Arts Ministry: Nurturing the Creative Life of God's People (The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies

by Michael J. Bauer

First United Methodist Church in Augusta, Georgia, gives concerts to raise money for local service organizations. Trinity Lutheran Church in Mission, Kansas, has been sponsoring a religious art show for more than twenty-five years. Fellowship Lutheran Church runs a Christian arts camp for young people every summer. These are just three of the eighteen case studies of practicing arts ministries in this book, in which Michael Bauer encourages the nurture and support of all the creative gifts of God's people.

Bauer lays a solid foundation for arts ministry, grounding it in the historic Christian tradition and urging churches to expand their engagement with the creative arts -- "to live and worship in full color," as he puts it. A concluding chapter clearly lays out how to develop an arts ministry, helping readers to take these ideas from theory to practice, to embrace and celebrate the continuing creative activity of God in the church.

Genres: Theology

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2013

Reviews

[John Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wide-ranging resource arguing that artistic endeavors should be (and already are) part of the ministry of the church, laying a theological foundation on which churches can consciously build arts ministries, and offering a sample of what arts ministries might look like. The book's broad scope is both an advantage and a disadvantage - it's a one-stop shop for those generally curious about arts ministry, but for deep theological engagement or actively launching an arts ministry, its primary utility is in pointing the reader to other, more narrowly focused resources. The style, while perfectly readable, often relies entirely on quotes from those other resources to advance the argument, which can get frustrating.

[Lilly Pittman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Covers a wide variety of topics and their relationship with art ministry. Rated down because it's simply not one of my favorite topics.