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THINKING OUTSIDE
THE BOX
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to
'Think Outside the Box'
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-- Grace Wiebe, November 2000
Though Christian musicians or artists may not consciously see this in
such a way, there is indication that the growing belief is that a musician
or artist has not reached their zenith as an artist unless they have
created one of the 'top ten' Christian CD's, perhaps (If they're a musician),
or have gone on promotional tours, or are being promoted by a professional
company, etc. Or if they are a visual artist, dancer or actress, etc.,
they may not feel like they have succeeded until the drama they are
in becomes a box office hit, or the movie they are in is in the theatres,
or until their artwork is in a museum or decorating a major building,
etc.
But what is God's perspective on success? How do we know when we have
succeeded? Although this is not the focus of this article, I would venture
to say that success from God's perspective has to do with our hearts
of total-life, whole-hearted worship to Him, faithfulness and humble
obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and doing our best with
what He has given us in order to see glory brought to Jesus Christ.
This may well be carried out in ways that are much different than we
had envisioned, and perhaps in ways which may be much more fulfilling
and more effective than ways which we had sought after.
This article is not in any way intended to denounce or discourage those
who have seen God leading them in the directions mentioned above. Indeed
they can be in no better place if God has placed them in these roles!!
May He indeed do FAR MORE than they have asked or imagined!
This article is, instead,
a call to God's musicians and artists to consider the 'bigger picture'
from a biblical perspective if that has not been done already, and to
prayerfully consider the vast array of other rewarding opportunities
and possibilities that lie before them/you today!
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and a musician or artist, God
desires for His glory to fill you and be displayed through you! "I
have raised you up for this very purpose; that I might display My power
in you and that My Name might be proclaimed in all the earth¨ (Rom.
9:17 ¡V NIV). He has created you to be able to worship and glorify Him
through the expression of the arts that He has specifically gifted you
with. His desire is not only that He accomplish His biblical artistic
purposes through you, but that He, the Master Artist, brings on-going
glory to Himself through the beauty He is creating in you so that others
will be attracted to His beauty through your lovingly-crafted life and
artistic expressions of worship to Him - and through your unique artistic
gift/s!
Throughout Scripture we find that music and the arts which glorify God
are incorporated into many aspects of life. We as Christian musicians
and artists do ourselves a great disservice if we limit ourselves by
believing that the epitome of our ability to glorify God through our
art, or the mark of our success as an artist, is wrapped up in the current
stereotypical view of the 'successful artist' briefly described earlier
in this article.
Truly that is just one way that God may lead you, and it can be a pathway
fraught with many potential dangers which need to be navigated in a
biblical and Christ-centered way.
In the past decade or so, it seems God is opening the eyes and hearts
of the Church in North America -- and indeed around the world -- in
a new way to the many God-glorifying and rewarding opportunities which
He is making available to musicians and artists.
Musicians and artists are a vital part of the Body and have a
crucial role in partnering together with others in the Body of Christ
in order to help to see the Great Commission accomplished!
In Scripture we are told that the first two commandments are to love
the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and then
to love our neighbours as ourselves. We are also told that whatever
we do is to be done for the glory of God. We are to worship God whole-heartedly,
which means worshipping Him through every aspect of our daily lives
- using our art to worship Him is just one aspect of worship, but a
major aspect if we are a musician or artist. In Revelation we see that
God is being worshipped by worshippers of every language, tribe, tongue
and nation. In a broad sense, it is our role as musicians and artists
to help to facilitate the desire of God's heart and that for which He
died, by living to point people to Jesus - through our lives and through
our art.
We see in Exodus 31 & 35 how God specifically called Bezalel and
Oholiab, "filled them with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability,
and knowledge in all kinds of crafts - to make artistic designs".
This was "for glory and beauty"as they designed and decorated
the Tabernacle in order to help the Israelites to worship God and to
consider and remember His greatness, beauty and purity, etc.
God is looking for godly, biblically-established musicians and artists
who understand their calling and their biblical, God-given role, as
well as the role of music and the arts in the Great Commission, and
who are willing to let God train and equip them for that role, releasing
them into the specific roles He has for them. An excellent book to help
musicians and artists prepare their hearts for such roles is Rory Noland's
book "The Heart of the Artist: A Character-Building Guide for You
and Your Ministry Team¨ (by Zondervan) which can be purchased from your
local Christian bookstore.
As you are aware, North American cities are receiving an ever-increasing
number of peoples from countries around the globe. Many of these are
from cultures where music and the arts are integrated into most aspects
of their lives, and especially the spiritual. Many of these peoples
are bringing with them their false gods which are also greatly impacting
our nations. We as believers are often despairing of the perceived losing
battle which we seem to be facing, but the Bible teaches that this is
a spiritual battle.
As we trust God and pray, obey Him and are led by His Spirit, live lives
of biblical and godly integrity, hold out hope not only in our actions
but in our words, and increasingly proclaim Jesus and draw attention
to Him directly or indirectly in our music and art, God will powerfully
use us through our art in order to see HIS Kingdom expanded and to see
the enemy defeated. We have seen how effective Satan has been at seeing
his kingdom expanded by the great use he has made of using music and
the arts. It is time for us to take back what the enemy has stolen,
since Jesus came to the world to destroy the work of the devil. God
loves to use the seemingly 'foolish' things to shame and bring down
the 'wise', and I believe that as God used His singers and musicians
at the head of Jehoshaphat¡'s army in order to bring victory over their
enemy, He is raising up His musicians and artists in a new way today
to help bring in the Harvest which we have long been praying and longing
for!
Whether we use our gifts locally to reach our own people or cross cultural
boundaries and travel to other nations to bring many from the kingdom
of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, we will not only be impacting
these people but also other nations through the people that we're impacting
here.
There is an increase in illiteracy not only overseas but in North America
as well. I recently came across some statistics which said something
to the effect that approximately 73% (?) of the world's population are
illiterate. If that is the case, we will need to use means in addition
to traditional means which have been focused largely on reaching literate
people by providing Bibles and Christian literature or by teaching the
illiterate to read. We will also need to employ and incorporate every
means available to us, such as music and the arts, in order to reach
these multiplied millions and even billions of yet unreached people!
As musicians and artists in today's world and in the Church, we may
sometimes feel like there isn't a place for us unless we're one of the
'top ten' in our church, in our city, nation or beyond.
I would like to encourage your hearts that there are far more opportunities
for you than you have probably ever dreamed of, and God knows just where
He wants you as you seek Him and have others seek Him with you about
this!
SOME POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES TO PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER (locally
or overseas):
The following list of possibilities is just a beginning list to begin
to stir your heart and prayerful imagination in these kinds of directions.
1 CONCERTS: Growing numbers of church planting teams in various
countries are requesting amateur and professional musicians and artists
to do local evangelistic concerts/art shows where further relationships
can then be established and followed up by the church planting teams.
2 WORSHIP DIRECTOR ON CHURCH PLANTING TEAMS: Growing numbers
of missions and church planting teams are asking for worship leaders
or other musicians or artists that can utilize their artistic gifts
in church planting situations over the longer term, and indeed help
to disciple musicians and artists that come to Christ through them.
Imagine how encouraging it will be in the future as indigenous musicians
and artists are training and equipping believers from their people group
to use their music or art to help evangelize and disciple their own
people!
3 RECORDING STUDIOS: Growing numbers of church planting teams,
especially in restricted access countries such as Islamic nations, are
requesting help of recording engineers, producers, musicians, etc. to
help set up desktop recording studios in order to provide an inexpensive
platform (and less visible platform where persecution is a high risk)
for ethnic worship songs to be recorded. From there they can then also
be distributed to other believers of that people group in order to help
encourage and build up the Body and be used as an evangelistic tool
as well. For one such story of a recent studio which was set up in the
Arab world, click here
and see Heart Sounds Int'l
There have been about 5 of these recording studios set up in the past
few months which I'm aware of - most of them in the Muslim world, one
in Cuba. I'm also aware of one among First Nations people in BC, Canada.
4 SCRIPTURE SONGWRITING WORKSHOPS: There are also teams of Christian
students of ethnomusicology doing internships and going on summer teams
in growing numbers of nations, in order to encourage the local believing
ethnic musicians to write their own Scripture songs, and to learn to
train/equip other musicians in their fellowships and surrounding areas
to encourage other ethnic musicians in these ways as well. In the past
months alone, it has been incredibly encouraging to hear about just
some of the many indigenous worship songs from various ethnic peoples
that have been recorded in the past few months! For example, in one
situation, a group of ethnic believers had written about 200 NEW ethnic
worship songs over some months and have also begun to record them for
the believers in their people group! Praise the Lord!! How eagerly we
look forward to seeing these and many others worshipping Jesus around
the throne!
5 TEACHING MUSIC OR ART: In other nations, especially the young
are eager to connect with the West, and are especially drawn in through
music and the art which they¡¦ve seen on TV and heard on radio for many
years. As a result, musicians and artists from the West have opportunity
in many places to teach music or art on a professional level in universities
or on an amateur level especially in local situations, potentially in
connection with a church planting situation.
6 BECOMING A MUSIC/ART STUDENT OVERSEAS: Many musicians and artists
are spending much time and money finishing their music/art degrees here
in North America. How about considering the possibility of finishing
your training in another country, at one of their universities, or doing
research there? This can provide excellent opportunities to get to know
and share the love/life of Christ with many of your musician/artist
classmates, plus give you a good chance to also learn about the language,
history and culture of the people God may be calling you to reach. It
may also be much less expensive than taking that training here! This
can be a wonderful way to be a part of a church planting team as well,
and hopefully you will be becoming friends with the potential musicians
and artists of the fellowship that is being planted!
7 PLAYING IN A SYMPHONY OVERSEAS: Another option might be for
you to consider using your professional skills in an overseas symphony.
Again, this could be done in conjunction with a church planting team
and give you many potentially open doors among the musicians that you
are spending time with. Imagine the kind of impact that could be possible
if some of these professionals, especially the well-known ones, become
believers and decide to use their gifts to glorify God through a life
of discipleship to Jesus!
8 MOVIES: There are a growing number of Christian TV stations
throughout the globe which are focusing on reaching out to the unreached
through their movies and various shows. How about considering a role
with these stations as one of their actors or even working in their
studios? Or using art to help promote their ministry?
9 USE YOUR ART TO HELP DRAW PRAYER SUPPORT FOR THE POOR, SUFFERING,
PERSECUTED, etc.: One excellent ministry that the writer is aware
of has this as a focus and is effectively using their gifts internationally
to help raise up awareness of these kinds of needs and the need for
prayer for these marginalized groups of people.
10. DRAMA/STORYTELLING OPPORTUNITIES: Storytelling is a favorite
way of communicating in many cultures, and very effective at reaching
many of the illiterate peoples as well. Church planting teams can greatly
benefit from having someone on their team that could develop this as
a part of their evangelistic/discipleship approach. The same goes for
drama.
11. USE YOUR MUSIC/ART TO MOBILIZE POTENTIAL MISSIONARIES,
MUSICIANS & ARTISTS FOR THE GREAT COMMISSION: There is a great
need to encourage musicians and other musicians/artists to use their
gifts in the Great Commission, locally or overseas. One of the best
ways to reach artists is through art, and churches and missions have
not yet fully utilized this powerful way to communicate God¡¦s call
to His labourers.
Again, this is just a brief listing to get you thinking. It does not
include all the arts, but there are ways that all the arts can be used
in appropriate situations and countries. For more information about
any of the above, please do contact us at: GCWAC@DiscipleTheNations.org
HOW CAN I GET FROM HERE TO THERE?
Perhaps in reading this your heart has been stirred, or perhaps God
has used this to help encourage you to take the next steps in these
directions by finding out more about this and going from there. If that
is the case, here are some potential next steps that you can consider:
+ Ask the Holy Spirit whether He may be wanting to enlarge your thinking
about the role He has given you in the arts
+ Ask Him as Master Artist to continue to transform you into the godly
artist He wants you to be
+ Pray for a godly musician/artist mentor who would mentor you in your
art and your spiritual life and help you to navigate your journey as
an artist, etc.
+ Contact us to find out what possibilities there might be for you locally
or overseas. Let us know if there is a specific place or people group
on your heart.
+ Contact us to find out about more potential training/equipping options
for you.
+ Contact us if you would like to have a consultation by phone, email
or a visit.
+ Consider doing some local volunteer projects or ministry internships
to help the Great Commission Worship & Arts Center help to facilitate
God¡¦s musicians and artists in the Great Commission.
God's desire is for wholehearted worshippers from all ethnic groups.
He also desires to use His musicians and artists FAR BEYOND what they
have asked or imagined!
May God continue to stir your hearts in His directions and empower you
with His gifts so that He will receive the reward He is longing for
and has paid the ultimate price for a glorious Bride comprised of people
of every ethnic group who reflect His multi-faceted character and glory
forever and ever!
++++RESOURCES TO GET YOU STARTED:++++
Great Commission Worship & Arts Center (GCWAC)
Ethnic Worship & Arts Focus (EW&AF)
GCWAC and EW&AF INDEX
International Worship &
Arts Network
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
JOURNALS & E-ZINES AVAILABLE:
Global Worship Report
or for a free email subscription, send email to: global-worship-subscribe@cc.egroups.com
Ethnic Worship & Arts Focus newsletter
- free monthly email newsletter which provides resources, stories, networking
opportunities, suggestions, etc. for those interested in utilizing ethnic
music and the arts in the Great Commission
Ethnomusicology News (for those interested in culturally-appropriate
Christian music worldwide): for further info contact: ethnomusicology@sil.org
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Grace Wiebe is the founder/coordinator of the Great Commission Worship
& Arts Center which is a hub/clearing house of information/resources/networks/partnerships,
etc. to help to train and facilitate musicians and artists who want
to be released into their roles in the Great Commission.