Gospel must be open to way in which the Spirit leads us to share both verbally and visually. The renewal that Dyrness speaks off in certain faith communities is a shift in how we understand the revelation of the Spirit. My prayer is that we do not lose sight of the fact that we are created to be creative!
[1]. William A. Dyrness, Visual faith: art, theology, and worship in dialogue (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 161.
[2] “On Earth As It Is in Heaven: Stewards of Creativity,” On Earth As It Is in Heaven: Stewards of Creativity – The High Calling – Theology of Work, January 30, 2015, , accessed September 16, 2017, https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/blog/earth-it-heaven-stewards-creativity.
[3] IBID.
[4] William A. Dyrness, Visual faith: art, theology, and worship in dialogue (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 157.
About the Author
Christal Jenkins Tanks
9 responses to “Stewards of Creativity”
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Christal, this is really beautiful.
“The ability to create is a supernatural connection between our earthly nature and our heavenly intertwining with the Holy Spirit. We cooperatively engage in seeing heaven brought to earth as we continue to yield to the guidance of the Spirit. In Ephesians, when Paul said we were God’s workmanship, I believe he was saying that we are His carefully imagined creative expression. We are hand-crafted to become everything He envisioned.”
I can’t think of anything to add. Looking forward to seeing you in Cape Town. There will be much visual there for sure!!
“Regardless of the form of art we choose to engage in, art has its place in communicating and providing a valid demonstration of the Gospel within the Kingdom of God. Dyrness affirms that ‘if we are to be citizens of this time, we must learn to speak (and enjoy) this visual language, even as we seek to translate the gospel into its colors and tones.'”
Excellent, concise reminder of our being made in the image of God, Christal, that we are all created to create.
And yes, stepping away from our jobs always entails more work to get ready to leave. I’m thankful you’ve waded through the overwhelming week and am looking forward to exploring SA with you!
Thanks Katy! Yes this week has posed a challenge in my preparation for SA! I am grateful that I was able to get through it. Now I can look forward to our trip and time together! 🙂
“We as ambassadors of the Gospel must be open to way in which the Spirit leads us to share both verbally and visually.” What more can be said? Powerful statement and a great reminder of what we are to be about.
I really enjoy that tool where art is created while the speaker is speaking. Very effective when it compliments the speaker. Funny story. I did that at one of my workshops and when the artist excitedly revealed her work to the audience, it was so abstract and startling it became anti-climatic and a bit disturbing. Haven’t used that teaching tool since. I guess the takeaway here is know your artist. 🙂
Yes Jen, this teaching tool doesnt always turnout to be a “homerun”. When I read you comments I laughed out loud just using my imagination to visually place myself in the audience of the experience you mentioned.
It can pose a challenge when people have certain expectations of the outcome. You definitely have to know your artist. 🙂
Christal—enjoyed your post. I agree, “…we were all created to be creative beings.” I think the idea that we are stewards of creativity is a thought-provoking and important notion. I too believe that God created us to be creative. It’s as important to who we are as breathing. Thanks for pointing that out Christal.
Yes Jim! I agree our ability to be creative is just as important as breathing. I would even go as far to say that when we limit the creative expression of ourselves or others can be suffocating.
“Regardless of the form of art we choose to engage in, art has its place in communicating and providing a valid demonstration of the Gospel within the Kingdom of God.”
This is really it in a nutshell, isn’t it Christal? When our creativity is running dry, does it mean that we have wandered away from center, then?
Kristin you pose a great question to ponder. I would answer it in two ways. The first is that I believe that at time we go through seasons where we can feel dry. Those seasons, while not ideal, do produce fruit in our lives. Second, I would say that our dry season can alert us that we may have somehow disconnected from our creative flow and need to reconnect to continue to live out our purpose.