Around the world each week, Christian people and churches gather to worship.\u00a0 They do so in cathedrals and mega-churches, in neighborhood parishes and pubs, in homes and school cafeterias.\u00a0 Baskin-Robbins ice cream only has 31 flavors, but Christian churches come in way more varieties than that!\u00a0 Each tradition within the larger Christian body has its own healthy patterns of worship and each one has places in need of renewal or growth.\u00a0According to William A. Dyrness, a professor at Fuller Seminary, this is especially true when it comes to how churches utilize visual art within a worship space.<\/p>\n
This is the discussion that Dyrness steps into in his book Visual Faith: Art, Theolgy and Worship in Dialogue.\u00a0 <\/em>In the Preface, he writes, \u201cthis book aims to extend and enrich a Christian conversation on the visual arts.\u201d<\/a>[1]\u00a0 In framing the book this way, he suggests that a conversation about visual arts in the church has already been going on among Christians for years.\u00a0 And he argues that this conversation is worth having, and that there are possibilities to \u201cextend\u201d and \u201cenrich\u201d the ways the church talks about these topics.<\/p>\n The problem he says, is that there has been an \u201cuneasy relationship between art and faith\u201d<\/a>[2]with a real \u201cspotty history\u201d<\/a>[3]that needs some sorting out.\u00a0 He is especially writing about Protestants and his own tribe in the Reformed tradition.\u00a0 Dyrness writes this book not as a prophetic outsider, but as a pastoral insider (he is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA).\u00a0 He positions himself as someone who cares about the people and who seeks the best for the church.\u00a0 From this perch\u00a0inside\u00a0<\/em>the church, he wants to be a bridge-builder with the wider world of art, artists, images and new expressions.<\/p>\n In this blog post, I am more interested in the persuasive leadership that Dyrness displays in his book than in his chosen topic itself.\u00a0 In framing his book as part of a larger, ongoing conversation (around artistic expression in the church), Dyrness takes a relational approach to his readers.\u00a0 It calls to mind Judith Glaser\u2019s claim that, \u201cto get to the next level of greatness depends on the quality of our culture, which depends on the quality of our relationships, which depends on the quality of our conversations.\u00a0 Everything happens through conversations!\u201d<\/a>[4]<\/p>\n This will sound familiar to many pastors serving in churches.\u00a0 Whatever the difficult issue of the day might be, a pastor sits down at the table with the people involved, listens to what has happened, and reflects with them on how to understand it, where to see God in it, and how to move forward.\u00a0 Dyrness clearly has a strong view about the use of fine arts in the church, but he doesn’t overwhelm with it, right off the bat.<\/p>\n He is careful to make it clear that he wants the church to thrive and to succeed.\u00a0 This stance as an insider\/participant means that he gains the readers trust.\u00a0 He writes, \u201cart then, may be a means, indeed one of the only means, that will catch the attention of this generation.\u201d<\/a>[5]\u00a0 His point is, that by engaging with the artistic community, there is an opportunity for greater growth and outreach, which is at the heart of the church\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n So, along with joining the conversation as a friend, and describing the good outcomes that could happen, he also grounds his discussion in the Biblical narrative.\u00a0 This is what he calls a \u201cbiblical framework\u201d<\/a>[6]for how Christians think about paintings, drawings, statues, and images of any kind.\u00a0 He reviews the Biblical witness, especially particular texts and even word studies that help to show how God\u2019s intention around the arts is much larger and richer than we might expect.<\/p>\n Dyrness also engages in theological reflection. \u00a0He writes, \u201cTheological reflection is simply the practice of naming and describing the major commitments that guide thought and action.\u201d<\/a>[7]\u00a0 Again, this is a kind of pastoral leadership, where he helps the church to think and talk about a topic in light of the faith tradition.\u00a0 In this part of the book, Dyrness comes across as a real expert.\u00a0He offers many biblical examples, as well as a hearty theology of \u201cthings\u201d, a defense of the material world, and ultimately a witness to the God who loves all of creation so much.<\/p>\n The reason that I am reading this book in this particular way, is that there are resonances for my own research. \u00a0I seek to lead my congregation into conversations about topics of race and ethnicity, of identity and belonging within a changing world.\u00a0 And those are hard topics to step into!<\/p>\n So, I am encouraged, even in reading this book, to see some of the necessary pastoral leadership elements at work.\u00a0 Convening a meeting for conversation among friends.\u00a0 Identifying the opportunities for growth or vitality that can come through tackling hard subjects.\u00a0 Grounding our conversation in the biblical narrative and in our theological tradition. Ultimately pointing people toward the God of love who is active in all of this.<\/p>\n In the end, Dyrness’ topic is not one that is of great interest to me. \u00a0However, there are great lessons for leadership in this book, which is a welcome surprise.<\/p>\n <\/a>[1]William A. Dyrness,\u00a0Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 9.<\/p>\n <\/a>[2]William A. Dyrness,\u00a0Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 11.<\/p>\n <\/a>[3]William A. Dyrness,\u00a0Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 9.<\/p>\n <\/a>[4]Judith E. Glaser,\u00a0Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Bibliomotion, Inc, 2014), xix.<\/p>\n <\/a>[5]William A. Dyrness,\u00a0Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 22.<\/p>\n