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Gospel Perspective
All of creation reveals God’s love for humanity and beauty. He is the source of all that is good, beautiful and true. His Spirit and purpose permeate creation, which flows out of God’s perfect community, and continue to redeem our broken world, making all things one and new. Made in the image of God, humans possess the ability to create and /or experience art, although our fallen nature allows us to do so only imperfectly. At the core, we are connected through the same basic desires, needs, and hopes. Through creativity, we search to find meaning, constantly wrestling with dualities, earthly passions and heavenly longings, seeking fulfillment and purpose. God initiates and we respond to His goodness and beauty with new eyes; finding true identity and peace in the person and work of Christ.
Gospel Practice
A continual dependence on the Gospel of Jesus is central for our creativity. A growing understanding of His love and mercy becomes the motivation for loving Him and others. Throughout the creative process, His Spirit calls us to work in collaboration and community; following His example within the Trinity. As His grace is continually revealed, we respond with acts of creativity. In collective worship, our art can be offered as illustrations of His redeeming love that serve the central text while exploring the wonder and beauty of Christ. Moved by His love and Spirit, we seek to share stories of His goodness and windows of the Gospel to the surrounding community and beyond. His grace frees us to create more completely and compels us to love Him and others above all else.
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Because He permeates all of life, we seek to offer creative windows that point to His all-encompassing presence and goodness.
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Because He is creative by nature and we are created in His image, art connects with the very essence of our being and will be incorporated into all we do.
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Because He is the creator and we are His creation, our creativity will always be less than His and always in response to His Spirit and / or that which He has created.
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Because all humans are connected through the same core longings and desires, there is no such thing as Christian or secular art. It is simply art created by humans wrestling with concepts of beauty, truth and goodness.
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Because we are humans longing for the divine, our creativity is most complete when it seeks to express ongoing tension and dualities (hope & pain, light & darkness, word & image, faith & works, human passions & divine passions, etc…) yet strives to offer third-way possibilities found in the Gospel.
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Because we are called “to be in the world but not of it,” we seek to be fully connected to culture while finding life in the beauty of the Gospel.
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Because the Gospel should be central, we strive to encourage all artists towards some type of ongoing discipleship and community.
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Because our identity is in Christ, we seek to throw off fear or self-glory and instead create in collaboration and community in the service of others.
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Because we are called to a life of faith led by the Spirit, we strive for an organic process in creativity; forming plans yet holding loosely when necessary and always listening.
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Because we desire to remain connected to culture, we strive to offer artistic expressions in worship that are corporate and accessible to all walks of life while illustrating the relevancy of the Gospel.
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Because worship services are corporate, we strive to love well by prayerfully considering all risks with the art expressed and the negative impacts that may result.
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Because we strive to follow the Regulative principal in worship: all forms in a service are prayerfully designed to flow from God’s commanded elements and thematically serve a central text from scripture, vertical (to God) and horizontal (as one Body) participation is considered throughout, any art offered seeks to be illustrative, supportive and simply one piece of the whole, and the person and work of Christ is the focus throughout.
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Because we believe in shared leadership and creative collaboration in offering worship music, multiple bands serve in rotation offering music from a shared song pool rather than one main worship band or leader serving weekly.
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Because we believe true revelation is given through the Spirit, we strive to offer excellence and our best windows of creativity but trust the Spirit to give new eyes rather than artistic manipulation or excessive production.
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Because we desire to connect the congregation and surrounding culture to Gospel perspectives and practices, we strive with all communications to engage with others through information, story and connections to God’s large metanarrative.
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Because we believe the people are the church, we call our building Grace Centre. The foyer serves as an art gallery; the auditorium is used for worship, church activities, and community art events, and man made walls are removed when prayerfully considering the use and impact of all art forms.
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Because we desire to reach the community and beyond, outreach events are designed to tear down walls and build bridges connecting people from all walks of life while offering windows of beauty found in the Gospel.
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Because we trust the Spirit to draw and reveal, we strive to not offer overtly evangelistic methods (such as tracks or altar calls) with any artistic offering other than our worship services.
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Because we believe the Gospel is central, the success of this ministry will not be measured by our art alone but rather our growing understanding of His love and how well we share that love to others through acts of goodness and mercy.
Looking to get involved with the Worship & Arts at Grace? Sign up now!
Archive of Stories
Outreach Magazine Feature on Arts at Grace 7/08
Video on Philosophy of Arts and Outreach
Art Teams
This ministry group, consisting of vocalists and musicians, seeks to use the gift of music to glorify God, communicate the gospel, and serve the church. Primary involvement is Sunday morning worship with some involvement in outreach events. For more information contact Tonya Hudson at hudsoncreative@bellsouth.net
This ministry group seeks to illustrate the gospel through the beauty of drama. We seek to offer sketches that challenge the viewer with life's humorous, difficult, and confusing circumstances. The two outlets for drama at Grace are worship services and outreach events. In worship, our desire is to offer sketches that help illustrate the theme and encourage the viewer to worship Christ. In community events, we strive to produce drama that communicates truths of the gospel. Opportunities include: acting, directing, props, and stage management. For more information contact Craig Lotz at craiglotz@gmail.com
The purpose of Grace-in-Motion is to use the gift of dance to glorifyy the person and work of Christ. It is about presenting the beauty and truths of the gospel through creative movement in worship services and community events. Opportunities include dancing choreography, costuming, lighting, set design and make-up. For more information contact craiglotz@gmail.com .
A visual arts ministry group whose purpose is to creatively develop, design and display various types of visual art including art exhibits, stage designs and other visual art forms used for worship services and events held at Grace For more information contact Craig Lotz at dustymcnabb@gmail.com.
This group of artists develops multimedia for weekend services, website and community events. Artists include videographers, writers, photographers, graphic artists, and website developers. For more information contact Rob Wilkins at robinkling@gmail.com
This is a ministry group is committed to developing excellence and support through the technical arts in worship services and community events. Areas of involvement include sound, lights, video, slides, and backstage activities. For more information contact David Hudson at david@hudson creative.net.
This ministry group seeks to illustrate beauty and truths of the gospel through community events. Opportunities include: plays, concerts, film festivals, juried shows and more. For more information contact Dusty McNabb at dustymcnabb@gmail.com
For more information on any of the above listed ministries, contact worship & arts director Craig Lotz at 828-231-2700 or at craiglotz@gmail.com.
Looking to get involved with the Worship & Arts at Grace? Sign up now!
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