Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Prepare the Way—Remove the Stones
There has probably never been a time in which a biblical understanding of the arts is more needed by the Church than in our present visual and image-oriented postmodern culture. The 2004 Forum’s Lausanne Occasional Paper, “Redeeming the Arts,” speaks to this challenge. In response to this challenge, StoneWorks has been established to be a global arts partnership for cultural transformation and the recovery of the imagination in the life and mission of the Church.
The Need
Christ has called believers to disciple the nations. Today, it is the secular arts and entertainment industry—in particular film, television, and music—that has taken over that role in our contemporary world.
The biblical pattern in expressing God’s love and redemptive purposes was approximately seventy-five percent story, fifteen percent poetry, and ten percent instructional and didactic in nature; ninety percent appealed to the imagination! At a time when our world has become more visually and image driven, the Church has reversed this biblical pattern. Today, only ten percent of the way we express the transforming narrative of the gospel is creative and imaginative.
If the Church is to fulfill the purposes of God for this generation, there must be a recovery of the imagination, both in the Church and the culture. Those gifted and called by God to be artists for his glory must come out of spiritual exile and learn how to integrate their faith and their gifts in a holistic way. The “stones” in their lives, the Church, and the culture that cause them to stumble and fail to reach their God-given destiny, must be identified and dealt with. The Church must be educated, the artist must be discipled, and the culture must be transformed.
The Vision
Healing and restoration, important as they are, must be seen within the overarching purposes of God for his world. The vision to restore, renew, and rebuild the brokenness of the arts world is a vision to see the arts restored to God’s original intention, for beauty and for his glory. In turn, the arts will be a powerful way to bring truth, beauty, and healing to the lies, ugliness, and sickness of a world alienated from the God of creation.
StoneWorks calls Christians involved in the arts to be healed, restored, and renewed. It is a call for the Church to once again embrace the arts and the artist. It is a call for the nations to embrace a vision of creative and cultural restoration. It is a call for “such a time as this” in the purposes of God.
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Colin Harbinson has been involved in the arts and missions in over sixty nations. He is international director of StoneWorks, a global arts partnership for cultural reformation and the recovery of the imagination in the life and mission of the Church. Harbinson is founder and president of the International Festival of the Arts and the Lausanne Senior Associate for the Arts. |