Introducing Online Consulting Resources

The Synergy Box has just released a series of online consulting resources for the creative arts ministry in your church. Online consulting, how does that work? Each resource is designed to introduce you to a critical topic on arts leadership, identity, culture or creativity and includes an overview of the topic and a discussion guide to help you lead your team through an assessment of your ministry in this area. After you've finished your discussion, you can email your notes to The Synergy Box, and within seven to ten days, you'll receive personalized suggestions for your church arts ministry.

The Synergy Box also offers telephone consulting and on-site consulting services. Check out our website at http://www.thesynergybox.com/.

Visit our booth at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta this week!

Artistic Style in the Church

Should churches be traditional, blended, contemporary or edgy in artistic style? What do you think? When you walk into a church should it feel tried and true or should it surprise and even shock you? Yikes! Even trying to answer this question is kinda like walking up to a ticking bomb and trying to diffuse it with only ten seconds left on the clock (not that I've ever actually been in that situation to know what it really feels like). I'm guessing most of us would be inclined to run should we ever encounter a ticking bomb...and we likely feel the same way about a discussion on artistic style in the church.

While artistic style in the church can become a very complicated and even volatile issue in the church, I'd like to simplify it a bit with the following observations:

1. Art is subjective.

While one person will enjoy traditional worship, another will enjoy rock and roll. One is not better than another. Each one, however, will reach different people.

2. The artistic culture you create will attract some people but not others.

People may attend your church for the teaching or the community, but many picked your church because the style of the church suits their preferences. They probably picked your church because the art and the culture makes it feel like home to them. Others didn't like your music or culture and went elsewhere.

3. You need to choose your artistic style intentionally.

Because art is subjective and because people will tend to come based on the feel of your church, you must choose your artistic style carefully. Trying to be all things to all people dilutes your effectiveness. People have tons of choices when it comes to church (with the exception of smaller rural communities). Choose the style God had called you to and execute it with confidence. Your reach will be more effective when you focus on a target. It's still true that if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time.

My real point: Get clear on your church's artistic style. You'll do more for God's kingdom by addressing the issue head on than by only talking about it when the music of the day doesn't suit someone's personal preferences.

The Influence of Worship

Ever since I can remember, I have been inspired by attending worship services. As a Kindergartner I listened in awe to our traditional church choir sing, all dressed up in fancy choir robes. As the melody drifted over me, I wanted to sing with them! Then there were Christmas pageants, and I got to dress up as an angel (thank goodness I didn't get the part of a sheep). Then children's choirs, solos in church and a youth traveling choir.

In high school, I got a chance to contribute even more. I directed my first drama in the church at age 17. It was a full Christmas pageant. Not terribly difficult, since it was a few pre-written scenes packaged between traditional choral music, but it was amazing! I got to help people worship.

Ever since I got my first taste of what it meant to lift up God's name in holy praise, I was in! I wanted to be part of the story. I wanted to create something that would suggest the fullness and beauty of God. Singing, dancing, acting or working behind the scenes...it didn't matter. I loved it all. Still do. (Well not the dancing so much anymore. We'll leave that to people who have maintained their flexibility.)

What I didn't realize at the time is that I have a heart of worship. And specifically, I have a heart to use creativity and the arts to help others experience and respond to God. That's what worship is all about. Worship is our response to our experience of God. It's our way to tell our Savior that we love Him, that He is good, that He is trustworthy and powerful. Worship is my way to reach out to God in the same way He's reached to me.

The life-giving power available to us as we breathe in the influence of our own worship and the worship of others changes us. It makes us more aware of our sinful and broken nature and the sacrifice God made to cover all our failings and separate them from us forever. It makes us more able to find freedom at Christ's throne. It helps us connect in relationship to our Maker. Worship cannot help but influence us.

Whether you express worship in music, service or simple prayers, I challenge you to embrace your own heart of worship and connect with the living God. It'll change you from the inside out. And if you're a leader of worship in the church, don't diminish the importance of your role. You help people respond to their experience of God! That's a high calling worthy of a well-spent life.