It has been an integral part of the planning for the Cape Town 2010 Congress to include a strong arts presence at this historic global gathering.  Positive signs are evident that the arts are gaining new attention in our faith communities.  This renewed interest in the arts shows up around the globe.  We are not satisfied with a world that ignores imagination and marginalizes the creative gift.  Such a world is unable to properly nurture the human spirit.  It is a disenchanted world where the spiritual is left aside and God’s presence is overlooked.  One author has spoken of art as the last sign of transcendence in a secularized culture.  Any tendency to ignore the power and pleasure of the arts has been resisted in our social settings where we find that the arts permeate our social worlds – whether the music of our popular cultures, the images that surround us, the drama that captivates us in film and television, or the pleasures of dance and story that are woven into the fabric of our histories and national identities.   However this often means that the God-given gift of imagination has been hijacked by the culture while the church has not been vigilant in shaping a biblically informed imagination

In 2004 Lausanne International took a major step when it commissioned a paper on the arts as one among more than 30 papers exploring important themes and strategizing for the work of global missions.   The document titled Redeeming the Arts, signalled that the arts are not simply an add-on for our entertainment but are strategic and vital to the life and mission of the church.  It is in the spirit of that paper that Cape Town 2010 will be incorporating an arts presence at the Congress.

While it is true that we are experiencing new openness to the arts in the context of mission we should not think that we are pioneers in this matter.  In the first half of the twentieth century there were a number of missionary leaders who wrote on the value and importance of art for indigenous expressions of Christian faith. That trend has continued beyond mid – century and is energetically pursed by many in missions today – (eg:  ethnodoxologists).   Throughout its history it has been characteristic of Christianity to be open to adopting the vernacular of the cultural settings in which it settled.   Unlike religions such as Hinduism and Islam, Christianity is not tied to any cultural or linguistic tradition but has the flexibility to be adequately expressed in any culture.  The seasoned mission scholar Andrew F. Walls tells something of this story in his essay The Western Discovery of Non-Western Art.

In the Prologue to the Redeeming the Arts paper we read:

We want to set out in simple terms what we mean by art.  At the very least we want to say that the making of art is a creative activity that calls for skill and imagination.  Art at its best always invites us to see things in fresh ways and is able to move us to the truth about things.  It can also have great value in bringing order to the chaos of life and helping us understand our own humanity and the world around us.  We want to affirm that art making is a gift which reflects in humanity something of the image of God, and when done well has a humanizing influence in the places in which it is practiced.  

It may be evident as you read these words that there are resonances between art and the gospel.  Some of the characteristics that are true of the arts are also true of the gospel.  The time is ripe for a renewed attention to the arts and how they might be a context for the work of mission.   Lausanne is doing its part to profile the arts at the global gathering in Cape Town and our hope is that what is done there will be a model for what might be done in local settings around the globe.  There are of course many who are faithfully engaging the arts in the work of mission but they tend to be the exception not the rule.  We trust that those attending the Congress in Cape Town who are artists and those who are arts interested may take advantage of the dialogue sessions on the arts that will be available in the afternoons.  We are planning to hold seven dialogues on various aspects of the role of the arts in mission.  Watch for an arts thread in the Lausanne Global Conversation.

Whether you are attending the Cape Town Congress or not we would be glad to have you join in the conversation on the arts so that together we may generate momentum in bringing renewed attention to the arts and helping us think more clearly and more theologically about this vital area of Christian discipleship.

John Franklin

Executive Director – Imago – Toronto Canada

Member of Lausanne Program Team

Chair – Lausanne Canada