Bringing the Arts to the House of God

The phone rings. A young mother with whom I am vaguely familiar apologizes for bothering me.
“No problem,” I say, wondering why she is calling me.
“I want to dance,” she says in a low, nervous voice. “I’m terribly shy, but I want to dance for Jesus.”
“That’s great!” I say, wondering still what I could possibly do for her. I’m a klutz with questionable rhythm. I do drama. Why me?

With her next question I understand. “Is that silly?” she asks. In seconds I’m on to my favorite subject, the reasons we should worship God through the arts. Easy answer – we were created to.

I often wonder how it’s possible for people to pass by a tree budding in the spring, or slow for a flock of wild turkeys (yes, turkeys) and not be thrilled at the wonders of God’s creation. I want to stop my car and jump out, and sing and dance in the street for the joy of worship – theatrically extemporizing on God’s magnificence. I think the whole street should be filled with people doing the same.

God cares so much about his children that He carefully and creatively constructed us. The pathways of our veins and arteries are intertwined in a seemingly abstract pattern that functions beautifully as an ingeniously engineered bit of machinery. We are creations, wonderfully made, each unique. We are the art of God.
As God’s created it is natural and right for us to have the desire to emulate our Creator Father. Moreover God wants us to be like him (Genesis 1:27).

We do this in a variety of ways. Anyone who does their work wholeheartedly as unto God, whether it be planting a garden, teaching a class, or painting a picture, is entering the throne-room in an act of worship (Ephesians 6:7).

The Bible also speaks about worship to our Father through music (Exodus 15:1-21), sculpture (2 Chronicles 4), dance (Psalm 149:3; 150:4-5), poetry (2 Samuel 23:1-2), and theatre (Ezekiel 4:1-3). Unfortunately throughout history, the Church has handled the arts improperly. Some allowed the secular world to take beauty and pervert it to its own thinking instead of to the glory of God. We, God’s children, have ignored painting, drama, music, or dance that glorified the flesh, elevated acts of sin, and rejoiced in the downfall of morality. Then, because we didn’t like what was being produced by those “artists” we banned art and hid our God-given abilities and gifts behind the excuse that art was a perversion, so the Church could not participate.

Art, itself, is not the perversion, only that which duplicates sin and desecrates the beautiful and the good, and turns it away from our adoring God.

Today worship arts in the Church is a burgeoning movement! Slow and hesitant in some areas, worship arts is like an infant creature longing to burst out into this sometimes hostile world. But once the baby is born, growth and maturity are swift. We all need to step up to the challenge of bringing the glory of creating back to God.

Several Open Bible churches already use the arts to help lead their congregations to the feet of God. They are responding to the passage, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness” (Psalm 96:8, 9). When the worship leaders of these churches were asked why they decided to bring their art into worship, they all answered, almost to the word. “I didn’t decide. The Lord decided it for me.”

Charlotte Faye Foehrenbach (Char), Assistant Pastor at Open Bible Christian Center of Massillon, Ohio, uses music, dance, banner worship, play and musical production, preaching/teaching, and graphics technology in her church’s worship ministry.

She says, “Art has always been a part of me, and whatever I do, I tend to do with my whole heart...as unto the Lord. When you get me, you get my art. It’s part of the expression of myself and it automatically flows out in worship (Psalm 138:1).

“When ministering through art, I (and those who minister with me) tend to feel exhilarated, almost as if we were preparing the stage for Christ’s return, almost as if the next sound would be the angels trumpeting His entrance! It’s wonderful to have others become excited as they catch just a glimpse of Him through our hearts.”

Charlotte maintains, “The Church’s responsibility is to be careful that worship is never presented as a performance, so the world won’t see us as any different from them. I hope neither the world nor the Church sees it as ‘Hollywood,’ or theatrics, or as a commodity. We must never forget that it is first of all ‘WORSHIP,’ directed to our God and our Creator. It’s very easy to get caught up in it all for what ‘we’ can get out of it, whether monetarily or ego-wise. It’s also easy to ‘worship the worship.’ Acceptance from others of what we’re doing is not always God’s approval. We must be like David, when he danced before the Lord, not allowing the approval or disapproval of others to rule what God places in our hearts. We must be pure before Him, period!”

Janet Rutter, Minister of Music at New Life Tabernacle in Petersburg, Michigan, has been ministering in worship for over 25 years using the arts.

While fluent in piano, flute, and voice, her broader function is overseer of the worship arts of the church:
to confirm artistic gifts, to help equip and release these gifts – to love, pastor and lead by example.

Janet believes, “The very nature of worship arts reveals the character and person of God. The entrance to Him is opened.” The arts used in worship at New Life Tabernacle are dance ministry, handmade banners and flags, video, human video, worship bands, worship choir, instrumental and vocal solos, spontaneous songs, art (drawing) during the worship, nights of simply worship, and musicals written and produced in-house which have always resulted in salvations.

Janet says, “Ezekiel 47 presents a vision of how worship, which begins at the throne of God, the secret place of intimacy, begins to flow out and overflow the temple. This life-giving water goes in all directions, bearing fruit and healing. The worship arts begin with an audience of ONE (God), then bring His life-giving presence to the Church, and ultimately overflow to our communities, and, indeed, to the nations. The purpose of this great revival of worship arts is for the harvest of souls and to prepare the bride of Christ.”

Dennis Smith, Performing Arts Pastor at First Church of the Open Bible in Spokane, Washington, specializes in music and drama.

“Every time we sing for or to the Lord, it is part of the process of someone coming to the Lord. Nonetheless, one of the biggest ministries we employ is using dramatic musicals during Christmas and Easter.”

Dennis feels that Psalm 150 supports the use of art in ministry and worship. “As long as people gather in God’s name,” he says, “the worship arts will continue to draw people into God’s presence. Other art forms are valuable in the worship experience, however, not all art forms work in every church environment.”

Joneile Emery, wife of the senior pastor at Calvary Open Bible in Springfield, Oregon, is a professional visual artist who also uses her art to worship God.

“A church that gives the arts free expression has the ability to speak truth in a way that is relevant and understood by those we are trying to reach,” she states. “Art not only communicates fact, but also tells a story that reaches past our resistance to who we think God is and tugs at our emotions to reveal His beauty and goodness.

“I always felt that art was a recreational indulgence that needed to take a back seat to true ministry. It is only in the past few years I realized a connection between creating art and the imagery God uses to communicate truth to us. Psalm 23 is a familiar example of the powerful way He uses imagery and our imagination to get us to know not only that He cares for us (like a shepherd), but also how He feels about us, His tender protection and provision, and His desire to be with us in our darkest days (the valley of the shadow of death). The imagery becomes a descriptor that speaks, not only to our minds, but also to our emotions and our hearts.

“Our church is going to embark on an experiment by attempting to give artists in our midst a voice in worship. Artists are able to ‘see’ things in their imagination and illustrate these images on paper for the rest of the congregation. In so doing they take familiar truths and get people to take a fresh look at them. Our church wants to celebrate visual artists also by turning our entry hallway into an art gallery. Every six months someone new is named ‘artist in residence.’ Their work is hung at eye level on walls that used to be bare and uninteresting. Artists provide a statement that tells a little about themselves, including their artistic development and their attitudes and feelings about their work.

“In order to stimulate creativity in a worship setting we are inviting our artists to come to a worship arts studio night at the church. We will open the gym for artists to set up a workspace in their preferred medium (painters, illustrators, photographers, writers, sculptors, etc.) and then encourage them to create whatever comes to their minds as we listen to worship music. We hope to create a community of artists who are free and expressive, in a live worship setting, to create visually what people are hearing musically. The potential for evangelism is exciting as we display God’s creativity from our lives.”

Eugene Bible College is also forging a path to prepare students to minister through the arts in worship by offering a new worship arts major with concentrations in music or drama.

I teach a class at EBC called “Script Writing,” where young artists learn to stretch their writing skills and imaginations to produce scripts for dramas designed for the church stage, scripts providing insight into human nature in a fresh way. We teach training in voice, instruments, sound and video technology, and theatre so students can learn to integrate the arts into worship.

Each of these artists have the same purpose for bringing their art into the sanctuary, to glorify God and draw people to Him. All creation shouts to the glory of God. “Sing for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees” (Isaiah 44:23). We, the church, must join in the shouting and singing and dancing, lest the rocks and trees out-shout us.

Danell and her artist husband, Jeffrey, live in Eugene, Oregon, and have one amazing son, Jordan. Danell is Director of Theatre Arts in the Worship Arts Department at Eugene Bible College, and recently received her M.A. in Theatre Arts. Danell has worked with Christian Theatre for 28 years and writes most of the scripts used at the college.