The Disgruntled Artist

I recently had a conversation with a disgruntled artist-friend. Formerly a missionary where he witnessed incredible kingdom impact through the arts in a secular culture, he’s returned to the States like the beggar looking for a willing churchman to hear the power of his stories. 

He had all his funding because he was in a “sexy” non-American country. 

But now that he’s down to part-time stateside staff, he’s lost many donors. He’s tapped out of his network for new ones who believe the vision.

When it comes to using his arts to serve the American church, he’s tried it all. 

• He’s created graphics for the leaders to use in evangelism, 

• He’s made sermon slides, 

• He’s created a series of paintings based on word studies of books of the bible. 

Each time he’s offered them to the church leaders, they simply replied, “that’s not the vibe we are going for.”

While he knows his anchor is in Christ, the bride is finding lesser and lesser use for him.

Yet, at the same time, his gifts are being celebrated among a niche non-Christian community. 

When the secular world values artistic believers more than the church does, is it any wonder there aren’t many artists in the church?