Christians and Art...

So remember when the church used to lead the way when it came to art? That was a long time. Christians and the church used to be the biggest influence and have the most impact in art. Music, painting, sculpture, dance...now the church is set on segregating itself from the "world" instead of leading the way in creativity. This seems really backward to me. Since God created the creative, shouldn't His inspiration be the most wonderful and influential? But instead the church chooses to not associate with the community but wants to keep its version of art to itself. You dare not be influenced by current trends and new developments in art. You dare not sound similar to "secular" music. Well dancing is sinful isn't it? I have heard all these comments from people in the church and it saddens me. My heart is for the church to go back to leading the way and influencing the art community, music industry, dance community and then I could guarantee we would see a shift in culture and style which would point towards God and His Spirit. Do we, the church, understand what it means to be in the world? We are supposed to be in there like a dirty shirt not hiding in our buildings. We need to be influencers not irrelevant. We need to encourage our kids to take over the art community as well as other area an let them know it's ok to express their God influenced creativity and spirit in the world. Let's get back to being leaders in our world. 

Vaughn

P.S. I know this was a sweeping generalization and there are those already doing this and I commend them!