ministries

VISUAL ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

Centuries ago visual art was used to teach the Gospel to people who could not read. Today we can teach the Gospel to people who do not read. God uses the arts in ways that we have not ever thought possible.

A famous early 15th-century altarpiece was commissioned by monks with one request - that the artist would paint it in such a way that those in their care dying from the plague would be healed when they saw it. Before new patients were even washed, they were taken to the altar to see how the Lord, who suffered and died for them, also understood their own suffering. The 15th-century monastery in Isenheim, Germany, the home of the famous Isenheim Altar, became known as a place where miraculous healing occurred. Today such thinking seems almost impossible. But we commit our work to God's purposes and the rest is up to Him.

We use opening receptions of exhibitions as evangelistic outreach. We do murals in the inner city. We do art to transform the interiors of churches. We do live painting with concerts. We use the arts to promote missions by essentially bringing viewers into the mission field with powerful visual images. By using art forms devoted to God's purposes, our hearts may be touched with the passion of God's heart: the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.