Thriving as an Artist in the Church : Hope and Help for You and Your Ministry Team

by Rory Noland, Author of The Heart of the Artist

• ISBN13: 9780310257325
• ISBN10: 0310257328
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: Zondervan

Summary

- Great for individual or group use- Includes provocative discussion questions and practical action steps- Features four-color art plates and literary quotesIt's not easy being an Artist in the church.But whatever your passion-music, visual art, drama, dance, writing, technical arts-you can not only survive, but thrive. And the rewards far outweigh the pressures of weekly services, artistic differences, and relational conflicts. After all, where else could you consistently make a contribution of eternal significance, experience deep community with other artists, and grow closer to God as a result?Thriving as an Artist in the Church is a practical guide, full of wisdom and pastoral guidance, that will help you surmount the obstacles and flourish in your ministry. It's packed with examples, discussion questions, personal action steps, and mega-doses of encouragement. Most important, it tackles the real-life issues every artist in the church has to deal with:- Sustaining passion- Developing key relational skills- Dealing with rejection and failure- Cultivating confidence- Resolving artistic differences- And much more!Written by an artist for artists, this book will help make your ministry experience sustainable and life-giving so you can fall in love with the church all over again.Rory Noland is director of Heart of the Artist Ministries (www.heartoftheartist.org), an organization dedicated to turning teams of church artists into communities of grace. A composer, songwriter, author, and speaker, Rory is a graduate of the Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University and served for twenty years as music director at Willow Creek Community Church.

Author Biography

Rory Noland is director of Heart of the Artist Ministries, an organization dedicated to turning teams of church artists into communities of grace. A composer, song-writer, author, and speaker, Rory is a graduate of the Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University and served for twenty years as music director at Willow Creek Community Church

Table of Contents

list of illustrations	6	(1)
preface: how to use this book	7	(2)
introduction: it's not easy being an artist in the church	9	(216)
1. how to keep your passion alive	19	(22)
2. five relational skills every artist needs	41	(20)
3. coping with rejection and failure	61	(20)
4. working through relational conflict	81	(18)
5. how to develop a genuine "can-do" attitude	99	(26)
6. cultivating confidence	125	(18)
7. dealing with your "stuff'	143	(26)
8. how to survive as a leader in the church	169	(28)
9. rising above our artistic differences	197	(28)
10. how to fall in love with your church...and stay there	225	(26)
appendix: "those artsy types": from the introduction to The Heart of the Artist	251	(16)
about the author	267	(1)
notes	268

Excerpts

Thriving as an Artist in the Church Copyright © 2004 by Willow Creek Association
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Noland, Rory. Thriving as an artist in the church : hope and help for you and your ministry team / Rory Noland.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-310-25732-8 (pbk.) 1. Church musicians—Religious life. 2. Artists—Religious life. 3. Christian life. I. Title. BV4596.M87N654 2004 248.8'8—dc22 2004015683
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (TNIV) are taken from the Holy Bible: Today’s New International Version ®. TNIV®. Copyright © 2002, 2004 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
The poem “Salvation” by Scott Cairns is reprinted from Philokalia: New and Selected Poems, by permission of Scott Cairns and Zoo Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Interior design by Tracey Moran
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introduction:
It’s Not Easy Being an Artist in the Church
Could you reach deep in yourself to locate that organ containing delusions about your general size in the world—could you lay hold of this and dredge it from your chest and look it over in daylight—well, it’s no wonder people would rather not.
Leif Enger, Peace Like a River
In music school, I studied composition with an accomplished composer whom I deeply admired and respected. He knew I was involved in the music ministry at my church, but we rarely talked about it. Except, that is, for one brief moment near the end of my college career. During one of my lessons, several sheets of score paper accidentally fell out of my folder and onto the floor. As I gathered them up, my professor quickly noticed there was music he didn’t recognize written on these sheets. When I explained the music was something I was working on for church, he grimaced and said, “I thought you would have gotten this church thing out of your system by now.” I shrugged my shoulders because I didn’t know what to say. Then he asked, “Why would anyone waste their time doing church music?”
That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? It’s one I’ve asked myself often over the years. Why would an artist opt to share his or her talents with the church? After all, that’s not usually the first place people think of when it comes to excellence or innovation in the arts. It’s certainly not the place most artists think of when they dream about where they hope to express their talent. In fact, many artists are apprehensive about the church. They’re afraid it might stifle or limit them, and they are concerned that church people won’t accept or even understand them. Or that they won’t fit in. Artists tend to be free spirits and nonconformists, and let’s face it—that doesn’t go over well at most churches.
One of the most tragic examples of an artist mismatched with the church is the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. As a young man, van Gogh desperately desired to follow his father into the ministry. He trained for it, but he was not a good student. Nor was he good at public speaking—a definite problem for a potential preacher. Because of his dedication, an ecumenical Protestant organization gave him an opportunity to serve as a lay evangelist in a poor coal-mining town in what is now southwestern Belgium. While there, van Gogh became deeply concerned about the plight of these downtrodden people. He began to draw pictures of them, depicting their everyday chores, their work in the mines, and the hopelessness etched in their faces. Although van Gogh’s superiors expressed admiration for the way he cared for his flock, they withdrew his appointment after six months, citing his deficient preaching skills. He tried to continue without their support but was soon living in abject poverty. Bitterly disappointed, van Gogh gave up his dream of becoming a minister and never set foot in a church again. He spent the rest of his life in extreme emotional, relational, and financial turmoil, which drove him to suicide at the age of thirty-seven.
In 1889, a year before he died, Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night (plate 1). Many regard this as his most spiritual work of art. To van Gogh, the evening sky symbolized God’s presence, and the prominent cypress bush in the foreground appears to be reaching heavenward with fiery zeal. If you look closely at the buildings in the foreground, however, you’ll notice all of them have light coming from the windows except one—the church. Furthermore, from an architectural standpoint, the Dutch Gothic steeple, similar to the one on the church van Gogh grew up in, is incongruous with the French countryside the painting represents. In another painting called Church at Auvers (1890), a cathedral is featured on a bright sunny day. But the church is dark and also appears to have no door. Van Gogh’s feelings about the church are obvious—it’s a cold, dark, close-minded place.
One can’t help but wonder how different van Gogh’s life might have been had the church encouraged him to be what God obviously made him to be—an artist. I wish a caring Christ-follower had come alongside him and said, “Hey, Vince, maybe preaching is not your thing. But God gave you this amazing ability to paint and draw, so why not serve God with your art instead of trying to be a preacher?”
I think that might actually have happened today, as the arts are playing an increasingly greater role in the ministry of the church. More and more artists are getting involved and experiencing the rewards of ministry. Still, we are also discovering just how difficult church work can be. Whenever I speak at a conference, it’s not uncommon for an artist to pull me aside between sessions and ask me for advice on how to handle a troublesome situation at church. At some point in the conversation the person invariably says something like, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. If things don’t change, I don’t know if I can survive another year.” I receive many similar desperate cries for help through letters, emails, and phone calls from leaders and volunteers.

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Excerpted from Thriving as an Artist in the Church: Hope and Help for You and Your Ministry Team by Rory Noland
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.