Arts Team Needs

Art in the church is utilitarian. Hardly ever is a church or weekend service a gallery of art created for art's sake. In the church, we create art that moves hearts and souls toward Christ. We don't perform a drama or sing a solo simply to gratify ourselves and our own desires. We're aiming our art at a target (some of us more intentionally than others) and hoping we'll get to change some lives.

This distinct use of the arts in the church practically guarantees that the individual needs of artists will not be the same as the needs of a church artistic team. A church arts team needs:

• strong overall performance
• a sense of unity
• a heart of mutual servanthood
• transformational artistic content

As noted in the last post, artists need to be fulfilled, express themselves individually and be respected for their artistic identity. Not the same needs as the team, right!

Church arts leaders must be aware both the needs of individual artists and the needs of an entire arts team. Since they vary so widely and are sometimes polar opposites of each other, this is one area of the church where we might use extreme caution. No artist likes to feel insignificant. Nor does any team enjoy serving together in disunity with a lack of purposeful impact. If you're a church arts leader, choose wisely how you lead into meeting the needs of both artists and teams! Try building a culture of open handed artists who sacrifice, submit, communicate and respond to healthy leadership. When you fill this tension gap with the qualities of Christ and the purposes of the church artists grow willing to meet the needs of the team and ultimately find their own met in the process.