A Conversation with Church Worship Consultant Sally Morgenthaler and NEXT
NEXT: Why are we experiencing a renaissance in the arts?
SM: We have moved from a codified language (print) to where our main entrance points into the world are through the sensory language of aesthetics, art. The arts are the language of imagination. We live in a broken world and long to transcend our very limited, lonely and broken lives. We do this through the transcendent language of arts.
In terms of art and worship, we've spent hundreds of years relating to God through our left brain, as a set of teachings and a proposition rather than to God as person. Now, society has moved from an emphasis on information to an emphasis on experience and shifted from the didactic and rational to engagement through aesthetic forms. To engage worshippers' whole-person response is marvelous at this juncture in history. It is a window we haven't seen for hundreds of years.
NEXT: Are the arts integral to worship?
SM: The arts in every aspect of the church are non-negotiable. At the turn of this millennium, it's almost a no-brainer. Our whole culture, Christian and non, and every age group is relating to and even accessing meaning in life through art. It's not through lists of abstract characteristics about God, but through visual arts, media and narrative.
NEXT: How can churches embrace the arts?
SM: I think any church, from the smallest to the largest, can start embracing art in worship by using the very forms they're using now. To use arts in worship, first and foremost use arts to build relationship. It is not art as product first but art as community. Start with small art affinity groups or a creative arts think tank at church.
"We are about to say art and worship in the same sentence, a jarring concept to many in worship leadership. On the other hand, to many Christian artists struggling to find their vocation embraced in the life of the church , it is a sound of hope."
John R. Throop, pastor, Christ Church in Peoria, IL and church consultant
"Used with permission of Leadership Network, (800) 765-5323"