CC Handbook Chapter 7 Extras

Welcome to the online extras and resources for Chapter 7: Structure for Arts Ministry of The Creative Church Handbook. What you’ll find here is material that is helpful and important, but couldn’t be included in the book because of space constraints. Some thoughts include a reference to the specific page they would have appeared on.

For information and discussion on similar topics see The New Renaissance Arts Movement site at TheNewR.org. For questions, comments, or use permissions you may contact the author directly at Scott (at) TheNewR.org.

Visit our CreativeChurchArtsIdeas.org website for more ideas for creativity and arts ministry in the local church!

 

The page is under construction. Please check back for updates!

 

Chapter 7: Structure for Arts Ministry

Dave Blakslee’s thoughts on working with your pastor:

At one of our Creative Church Conferences, Dave Blakslee, an artist and longtime pastor, gave a wonderfully insightful talk on how artists can develop trust with pastors and leaders. He was speaking specifically to artists who wanted to start an artist ministry in their church, but this advice applies to any artist wanting to interact with a pastor.

–Take time to prove that you are committed to the church by being an active part of it.
–Make an appointment to talk with the pastor. Ask him what his vision is for the church. Listen to the wording; you may pick up on one of the pastor’s core themes.
–Pastors are constantly pursued with personal agendas, which can be exhausting. They’ll be asking in their mind, “Is this another person trying to get something or make something happen?” So just relax.
–Ask the pastor how it’s going with the fulfillment of the vision. What stage does he think we are in? What are some open doors? What are some obstacles? Ask how you can be praying for this vision.
–Explain your heart to him; how you are excited about the arts and how it could enhance the vision of the church. Tell them you have lots of ideas, but leave it at that. Don’t go any further. Then go home and seek God. Ask what creative activity could enhance the vision the pastor expressed for your church. God wants the church to be able to minister with the arts and creatively engage people. He is going to give you fresh ideas as you spend time in his presence.
—When you have a good group of ideas, write them down, then make your second appointment and share them with you pastor. Share ideas of how the arts can motivate, inspire, encourage, develop, enhance the mission of this church. Then simply hand those ideas over and leave them. That has to happen because at some point the pastor is going to have to lead into this area. Before you leave, if you feel it is appropriate, set up a third meeting.
–Keep praying and go back through the steps in Chapter 3.

Thoughts from Jason Leith of Saddleback Visual Arts  (Ex Creatis): 

One of SVA’s directives is to create a culture or a general environment of creativity and the arts on campus. So you walk on to Saddleback’s campus and you meet people and you see the space. Is it a space that is creative, artistic and inviting in a fresh and new way? How does the space look and feel? Is there community that you can be a part of ?

I’m technically under the first impressions team, the same team as the people who talk about the architecture and the plant life, renovation and the furniture. So a lot of what I do with the gallery exhibits and the interactive art pieces is fulfilling an aesthetic vision for the church. And the other half is like a community building vision. Using aesthetics to build community. Building a creative community.

When you get involved in the interactive art pieces we do you are no longer a taker or a consumer but you get your hands and mind involved with the creative process and you become more of a participant and that really changes that way I think that a mega church would usually connect with somebody.

VineArts Director Job Description

Director: Jessie Nilo
Hours Paid: 25 hours per week
Church: Vineyard Boise
VineArts is more than ten years into their arts ministry and has a team of 18 artists leaders, each volunteering several hours per week or month to do all these things below.
– Be available to counsel and pray with individual artists, approx. 5 hours/week.

– Partner with other VineArts leaders to pursue artists who fall into depression/isolation.
– Actively encourage wounded artists, non-artists, and pre-artists in our church to develop their God-given creativity.
– Give personal feedback and encouragement to each VineArts leader.
– Minister to our local congregation by praying for prophetic messages, and provide people with a variety of ways to connect with God through the arts.
– Direct monthly meetings of the VineArts leadership team.
– Oversee the purchaser of art supplies who equips ministry leaders with items such as:
– art supplies for the leader ministering to shut-ins.
– equipment for the gallery installation coordinator.
– brainstorming workshops and schedules with the art workshop coordinator.
– arranging for studio maintenance for Open Studio monitors.
– Participate in approx. one-sixth of activities under each leader’s area of ministry to support the leader emotionally and stay connected with different expressions of this ministry.
– Organize a fundraiser once a year or more often if allowed.
– Organize studio visits, ministry classes, holiday parties, and art retreats to train and equip the VineArts leadership team.
– Organize occasional VineArts missions or outreaches to serve the community or another church.
– Oversee the facilitator of occasional on-site and off-site worship events requested by outside groups such as Vineyard Boise’s discipleship groups, Stanton Health Clinic “Spa Day” workers, NNU, SOBA, Camp Esther, etc.
– Keep the congregation informed of VineArts opportunities via e-newsletter updates.
– Oversee and approve the purchase of art supplies for Open Studio, art workshops, outreaches, and art/worship events.
– Schedule and advertise quarterly exhibits and receptions to the congregation.
– Keep the VineArts website updated and accurate, along with a team of 2 others.
– Work with pastors and leaders to plan and execute/oversee the creation of prophetic art for our congregation.
– Occasionally matrix with other ministry directors to provide expertise in art for special events, such as providing guest artists to speak at gatherings, creating theater props, making custom artwork for special services, events, studies, retreats, etc.
– Keep records of all ministry receipts, exhibit/workshop paperwork, important correspondence and documents.
– Follow VineArts budget and Vineyard Boise’s finance procedures.
– Attend as many Vineyard Boise staff and director meetings / events as possible.
– Make sure someone on the team is creating and distributing invitations for the Garden City community to attend VineArts events, Open Studio, and classes.
– Be available to consult with artists, pastors, and community leaders from outside of our church to equip/encourage them in art ministry.
– Selectively partner with community leaders to advance God’s Kingdom through VineArts, but only if it’s in line with Vineyard Boise’s mission to make disciples of Jesus and with VineArts’ mission to foster artistic and spiritual growth, and only if God leads the decision.
– Launch “ENVISION,” a Treasure Valley gathering for artists of faith. This is an experiment and my team is planning the launching already. We’ll meet one evening every month. Featuring worship, current events as pertains to Christian artists, a guest artist who will share for one hour, and ministry time.
– Hosting the Creative Church Conference for area Christian artists (every 2 years)

A look at VineArts past budgets:

Three years into arts ministry, VineArts annual budget was just under $500, which included money for flier and invitation printing, and art supplies for events and outreach.
Ten years into arts ministry the VineArts annual budget had expanded to $1500 and
This is a very small operating budget, considering this ministry represents 18 art leaders running a dozen ministry areas that serve hundreds of people each year.
$100 Print fliers and invitational postcards
$200 Art supplies for art events at church

$100 Art supplies for community outreach
$400 Total budget for the year

Here is an example of the VineArts annual budget after 10 years of art ministry both inside and outside of the church:

$150 Annual training for art team, usually in the form of a leadership retreat
$200 Food for art leadership meals
$130 Supplies for art outreaches to community
$300 Print postcards, ads, invitations to community
$50 Vinyl lettering for gallery title walls
$300 Replenish art supplies for nights of worship, Sunday morning watercolors for art tables, and Open Studio supplies
$70 Office supplies for studio and gallery, such as card stock for artists statements
$120 Food for gallery receptions
$110 Music honorariums for gallery receptions
$1430 Total budget for the year
(they have a donation box in the studio with a request for $2/visit to cover Open Studio art supplies, and while it helps, it doesn’t cover what we need to spend in replenishing supplies.)

VineArts objectives and goals:

Jessie’s church leadership was in a season of transition at the time, focusing that year on fostering growth in their church members “deep and wide” in discipleship. Jessie examined how those objectives were already flowing through what God was doing in their fellowship of artists, and this is how she responded:

We are shifting our focus from being generically inclusive as an arts ministry to being specifically invitational, starting with local church opportunities. We pray together as a team to discover how our artists can cross-pollinate and minister with specific groups within Vineyard Boise (women’s retreat, children’s ministry, recovery groups, etc.) and to the Garden City community, rather than just throwing generic invitations “out there” to unassimilated artists.

How to accomplish this:

• Local church: We will reach out to our congregation with workshops, nights of worship, and community art projects as we have been doing. Less emphasis on a repeating calendar, and more tailored events led by VineArts leaders to foster discipleship in community with our newer artists.
• Local Community: Many of our VineArts leaders engage the local extra-church art community through exhibits and performances, bringing new artists to Vineyard Boise and into relationship with Christ. Some of our leaders also have been engaging with low-income school kids, abused women, the elderly, and crisis pregnancy clients through the arts. We also served artistically at the “Church at the Park” Balloon Classic. We’ll continue to step up our communications and invitations outside the church, branching out in new ways to introduce non-believers to God through the arts.
• Global: VineArts is gaining a larger international audience at a faster rate now than ever before. Many churches around the globe are approaching our VineArts leaders for two reasons: They are Christian artists who long for community, and/or they are Christian artists who want to launch an arts ministry in their own church and are looking at VineArts as a model for ministering through the arts.

We want to equip churches around the globe to effectively love their artists, and we want to teach artists around the globe that they are wired to be part of the local Church.

How to accomplish this:

• Regional Equipping: “Envision” – VineArts is opening the doors to invite local Idaho Christian artists to a night of faith and artistic inspiration. Frequency: Meets every month.
• National Equipping: We serve and equip multiple other churches and their artists at The Creative Church Conference every other year.
• Global Equipping: Develop an online arts ministry training school. A few of the more internationally-minded VineArts leaders are currently brainstorming a global equipping school which will launch an online arts ministry training ground focused on the local church. We would like for Vineyard Boise to help equip us in launching this training school, especially by setting up an internet platform to run a school.

We want to continue building Vineyard Boise’s creative community for the purpose of growing disciples spiritually and artistically, and to allow God to use VineArts for the purposes of furthering His Kingdom in the world through the arts.

How to accomplish this:

• • Local Church: Develop a calendar for 2013 that will engage our congregation in the arts to deepen their walk with Jesus (art exhibits, nights of worship, workshops with discipling themes, etc).
  • Local Community: We will bulk up our existing outreach teams of artists to reach out to the low-income sectors of Garden City and the Boise area. We’ll also ask community leaders how we can serve them through art, and if possible provide a representative on a city art council.
  • Regional Equipping: We plan to launch “Envision” in January 2013 and invite all Christian artists who live within an hour of Boise.

Global Equipping: We plan to host another Creative Church Conference in 2014, and launch the online arts ministry school courses in the summers beginning in 2014 or 2015.

We want to continue to develop arts leaders.

How to accomplish this:

• We will send several VineArts leaders to Laity Lodge, TX in March for the annual retreat for art ministers. We would like to sell salsa on Superbowl Sunday in support of this leadership development.
  OUTWARD:
• We will continue to foster relationships through art in the Boise & Garden City communities, creating another open doorway into Vineyard Boise and relationship with Jesus Christ.

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