Worship Art

Worship Art

We now offer all of the courses in our Worship Leadership Certificate in an online format. This is a 37 credit program that gives you a sold foundation in Music Theory, Bible and Worship. For a more complete program of study check out our Worship Leadership Diploma and our Apprenticeship Program (see below).

We have a limited number of spots available based upon the needs of our partner churches. Apply now to save your spot!

It is the policy of the Worship Arts Conservatory not to discriminate against a person because of race, color, age, sex or national or ethnic origin either in the matter of admissions, programs, scholarships, or employment.
Trained and Skilled for Worship ( 1 Chronicles 25:7 )
Helping passionate worshipers become skilled and confident servants of Christ

Worship Arts and Ministry Education
Gain knowledge from on-the-job learning and classroom training
Gain valuable hands-on career experience from day one
Earn a diploma with transferable credits
To place 25 skilled and equipped Worship Arts Conservatory Alumni into ministry by June 1, 2025
Let us help you get started in ministry!
We are a Tax Exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
To stay up to date with what we are doing, please subscribe to our Blog or connect with us on one of our social media sites.

Home

Resources

Resource Library

What defines you? Is it what you know and do...or what you see and love? Your answer likely affects how you see the role of visual arts in worship. A feature story exploring more inclusive use of Visual Arts in Worship
Light and dark. Apple, fig leaf, ark, rainbow. Star, cross, 153 fish.
Taste and see that God is good. Abram, Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, and John—all vision struck. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.
Linen garments, branched candlesticks, curtains embroidered with cherubim. Stone, cedar, cypress, gold.
Soaring arches, stained glass, mosaic floors. Icons, robes, vestments, candles. Stencils on rice paper, catechetical posters, Holy Week processionals, images flickering across big screens.
Christians around the world have different ways of using visual arts in worship. Yet we worship the same Potter, who through the indwelling Spirit shapes us to become more like Christ Incarnate.
And as lush or austere as your own visual tradition may be, you can worship more deeply by considering why and how other Christians receive God’s revelation through what they see.
Opening yourself to new experiences of art in worship starts with questioning two assumptions.
First, many Christians value the verbal over the visual. We understand how the Holy Spirit uses the Bible, inspired preaching, and music to connect us with God. But linking art with worship stirs worries about idolatry, distraction, and poor stewardship.
Second, many of us think of art as something to look at in museums and galleries—something different than craft , which is beautiful and useful.
God’s people have not always looked on art as an inferior (or impossible) way for the Holy Spirit to mediate God’s love to us. Nor have God’s people always seen art as disconnected from real life, which includes true worship.
God inspired artists to create a splendid tabernacle and temple. Jesus compared his crucifixion to the bronze serpent Moses made, a visual symbol of claiming God’s help through faith. He commanded believers to see themselves as one body in him and to experience this truth through table, bread, and wine, not just words.
For centuries, Christians offered gifts of imagination in the form of church furnishings, pageant props, sculptures, paintings, textiles, illustrated Bibles, and icons, which Orthodox Christians describe as “windows to heaven.”
The Protestant Reformers emphasized that believers can understand the Bible on their own and go to God directly through Christ. They got rid of most church art for fear people would pray to a saint rather than to God or would worship an image or its artist instead of the Creator. They believed visually stark worship spaces help Christians focus on the Bible and sermon.
Outside church walls, even Protestants continued to appreciate well-made objects, whether pictures or pitchers. Protestant artists often created art for or about ordinary life, while Catholic artists stuck to religious themes.
During the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, art became further separated not only from the church but from ordinary life. Art academies, critics, journals, and museums created a split between what philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff calls the “institution of high art” and craft. Fine art became narrowly defined as a special process of individual expression meant for aesthetic contemplation. This raises the danger of making art a religion.
In his classic Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic , Wolterstorff calls Christians “to extricate ourselves from the parochialism…of high art…and consider afresh…the role of art in the liturgy of the church.”
He proposes seeing “art as an instrument and object of action.” He explains that a worship liturgy is a dialogue between God and people. Within this dialogue, liturgical art can create a setting (banners, projected images) and generate actions (people walk forward to put checks and cash in colorful porcelain bowl) that serve a liturgical purpose (offering thanks to God).
Wolterstorff describes both art and liturgy as social practices. When he wrote Art in Action , he believed art used in worship should serve the liturgy. “Now I think that that is too simplistic. There needs to be a negotiation in which neither the practice of liturgy nor the practices of art ‘call the shots,’ ” he says.
Cautioning against an exuberant mix-and-match, Wolterstorff says that liturgical art must fit the congregation’s self-understanding and the artistic elements must form a whole.
The liturgical year shapes how people understand themselves at Church of the Servant Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During Epiphany they look with new eyes for Jesus, the light of the world. The Epiphany Eyes banner and other visual elements convey this theme. References to light and sight pepper the Epiphany liturgy and songs.
Wolterstorff says art is a way of showing, as no other activity can, something about the world’s depth and reality. Artists create possible worlds that help people envision (or rebel against) the final shalom God will create when Christ returns to completely renew creation.
Looking at the world through this creation-fall-redemption-renewal pattern makes every liturgy’s final section—the sending—especially important. Renewed in worship, Christians go back into daily life to bring about shalom, according to how God has gifted them.
Still convinced that art is mainly for looking at? Lisa DeBoer, a Westmont College art professor, lists many more roles for art, each appropriate for worship: “Art can create identity. Art can define space. Art can dramatize the parts of worship. Art can interpret the sacraments. Art can shape movement. Art can mark time. Art can anchor memory.”
Besides broadening art’s role beyond contemplation, DeBoer urges artists to think beyond individual self expression. While working with student artists in worship renewal projects, she discovered it’s crucial to help artists define and discuss their unspoken assumptions about art.
She also discovered a model that can work well in churches. She paired each artist with a group of non-artist friends for a Stations of Christ’s Life project. Group members read and prayed through the biblical narrative relevant to “their” part of Christ’s life. Each artist consulted with his or her group on how to create a work that others could understand and appreciate. Artists also met weekly with each other.
“This formula proved extremely successful,” DeBoer says. While supporting and pushing the artists in new creative directions, the non-artists began to appreciate the artistic process and came to love the art. The artists learned the joy of creating something for a community.
This visual arts resource directory includes downloadable images, artists’ websites, and art events. Find images keyed to the lectionary. Browse dozens of websites about Christian modern art, including A Broken Beauty.
Learn the story behind biblical and Christian symbols in Elizabeth Steele Halstead’s new Visuals for Worship, which includes downloadable images on CD. It’s designed as a companion to The Worship Sourcebook.
Enrich your syllabi. Sing songs celebrating the arts.
Evaluate the risks and rewards of using more art. Read this Lutheran Church of Australia statement on the purpose of visual arts in worship. Then consider writing an arts purpose statement for your congregation.
Form a visual faith discussion group. Start with an essay or conference presentation. Graduate to good books on Christians and art , including some from Lisa DeBoer’s annotated list.
Write book reviews and donate books to your church library:
Congregational Resource Guide recommends several resources on art, architecture, and worship, including Church Architecture Network , Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture, and Worship , which gives guidelines for renovating or building Catholic churches, and Patricia S. Klein’s Worship Without Words: The Signs and Symbols of Our Faith.
Browse related stories on art that preaches , church renovation, and how congregations are incorporating visual art.
What is the best way you’ve found to explore visual arts in worship?

Creative, Collaborative Worship
Led by artist Ellen Phillips, this workshop was a time to explore collaborative methods as well as to share ideas for the art of worship.
Read more »

Visuals for Worship
We are pleased to present 27 visual symbols that can be placed on the cover of service bulletins, within the written liturgy, or on a large screen display.
Read more »

Continue exploring these topics on PreachingandWorship.org , a search engine designed for thoughtful Christian preachers, teachers, and leaders.

for the study and renewal of worship

1855 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
(616) 526-6088 worship@calvin.edu

See our related website, PreachingandWorship.org
Unless otherwise specified, content on this website is licensed as Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Выбрать язык русский азербайджанский аймара албанский амхарский арабский армянский ассамский африкаанс бамбара баскский белорусский бенгальский бирманский болгарский боснийский бходжпури валлийский венгерский вьетнамский гавайский галисийский греческий грузинский гуарани гуджарати датский догри зулу иврит игбо идиш илоканский индонезийский ирландский исландский испанский итальянский йоруба казахский каннада каталанский кечуа киргизский китайский (традиционный) китайский (упрощенный) конкани корейский корсиканский коса креольский (гаити) крио курдский (курманджи) курдский (сорани) кхмерский лаосский латинский латышский лингала литовский луганда люксембургский майтхили македонский малагасийский малайский малаялам мальдивский мальтийский маори маратхи мейтейлон (манипури) мизо монгольский немецкий непальский нидерландский норвежский ория оромо панджаби персидский польский португальский пушту руанда румынский самоанский санскрит себуанский сепеди сербский сесото сингальский синдхи словацкий словенский сомалийский суахили сунданский таджикский тайский тамильский татарский телугу тигринья тсонга турецкий туркменский узбекский уйгурский украинский урду филиппинский финский французский фризский хауса хинди хмонг хорватский чви чева чешский шведский шона шотландский (гэльский) эве эсперанто эстонский яванский японский
Worship God Through Art
© Copyright 2009 Praise-and-Worship.com
All rights reserved
God created the heavens and the earth. He is the Creator of all things. We are made in the image of God and therefore we are creative beings. God has given us an imagination. He has given each one of us talents and gifts. Consequently, we are all artists, and art can be done by everyone.

“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.” (Revelation 4:11)

We should honor and glorify God in everything we do. We should offer Him our best--intellectually, artistically, and
spiritually.

I love and appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. Just look around you. There is beauty everywhere! I have even found beauty beside an ugly parking lot; the beauty of a flower. God’s artwork is all around us. He loves color, texture, and form. We can see this displayed in nature.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. (Psalm 19:1-2)

I’m going out on a limb here by showing you some of my artwork. I’ve never had lessons. Why did I attempt to paint without knowing what I was doing you may ask? Well, I did it because I wanted to create through painting. It gave me pleasure. It was a way of expressing myself. I wanted to create using color and textures. It was learning about who I am, my capabilities, my talent (or lack thereof). :o) It was about finding the artist within me. It wasn’t a matter of whether my artwork was good or not. It was about expressing my worship to the Creator. Of course, my paintings are abstract. Some people will hate my artwork; others will find beauty in it. Does it really matter what people think? Not really. For me, it’s all about enjoying the creative process and seeing the final creation. It’s about capturing God’s beauty around me whether some people see it or not. :o)

Artistic expression and our worship of God can be accomplished through all works of art from painting, drawing, crafts, sculpting, photography, writing, and drama. Even architecture, carpentry and ironwork can be considered works of art.

God can speak to us through someone’s artwork. It is He who planted the seed and inspired the artist. Worshiping God through art should not be about the fascination we have with ourselves; the artwork should honor and glorify God and not the artist.

You don’t have to go to a museum to see beautiful artwork. It’s all around you in nature. Worshiping God with art is about creating something for the Lord. Worshiping the Creator through art is about opening yourself up to God’s beauty and His holiness.

Our God is the Master artist. He uses color (experiences) and different textures (people) in our lives to mold us into the person He wants us to be.

The following art is by the amazingly talented artist Anastiscia Chantler-Lang. You may view more of her beautiful artwork HERE.

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

800-810-1617

gograph@gograph.com

Vector Clipart

Illustration

Photos

Plans and Pricing

Subscription:
Inactive

Credits:
0

View Cart

Help

900+ Worship Clip Art | Royalty Free

Clear

Horizontal

Panoramic Horizontal

Panoramic Vertical

Square

Vertical

Vector Illustration Of Hands With L
Church And Other Christian Symbol Icons Set
Person Praying Or Worshiping To Holy Cross Or Jesus - Vector Graphic Concept Of A Devout Faithful Christian Worshiping Son Of Lord(Christ) With Blue Background Of Stars And Circles
Christianity Religion Cross Mosaic Concept Abstract Background Vector Illustration For Poster
Christian Family Standing Before Luminous Cross
A Huge Dance Crowd People Hand. Eps 8
Person Praying Or Worshiping To Crucifix Or Jesus - Concept Of A Devout Faithful Christian Worshiping Holy Cross(Christ) With Blue Background And Yellow Sun
Vector Glass Cross On Wooden Background
Jesus Christ Stick Figure, Icons And Pictogram.
Religious Temples And Worship Places
Pray Figure Icon. Worship Stick Prayer Icon Silhouette Vector Man
People Worship And Praying For Money From God Of Fortune.
As For Me And My House Serve The Lord Bible Quote
If God Brings You To It He Will See You Through It
Act Justly Love Mercy Walk Humbly Bible Quote
Spotlight Spokes Models Love Your Copy Space
Come To Me All Who Are Weary Bible Quote
Let Everything That Has Breath Praise The Lord
"la-Ilaha-Illallah-Muhammadur-Rasulullah" For The Design Of Islamic Holidays. This Colligraphy Mean
Naked Women Peeing Naughty
Curious Little Hentai Teenie Gets Fondled
Fanatica Sensual

Worship Art

Report Page