My oldest son, Jonathan, loves art and has produced many works of art (his favorite medium is pencil). If he saw something he wanted to draw, he could readily translate it onto the sketch pad. My wife is an artist in the medium of music. She play the piano and sings well and has great appreciation of many types of music.
My artistic ability has always been marginal at best. But I do like art. During our mission trip to Italy, we saw many great works of art, from architecture to paintings, from sculpture to frescoes, and so much more! Even in the music realm, I have little rhythm or pitch (though I did manage a B in a guitar class at Belmont University). I can barely play the radio!
Anyway, my appreciation of art is great, but I am not an artist. Despite that fact, I believe our Sunday Schools today need artists as never before. And I believe we need to be praying that God will send artists to our Sunday Schools.
My wife and I visited Sojourn Community Church in Louisville on Sunday. It is a church which supports the arts. Check out the 930 Art Center. Combine that visit and stumbling on a website called A Church for Starving Artists, and I felt like God was speaking to me about the need for artists. On the header of Jan Edmiston’s website, was this statement:
Where the passionate are fed. Where the spiritually starving are nourished. “Artists,” she said, “are simply people who are passionate enough to imagine things that do not yet exist.” –Seona Reid, Principal of Glasgow School of Art, graduation address spring 2004
Wow, think about that statement “people passionate enough to imagine things that do not yet exist!” Our Sunday Schools need artists. We need people sensitive to God’s leadership. We need people passionate enough to imagine and bring about that which does not yet exist.
We need artists to reach our world. We need artists to bring about reconciliation. We need artists to pray for change in our world. We need artists to lead people to changed lives. We need artists to multiply leaders and groups. We need artists to minister to needs. We need artists in our proclamation of what we have seen and heard so that the world may have fellowship with us (1 John 1:3).
Are you an artist? Will you pray for artists? Sunday School change is needed. Be passionate. Imagine with God. Do it! Be revolutionary!
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