Ben Arment: A TRIBE OF STORYTELLERS

Guest Voices — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:22:14 -0700

Ben is the founder of The Whiteboard Sessions and now STORY Conference.

Read more blogs from Ben at benarment.com and follow on twitter.

A TRIBE OF STORYTELLERS

Pastors are facing a crisis of identity in the pulpit today. They don't know whether to be scholars, motivational speakers or talk show hosts. They feel pulled between using catchy sermon titles like "Desperate Households" and preaching verse-by-verse through Leviticus - all because their heroes are doing it.

Somehow the message has gotten lost in the method.

It's good to come back to the story we were all meant to tell. Pastors are, after all, a tribe of storytellers. It's the greatest story ever told - a story of rebellion, redemption and restoration. Every epic tale is a reflection of this grand meta-narrative of life. And Hollywood stole it right out from under our noses.

On Wednesday, October 28, hundreds of church leaders are coming to the Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois for a first-of-its-kind event called STORY. It's a conference designed for communicators of the Gospel - the greatest story ever told. Speakers include Donald Miller, Ed Young, Dave Gibbons, Nancy Beach, Chris Seay, Stacy Spencer and Mike Foster.

STORY will also feature a follow-up day of workshops on October 29 with some of the leading filmmakers, scholars, designers and thought leaders in ministry. These interactive sessions will address practical needs in ministry and highlight the latest breakthroughs in church communications.

For a limited time, you can enter to win a trip for two to the CS Lewis Foundation’s Seminars-in-Residence at the Kilns – CS Lewis’ home in Oxford, England – in the summer of 2010. Register anytime from now until September 30, 2009 on the STORY website for a chance to win.

For more information and to register for STORY, go to www.StoryChicago.com or e-mail info@StoryChicago.com.

What is Christian Art anyway?

Manuel Luz — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:21:24 -0700

One of the ideas I’ve grappled with over the years is, What is Christian art? I mean, what makes an artistic expression like music or drama or dance uniquely Christian? What does that term mean anyway? And I’ve come to the conclusion that it isn’t necessarily anything that has Christian symbolism or religious themes or doves and crosses. More than anything, Christian art must begin to reflect the overarching story of God, the Meta-Narrative, that our Triune God is in the process of redeeming that which has fallen, that which He had created, that which He loves.

The story of all that is, is the story of God. He takes His pen in hand to write this story: Creation, Fall, Redemption. All of history, all of the Bible, all of what was and is and will be, reflects this three act play of Creation, Fall, and Redemption, that God is writing in the universe.

But that’s not all. He writes this story in our souls as well. For all of us have our own stories, our own vignettes of how God’s grace has saved us, changes us. And our stories enter into His larger story of the redemption of the universe.

And this distinction can be subtle or overt. It certainly need not be forced or made formulaic. But it must affect us as artists. It must affect our art. Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin contend in their essential book, Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts:

"In working through the most central plot of the Bible’s “grand story”—creation, fall and redemption—we have put in place the beginnings of a worldview. Through these spectacles we can begin to view and perhaps question the many assumptions that are tossed in our direction. Questioning assumptions is, of course, very much in the spirit of the post-modern age, but it is also the spirit of Christ."

We stand in the shadows of differing worldviews—a mosaic of religions, philosophies, mindsets, and historical eras. And in one way or another, art has been an expression for all of these co-existing yet unaligned worldviews. And we also live in a broken world. Because of the fallen nature of this earthly existence, we are thrust into unintended complexity—the universe has been invaded by sin, and as a result, we have disorder, distortion, disease, dysfunction. The universe does not operate as it was intended. We as Christians share the worldview that God created the world and in spite of the world’s broken nature, He is in the business of rescuing it and redeeming it. And in one way or another, our art should be an expression of that. This is what Christian art should be, honest in the brutal and complex realities of this world but also revelatory in the redemption of it.

So when we compose songs or choreograph dance or edit film or write a book, God’s story is told in some small way. Creation, Fall and Redemption. When you can see your art in this way, then I think you can begin to frame what it is to make Christian art.

god's story

Ben Arment: A TRIBE OF STORYTELLERS

What is Christian Art anyway?