Individual Artist's Needs

Ever thought about the needs of your fellow artists? What if you're a leader in the church. Have you paid attention lately to whether or not the individual needs of those serving in your ministry are being met? If not, let's start now.

What do artists in the church need? Perhaps some need more than we're able to give and some don't need much at all. Here's a short list of what I've discovered I need to pay attention to when leading artists in the church:

• artists need to have their gifting fulfilled, their artistic purpose for existing
• artists need to maintain individuality, not loose their artistic identity
• artists need acceptance & respect
• artists need opportunities for individual artistic expression, serving in their sweet spots

Funny thing: what the church needs from artists doesn't always match what artists need.

So what to do? How do we maintain a sense of purposefulness in our churches while moving toward our church artists? My vote is to start with honesty. Do two things:

1. Be honest with your artists about which needs can be fulfilled in the church and which cannot. Do everything you can to help artists know their contributions are significant and relevant.
2. Yet teach them that the church does not exist to gratify the artistic desires of our congregation. The church is God's plan for redeeming a lost and broken world. Help artists get this straight in their minds, so they can volunteer with an attitude of servanthood.