God, Art, and the Church

I read a very intriguing article recently by David Boyd in Cutting Edge, an awesome magazine produced by the Vineyard Church in Evanston, IL. Although the magazine is geared toward Church Planting it has some interesting articles on all topics. Also it's free and back issues are online, check it out!
After reading the title of the article "truth & beauty: how the vienna, austria vineyard is reclaiming the arts" I was all set to get specific direction and ideas on reclaiming the arts. I guess that wouldn't be very creative, instead I got a very thought provoking piece with a definite call to action. There was so much in this article that I related with that as I highlighted pieces to include in this blog I highlighted entire paragraphs, so the whole article is really worth reading.

I thought I'd list a few of the more inspiring quotes and open things up for discussion...

Art is used by every political and social group in the world and the kingdom of God ought to be about the same activity

about some of their art programs... We've had to explain to some Christians, "Don't look at this as if we were doing an evangelistic program here, because there is not going to be an altar call at the end of the evening" Some Christians criticize us for that.

There is a lot of difference between Christian intent and Christian content. If an artist is intentionally working out of his perspective as a Christian they will be creating something that reflects those values and that perspective on life.

In our art, if we ignore the fact that there's dirt, people will view the work as irrelevant because you're presenting a fairy tale too good to be true.

on the church supporting artist outside of boundaries of the church community... If your city is a better place in which to live because there are Christians doing good and beautiful things, you should encourage that.

OK... there are lot more I'd love to list but I'll stop there. So how do we put these things into action? Do you agree with these things or disagree? Is there anyone even reading this?

Now discuss.....