A Place of Redemption
Have you ever walked into a cathedral filled with statues depicting the life of Jesus? Have you ever seen walls covered with gold as they display paintings of biblical themes? I have often seen it throughout Latin America. In most cities rooted in Spanish colonialism, there are Catholic cathedrals that display beautiful art. Yet, the beauty of the art is suddenly overpowered by the idolatry that surrounds it. You see people praying to the statue of the Virgin Mary, placing money with written prayers in the boxes conveniently located next to the statues of a famous saint or a suffering Jesus. Next to these statues, there are displays of literature, including short booklets that talk against evangelical theology and warn readers about the eternal consequences of purgatory if they leave their allegiance to the Mother of God.
Some of the most amazing visual art inspired by Christianity in Latin America is commonly used to encourage people to practice idolatry, not to point them to freedom in Christ. The majority of born-again believers in Latin America come from this background. Therefore, it is easy to understand why the visual arts can be downplayed in the evangelical church as it was during the Reformation.
In the book Visual Faith: Art, Theology, & Worship, professor William Dyrness reflects on the historical relationship between visual arts and Christianity. He concludes that the Evangelical church needs to rediscover the powerful role that the visual arts can have in ministry and calls us to embrace a fresh relationship between the visual arts and the church. He argues, “the contemporary generation has been raised and nourished by images; it has an inescapably visual imagination. Regardless of whether one considers this good or bad, for this generation, aesthetics counts more than epistemology.” (Kindle, 346).
I find the assertion about epistemology alarming. Yet, Dyrness has a point. It is wise to remember that we live in a consumer culture. And as Vincent Miller discovered in Consuming Religion, aesthetics is an important factor in a consumer culture because it communicates a message. If you have ever opened a new iPad or MacBook you know what I mean—beauty can inspire trust.
Dyrness causes me to discern the relationship between the message and the means. I am moved to ask, what does the physical environment communicate? What is the experience that it provides? Is my message magnified by the environment I create or does it contradict my message? According to Dyrness, embracing the visual arts into the ministry environment can help us better connect with a visual generation. And there are some wise ways of doing this.
When art flows out of the mission, it has a unique power to create organizational alignment. Author Jim Collins points out that total alignment is an important sign of a healthy organization–everything in the organization must point to the mission and vision. According to Collins, this alignment must be so tight, that even if strangers walk in, they should be able to discern what the organization is about just by looking at the space around them. Collins causes me to ask, how does the physical environment communicate our mission and vision as a church? What can we do about it? The answer to this question can take us to unexpected places.
In my experience, one of those unexpected places was a conference in California. There, I met Hyatt Moore, a powerful artist and former president of Wycliffe Translators (see his short video on top of this page. It is worth watching). Among his paintings there was one in particular that caught my attention. It was the Last Supper as I had never seen it before. I found it captivating because it had theological depth and captured the essence of our ministry vision at Ethnos without words. I ended up buying a large print of it and it is now displayed in our main entrance in order to reinforce our message. It was encouraging to experience Christian art without the context of idolatry, and it reminded me that there are gifted artist in the Body of Christ that were called to create visual art.
Giving Christians a context to minister with their creative gifts has become a sign of a healthy church. One of the pioneer leaders in the multiethnic church movement is pastor and author Erwin McManus, founder of Mosaic. This thriving multiethnic church in Los Angeles, California, has a large concentration of artists. In his book The Artisan Soul, McManus reflects on the importance of embracing the creative call that God has given the church, echoing the message from professor Dyrness. McManus causes me to ask, how am I encouraging the artistic expression in the Body of Christ? This is an example that I hope to imitate in my pursuit of a healthy multiethnic church, even though I must recognize that I have a long way to go.
It seems to me that with the fall of humanity, Satan has hijacked everything that God made beautiful. He has managed to distort life into death, sex into immorality, and art into idolatry. But God has redeemed a people to Himself. He has turned death into life, immorality into sexual purity, and art into celebration. Whether we use art to connect with this generation in new ways, create organizational alignment, or give artists a platform to create, I pray that God can use Ethnos Bible Church to be a place of restoration and redemption for all. Even if I have a long way to go, I want to to make the most out of this journey.
About the Author
Pablo Morales
Pablo Morales serves as the Lead Pastor of Ethnos Bible Church in Texas. He is currently pursuing the Doctor of Ministry degree in Leadership and Global Perspectives at Portland Seminary in order to understand what it takes to develop a healthy multiethnic church.8 responses to “A Place of Redemption”
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Thanks Pablo for a history lesson in art within our worship centers, I fully agree with this statement. “When art flows out of the mission, it has a unique power to create organizational alignment.”
However, my thinking was geared toward the future… should “Art” be limited to traditional Christian images with Bible verses tacked on them or relegated to only creating the backdrops and props of theater productions? Or would the ministry be about reaching the artists within the church and putting their gift back into practice?
The question for the churches, should the church have a visual Art Ministry? If so what would be the vision and goals of the Visual Art Ministry? Do you think it wise for leaders to focus on Visual and Sound Theology in today church?
Thanks for sharing, it was a great blog and it touch core of my being and gave me food for thought! Hopefully we will see each other in London, if it is the Lord’s will. Rose Maria
Rose,
I see your point. It seems to me that a holistic approach to the artistic gifts in the body of Christ has two sides. On the one hand, it implies welcoming the visual arts as one manifestation of ministry. On the other hand, it also involves reaching out to artists who do not know the Lord in a language that they can connect with. A good example of these two approaches can be found in Mosaic, a church in California. Pastor Erwin McManus has written about it and their ministry is thriving. You can check out their ministry at http://www.mosaic.org.
Pablo
Pablo,
I understand what you are referring to regarding art depicting biblical themes in the great cathedrals. Traditionally, there is a range of iconography, from a strong presence of idolatry to subtle renditions coordinated within the greater art works. I suspect that phenomenon you experienced is more distinctive of Latin America than in other places. I have visited Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican cathedrals in Europe, and the emphasis in iconography is of course more pronounced in the Catholic cathedrals.
But Latin America is also unique because Christianity there is sometimes a marriage between colonialism and Catholicism and the union is inseparable. The written, oral, and artistic media can serve the power structure intent on subjugating and controlling the masses in all areas of life through Catholic theology.
In all of the discussion about the role of visual art, you have come to the right conclusion. That is, how does it impact an individual’s redemption, restoration, and worship?
Claire,
Thank you for your insights. I look forward to experiencing some of the visual arts during this trip to Europe!
Pablo
Pablo,
This video, and Moore’s explanations are truly inspiring and encouraging. What a vision he presents for God’s ultimate goals.
Several quotations will stick with me. Referring to the painting as “The Next Supper,” quoting the black woman who said, “This is the first time I have really felt invited,” are two of them. I love what he says about God’s palette and how that is reflected in the thousands of colors and tribes in the world. Thank you so much for bringing us this painting and video.
You answered one of my first questions when I watched this video: “Did Pablo get a copy of this painting for his church?”
One further question: Which church needs this paining more – Ethnos or very-white Calvin Presbyterian church in very-white Corvallis, Oregon? Why?
A second (optional) question: Given Dyrness’ exhortation to dialogue and the Protestant-Reformed valuing of words and preaching, how much value is added to the painting because of the thorough explanation Moore gives in the video? (I love that he says that when people see the painting “they’re going to talk about it.)
Pablo,
Great use of video in your blog! I really enjoyed reading your blog, because you looked at it from a perspective I had missed: the connection of art to idolatry. Thanks for sharing, great point.
Pablo,
I have noticed that same thing. As I have been privileged to travel the world I have made it a practice to slip into any cathedral that I can and I too have discovered what you are describing. Worship that is deflected to the pictorial narrative instead of to Christ. The time and effort and the money that I have observed invested into this is overwhelming. Thank you for your observations and for point out that it is idolatry and that is where I believe the line is at. For all of this to be integrated to point to Christ instead of becoming the subject of “worship.”
K
Nice one Pablo. I wish I could tour Latin America with you and visit a bunch of cathedrals. No doubt there will be some to discover in England. See you soon.