Why has RCA made a website?
Redeemer Community Art’s Mission Statement:
“Redeemer Community Arts seeks to foster a living culture of creative activity within the context of Redeemer Church. It begins with cultivating fellowship among artists* to promote community, accountability, mentorship, and service to one another. In this context, we can grow a biblically sound understanding and practice of the arts, through which the arts can “season” the life of the church. In so doing, we seek to encourage the congregation toward growth in their creative “image-bearing” in every arena of Christian life and service. This in turn fuels growth and maturity in Redeemer’s witness and outreach.”
*The term “artists” designates those who are pursuing excellence in various creative arts, including (but not limited to) visual arts, music, dance, theatre, creative writing, and the like.
This mission has guided every event and project we’ve put together since our founding in 2017, including this website. I would like to briefly outline why we think this is important, what our hope is for this new platform, and how you (a member of Redeemer or the global Church) can be involved.
Why we think this is important:
We believe that creative activity is foundational to understanding the Christian life. Creativity here is defined as putting things into good order, whether that’s arranging colors on a canvas, chords in a song, words on a page, actions in a play or dance, plants in a garden, people in a team, or anything else on the nearly inexhaustible list of creative activities we practice as human beings. One of the first things we learn about God in Genesis 1 is that he is a Creator who spoke all things into existence by the word of his power. The next thing we learn is that we are created in his image as creators to fulfill the “cultural mandate” by participating in God’s creative activity. (Genesis 1:27-28) Through this lens, obedience is a cooperative participation in God’s creative purpose. (see, for instance, Philippians 2:5-13)
Historically, the Protestant church has a complicated relationship to the arts, often adopting an attitude of suspicion and an overabundance of caution. This not only hinders the church’s witness to large swaths of culture, but it also marginalizes essential members of the body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) Artists have important roles to play as part of our community and, like everyone else, need the church to help them grow as image-bearers of God. This skepticism towards the arts is beginning to change and there are many exciting conversations and projects happening all over the country. We hope in our own small way to join this dialog rooted in the wisdom of scripture in order to help the church grow and develop as a community that values beauty, truth, and goodness.
With this in mind, we are working to create a culture of fellowship among artists. It is through the fellowship of believers that artists will find the essential support and encouragement to revitalize their healthy involvement in the life of the church. While the language of our mission is aimed at artists, this fellowship is open to all and our hope is that it will spread through the whole body, bringing the good gifts of beauty and creative image-bearing as salt and light for Christ.
Our hope for this platform:
This website serves several purposes. It is an archive of our past events and projects that we hope will provide resources and encouragement to other churches. Records of our virtual scripture readings and image galleries from our Advent and Lent projects are collected in this central location for ease of future access. We also have a growing list of resources and recommended reading. This blog will be the most dynamic content on the website and we hope to see it grow and to become a place for a diversity of voices and conversations.
As we seek to “grow a biblically sound understanding and practice of the arts, through which the arts can ‘season’ the life of the church” this blog is a place to mediate on questions of art and faith through the examination of scripture, tradition, and diverse experiences. Our goal is for this to be a public forum with many voices. Here are a few of the things you can expect to see here: art meditations exploring specific works of art, essays on a variety of topics, interviews, and much more.
How you can participate:
We would love for you to write for us. Whether you have theologically rich meditations on creativity and religion, a reflection on a work of art that has meant something significant to you, a creative practice you’d like to share with other believers, or something else, please contact us. If you are an artist who would like to share your process, but don’t feel comfortable writing about yourself we would love to interview you to hear how your faith informs your practice and what being a creator in the image of God means to you.