Encouraging Artists in Youth Ministry

We’ve entered an age where nearly all of us consider ourselves artists to one degree or another. Is your church a safe place for artists to flourish – or is artistic expression considered to be beside the point?

In other words, do our students hear us, the church, encouraging them to become artists, to explore their creative expression, to find news ways to live out their calling to become like Christ by growing their ability to participate in and appreciate great art?

That’s the question Philip G. Ryken asks in his provocative recent article How to Discourage Artists in the Church, something he suggests we tend to do both unintentionally and methodically. The entire piece is worth a read, but he includes this helpful quote from Francis Schaeffer:

For a Christian, redeemed by the work of Christ and living within the norms of Scripture and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the lordship of Christ should include an interest in the arts. A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God—not just as tracts, but as things of beauty to the praise of God.

In your youth ministry, how do you encourage the artists in your group? How can you demonstrate that creating art to the glory of God is to imitate Christ at the highest level?